Je tu il elle (1974)

Part of the ID the films of Chantal Akerman

Director: Chantal Akerman
Certificate: Guideline 18
Length:
Format: DVD
Language:
Country:

Sexually frank, cooly passionate, Chantal Ackerman's extraordinary first feature, in which she plays herself exploring lines of flight.  A room with powered sugar, the cab of a truck, the flat of a rejeecting lover. Minimal in style, maximal in impact. 

‘Je, Tu, Il, Elle’ is a breathtakingly honest film, delighting in its frank exploration of sexuality and veering between the erotic and the mundane with wild abandon. This film marked Chantal Akerman’s return to her native Belgium, and some would argue it also marks her induction into the annals of great female directors.

This movie is utterly sparse, as if superfluous detail has been torn away to reveal the nature of human passion, from its basest form to its most beautiful. Akerman revels in long, lingering shots (in crisp black and white) of her protagonists. The camera is static for much of the time, unflinching in its gaze like an obsessed voyeur. Stabs of surreality seem all the more weird amidst the films zen-like calm, too: the all-sugar diet of one protagonist, for example.

A film of three acts, with Akerman playing the lead, ‘Je, Tu, il, Elle’ is a highly personal piece of cinema, and a benchmark for other experimental filmmakers to aspire to.

Other films in the ID the films of Chantal Akerman :

20

Film: Jean Dielman 23 Quai De Commerce 1080 Brussels (1975)

20 Mar 2011, 7:30 p.m.

At the core this film lies the performance of Delphine Seyrig (Last year in Marienbad), whose command of gesture and timing make this observation of bourgoise life a choreographed nightmare. A film that is awesome for the steel tipped certainty with which Chantal Akerman imbues her material.

24

Film: Les Rendez-Vous D'Anna (1978)

24 Mar 2011, 7:30 p.m.

An itinary of hotel rooms, train stations interstitial spaces and chance meetings during which the protagonist comes home to spend a night with her mother. Another journey film a refusal to stay still, Chantal Akerman chooses motion

27

Film: Toute Une Nuit - Due To A Last Minute Problem, This Film Will Be Replaced By Another Film From Akerman: News From Home (1982)

27 Mar 2011, 7:30 p.m.

Toute Une Nuit screening will be replaced by another film from the same period by Chantal Akerman due to last minute unavailablity of the requested film. The new film will be NEWS FROM HOME (1976)