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In 2022, Chantal Akerman’s movie Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles topped the list for Sight & Sound’s best movies of all time, renewing interest in the director. Her work often flies under the radar of mainstream attention when compared to her male contemporaries, but is powerful and poignant in the cinematic style and modes of storytelling. Akerman was born in Belgium, in 1950, to two Holocaust survivors formerly from Poland. When Akerman became of age, she studied at a film school in her native country, but would drop out to just go ahead and make her content. This proved to be quite successful as she made movies in French.
When she was 22, she released her first feature film: Hotel Monterey. Not even two years later, she would release another film, Je, Tu, Il, Elle, which has become one of the strongest examples of her style of feminist filmmaking. The body of Akerman’s work demonstrates the power of cinema through the channel of the female gaze, especially in an era where few women became celebrated filmmakers. Akerman died in 2015, but left behind a rich filmography that dwells on the simplicity of everyday life. Looking to get started and don’t know where to start with her work? These are her best movies, ranked.
5/5 Je, Tu, Il, Elle
Je, Tu, Il, Elle was only Akerman’s second feature film, but has become one of her more prominent releases. Akerman stars in the leading role of Julie, and the vast majority of the movie is set inside Julie’s room. A young woman, she spends the majority of her time sprucing up her tiny room, sitting around, and writing letters to people. However, she decides to eventually head out into the real world and hangs out with a male driver, but she has someone else on her mind: a former lover that’s a woman. This sparks one long sex scene between the two women, which was one of the first to be depicted in such a way in a mainstream movie.
4/5 No Home Movie
- Liaison Cinématographique
The final film she made before she died, No Home Movie is a testament to the relationship she had with her mother. This is a theme she has explored in her other works, as Akerman was known to have very good relationship with her mother. Akerman’s mother died in 2014, only a year before Akerman passed away. This documentary is a series of conversations between the two talking about their lives, especially since her mother was a survivor of Auschwitz. It transitions between Skype and real-life conversations, and, in the middle, is intersected by something that may seem completely different. A highly intimate movie, No Home Movie is worth watching at least once–although, perhaps, some tissues may be necessary for seeing this documentary.
3/5 Toute Une Nuit
1982’s Toute Une Nuit is symbolic of the kind of work Akerman did throughout her career, although it has not gotten much attention outside of the film community. The film is set on a hot night in Brussels, and over two dozen people throughout the movie are unable to sleep because of the weather. Instead of trying to get some rest, many ventures out into the night and meet each other, exposing their longings and desires. Some wish to reconnect with family, while others seek out companionship. Toute Une Nuit is a romantic movie at heart, albeit not in the traditional sense, due to how it depicts loneliness and the need to go out and see other human beings.
2/5 News From Home
News From Home came out in 1977, but its themes and messages are still relevant even today. At the time of filming the documentary, Akerman was living abroad in New York City, which looks similar but also completely different from what it is today. Only 21, Akerman was forced to survive and take up odd jobs here and there, and over the two years she lived in the city, she filmed the locations she took walks at. A voiceover narrates the letters her mother would send to her during that time, making the movie a poetic remembrance of a period of her life in New York. A portrait of adolescence and mother-daughter relationships, News From Home landed at #52 on the Sight & Sound list.
1/5 Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Akerman was only 25 when she made Jeanne Dielman, an impressive feat considering it was financed through a grant she had received from the Belgian government. Set over three days, a widowed housewife moves through the same routine each day. She cooks, cleans, takes care of the children, and sells her body to make an income to provide for her son. However, throughout the film, her routine becomes altered, completely messing up how it will unfold. Created by an all-women crew, Jeanne Dielman is a classic example of the potential of slow, avant-garde, and feminist cinema.
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