At the moment I think An Angel At My Table (1990) by Jane Campion thegreatest film of all time. That’s one opinion, that doesn’t mean anything (bythe way, Netflix has it, grab your chance). But now 1,639 film professionalshave voted for the Best Film of All Time. That says something. That electionis organized by a renowned British film magazine. And it means the movie JoanDielman by the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman will officially be regardedas the pinnacle of cinematography on a global scale over the next ten years.
I’m happy with it. I well remember how Akerman put me in a trance with hercareful depiction of the existence of a housewife, with vacuuming and peelingpotatoes on a par with her sideline as an occasional prostitute. Importantmovie, influential, good number 1.
Film people, from makers to lovers, are fanatical. They can fight each otherfor a movie. Me too, just recently I was speechless with rage when a friendsaw the film Oblomov declined. I couldn’t stand it. And he couldn’t standme. For a bit.
So there is trouble. Chantal Akerman? Jeanne Dielman? How so? Dédain rumblesthrough the app groups, the American cult filmmaker Paul Schrader takes downthe election of Jeanne Dielman in a Facebook message as ‘ distorted wokereappraisal ‘ (warped woke reappraisal).
But they will still be surprised by all of them. Jeanne Dielman is going tokeep it up for a long time – after all, it is the mirror image of the filmthat occupied number one for fifty years (1962-2002): Citizen Kane fromOrson Welles. Akerman and Welles were both 25 when they made theirmasterpiece, young, overconfident and radical. They ruthlessly depicted howpeople become the living dead. How does a man stay in control? By wantingeverything, which Orson Welles translates into roaring exuberance in word andimage. How does a woman remain subservient? By not wanting anything. ChantalAkerman relentlessly depicts monotony with monotony. soporific? Then you’renot paying attention.
Charles Foster Kane does what a real man should do: gain and hold power.Jeanne Dielman merges with the female version of this: she takes care of homeand hearth and prostitutes herself. They both renounce their feelings, thereis no room for that. And that’s exactly why they both go down.
Jeanne Dielman is overcome with impromptu sexual pleasure. Talk about feeling!She reclaims her control by killing the accompanying man. Her body is going tojail, her mind is already trapped. Compare that to Charles Foster Kane. Heremembers a feeling of happiness on his deathbed and whispers a word:Rosebud. Nobody understands him – with which he dies a double death, of bodyand mind. See Jane.
But I’m stuck with my own best movie. What do I do with Once Upon a Time InThe West? Of The Circus from Chaplin? Where do I leave C ‘eravamo tantoamati _and _Bellissima , my eternal favorite movies? All the best movies ofall time. I don’t want to choose.