It is an established tradition of the magazine Sight and Sound from theBritish Film Institute (BFI): Every ten years, film critics, curators andother film connoisseurs are asked what they think is the greatest film evermade. The first survey took place in 1952, with Ladri di biciclette ofVittorio di Sica on one. From 1962 onwards Citizen Kane Orson Welles toppedthe charts for five consecutive editions, making way for Alfred Hitchcock’smasterpiece in 2012 Vertigo.
Last year, the BFI again asked 1,639 film critics, programmers, academics andother film connoisseurs to submit their top 10. And again another, and rathersurprising, number one came out on top: Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce,1080 Bruxelles the film that the Belgian director Chantal Akerman made in1975. At the previous edition, the film was still in place 35. Vertigo and_Citizen Kane_ are in second and third place. Tokyo Story from Ozu Yasujiroand In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar Wai complete the top five.
The three hour and a half film shows three days in the life of Jeanne Dielman(played by French actress Delphine Seyrig), a single mother who turns toprostitution to make ends meet. You see how she runs her household, sets thetable and cooks chips, sometimes quickly and sometimes more slowly. Andmeanwhile receives men. In the end she also kills one of her clients, notcoincidentally the man who gives her an orgasm. Everything is shown in aminimalist style, often with long scenes and static shots at medium distance.
Chantal Akerman.Image Cinzia Camela/WENN.com
That Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles now number one inthe authoritative list of the BFI is striking, but not entirely surprising.The New York Times already proclaimed the film as “the first femalemasterpiece in film history” and certainly among film connoisseurs, the workof Akerman, who died in 2015, has always been highly regarded. The film is nota ready-made chunk, and the BFI also realizes this: “the film is made in acinematographic style and with a strategy that is closer to the avant-gardethan the mainstream tradition, and with a duration of just under three and ahalf hours, it also demands dedicated viewing.”
Above all, it is also an important signal: for the first time, a film made bya woman is at the top. The BFI’s list has often been criticized in the pastfor being insufficiently diverse. That is why the British Film Institutedoubled the number of voters in order to arrive at a more diverse list. Sowith result.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is an eminentlyfeminist film: it shows the everyday life of a woman through a female gaze.Akerman, who was barely 24 when she shot this film, almost instantly became apioneer of feminist filmmaking. “I think it’s a feminist film,” Akermanhimself said in a 1977 interview, “because I give room to things that havenever, or almost never, been shown this way, like a woman’s everyday actions.”
In another poll, the BFI also asked 358 directors what they thought was thebest film ever. Akerman’s film ranks fourth in this ranking. At the very topof the list 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, front Citizen Kane_and the first part of _The Godfather.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles can be seen on Sooner,Avila and myLum.