New Trailer for Chantal Akerman’s ‘Jeanne Dielman’ 50th Anniversary

New Trailer for Chantal Akerman’s ‘Jeanne Dielman’ 50th Anniversary

by Alex Billington
January 10, 2025
Source: YouTube

“A mesmerizing piece of rhythmical film-making.” BFI in the UK has unveiled a brand fresh trailer for the 50th anniversary re-release of a Belgian cinema classic – Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman. The full title of the film is Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, a reference to her address in the city. The film caused a huge stir when it was listed at #1 on the most recent Sight and Sound “Greatest Films of All-Time” poll in 2022 – taking the top spot in the first time despite never showing up above #35 in the past. In the film, a lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns tricks to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her sheltered routine and her life begins to unravel. Starring Delphine Seyrig as the titular Jeanne Dielman, along with Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Yves Bical. It’s always good to see highly regarded classics in the cinema on the substantial screen, and this one has such up-to-date acclaim now is the perfect time to play it. Hopefully it’ll show again in US art house theaters this year to celebrate its 50th.

Here’s the fresh 50th anniversary trailer for Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, direct from YouTube:

A ‘love film’ for Akerman’s mother – a Holocaust survivor who could never discuss her past with her own daughter – and a revolution in 201 minutes. A film about women’s overlooked everyday lives (‘the lowest in the hierarchy of film images’). A film that upends epic cinema. A film about a housewife obsessed with her daily routine in order to suppress anxiety. A film about psychology but with little emotion. A film made with a mostly female crew that transformed European art cinema’s most glamorous star, Delphine Seyrig, into a seemingly unremarkable single mother. Above all, a revolutionary film due to Akerman’s treatment of time & space. To watch Jeanne Dielman is to submit to Akerman’s unrelenting gaze and to be trapped with Jeanne: ‘to have the physical experience of time unfolding inside you, of time entering you.’

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (the full title) is written and directed by acclaimed Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman – it was her second feature film after directing I, You, He, She (1974) before she would go on to direct many other films including Meetings with Anna, All Night Long, Letters Home, Night and Day, A Couch in New York, and The Captive. Produced by Guy Cavagnac, Alain Dahan, Liliane de Kermadec, Corinne Jénart, Evelyne Paul, Paul Vecchiali. It was filmed over five weeks on location in Brussels, and financed through a $120,000 grant awarded by the Belgian government at the time. The film originally premiered at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar. BFI will re-release Jeanne Dielman in UK cinemas starting February 7th, 2025. No details on any US re-release yet.

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