Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S6E04 [JEANNE DIELMAN (1975)]

Having amassed more than 100 episodes in its run, PACCTS' sixth season will focus its sights on "the greatest films of all time" (both in the US and internationally), as assembled by the British Film Institute's 2022 Sight and Sound Poll of industry critics. Corey will be choosing American films from the list, and Paul will be choosing international ones.  Our goal is to examine the films that are considered great, and why that may be the case.   For this episode, Paul jumped right to the head of the class: the number one film on the list, Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). Never are Paul and Corey ones to give spoiler warnings, but due to the experiential nature of how this film communicates with the viewer, they highly recommend that listeners watch it before listening to the episode. Jeanne Dielman follows three days in the life of a widow who lives with and dotes upon her teenage son. We watch her disciplined schedule of cooking, cleaning, running errands, and engaging in sex work slowly...falter. Paul and Corey discuss the topics of slow cinema, Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig's lives and politics, feminism, reproductive labor, and why this film may have "dethroned" Citizen Kane from the number one slot on the list. A great discussion. Enjoy!