Rent Chantal Akerman Collection: Vol.1: 1967-1978 (1978)
3.6 of 5 from 64 ratings
11h 55min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Born in Brussels in 1950 to parents who had survived the Holocaust, Chantal Akerman directed more than 40 films (short, medium and feature-length) over almost 50 years, spanning fiction, documentary, musical comedy and literary adaptation. Today, she is regarded as one of the most important and influential directors of her generation. Akerman's personal, non-conformist body of work has resonated with cinephiles globally and become increasingly relevant since her death in 2015, with filmmakers including Joanna Hogg (The Eternal Daughter), Celine Sciamma (Petite Maman), Alice Diop (Saint Omer) and Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez), among others, citing her radical and experimental approach to cinema as a direct inspiration. Although best known for her landmark second narrative feature, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), which topped the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time Poll in 2022 (becoming the first female-directed film to take the number one spot since the poll's inception in 1952), Akerman never stopped rebelling, continuously experimenting throughout her career to challenge the formal and narrative boundaries of film. - Actors:
- Aurore Clément, Helmut Griem, Magali Noël, Hanns Zischler, Lea Massari, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Alain Berenboom, Laurent Taffein, Françoise Bonnet, Victor Verek, Thaddausz Kahl, Alain Bonnet, Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves Bical, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion, Chris Myllykoski
- Directors:
- Chantal Akerman, Samy Szlingerbaum
- Producers:
- Alain Dahan, Maya Faber-Jansen, Emile Poppe, Guy Cavagnac, Liliane de Kermadec, Corinne Jénart, Evelyne Paul, Paul Vecchiali
- Voiced By:
- Chantal Akerman
- Writers:
- Chantal Akerman, Eric De Kuyper, Paul Paquay, Samy Szlingerbaum
- Aka:
- Examen d'entrée INSAS / Blow Up My Town / The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman / The Room / Hôtel Monterey / Hanging Out Yonkers / Le 15/8 / I, You, He, She / Meetings with Anna / New
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Lesbian & Gay, Romance, Special Interest
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 24/02/2025
- Run Time:
- 715 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono, French LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Various
- Colour:
- Colour and B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Audio commentaries on 'Saute ma ville' and 'Je tu il elle' by So Mayer and Selina Robertson of the queer feminist film curatorial collective Club des Femmes
- Audio commentary on 'Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles' by Kate Rennebohm and Simon Howell of the Akerman Year podcast
- Audio commentary on 'Les Rendez-vous d'Anna' by Kate Rennebohm
- Chantal Akerman 1976: An Interview (1976, 59 mins): the filmmaker discusses her early films with B Ruby Rich
- Autour de Jeanne Dielman (1975, 69 mins): insightful documentary by Sami Frey showing the working relationship between Akerman and Delphine Seyrig
- Entretien avec ma mere, Natalia Akerman (2007, 30 mins): Chantal Akerman talks to her mother, Natalia
- Interviews with Babette Mangolte and Aurore Clement (2007, 53 mins total)
- Leaving Home - New World Vision (2024, 14 mins): artist Sarah Wood meditates on 'News from Home' in a newly commissioned video essay
- Archive articles by Janet Bergstrom and Laura Mulvey
- Disc 1:
- This disc includes the following:
- The Early Years: From Brussels To New York
- Special Features - Disc 2:
- This disc includes the following:
- Le 15/8
- Je Tu Il Elle
- Special Features - Disc 3:
- This disc includes the following:
- Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
- Special Features - Disc 4:
- This disc includes the following:
- News from Home
- Les Rendez-Vous d'Anna
- Special Features - Disc 5:
- This disc includes special features
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Reviews (1) of Chantal Akerman Collection: Vol.1: 1967-1978
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles - Chantal Akerman Collection: Vol.1: 1967-1978 review by griggs
At first, it feels like watching paint dry—meticulously, dutifully, day after day. And then the cracks start to show. A pot overboils. A routine slips. A rhythm breaks. What Chantal Akerman does here is radical not in scale but in restraint: three hours of repetition that turn domestic routine into quiet revolt.
Delphine Seyrig is mesmerising. Her every gesture—peeling potatoes, folding towels, buttoning coats—becomes loaded with something unspoken. It’s a performance built from precision and silence, all the more devastating because nothing is ever said outright.
It’s about the tyranny of tasks, the claustrophobia of gender roles, and the violence simmering just beneath the surface of order. Not a film to multitask through. It demands patience, attention, and trust. And it rewards all three. The final act isn’t a twist—it’s a slow scream. Routine isn’t just habit here; it’s a form of survival. Until, suddenly, it isn’t. Astonishing, in the quietest possible way.
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