*Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is part of our Who is Luis Buñuel? season, which throughout February explores Buñuel's legacy in modern and contemporary cinema. This legacy section of the season was curated with the help of The Garden Cinema's members.
Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig), the widowed mother of a teenage son, Sylvain (Jan Decorte), ekes out a drab, repetitive existence in her tiny Brussels apartment. Jeanne's days are divided between humdrum domestic chores -- shopping, cooking, housework -- and her job as an occasional prostitute, which keeps her financially afloat. She seems perfectly resigned to her situation until a series of slight interruptions in her routine leads to unexpected and dramatic changes.
Curator's note:
Belle de Jour and Jeanne Dielman differ greatly in pace, and, crucially, explore female desire from the different gender perspectives of their directors. While Jeanne is viewed from a distance with most of the sex scenes omitted from the frame, Belle de Jour's frame is inundated by Séverine's fantasies (or are they Luis Buñuel's?).
Despite the films' differences, their protagonists, have quite a few things in common. Both live in a way expected of women of their class, have impeccable hair and outfits, and engage in subversive sexual encounters separate from their domestic lives. Trapped within rigid social roles, their surroundings appear superficially flawless, and very few things give away their inner turmoil.
Both films challenge traditional cinematic forms and defy easy analysis and categorization: Belle de Jour combines and confuses fantasy and reality, and Jeanne Dielman painstakingly focuses on mundane routines that are rarely depicted in film.