Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

This is an incredibly slow moving film but the lack of events is the statement of the film; how dull life can be when put into bad circumstances. Jeanne Dielman is a woman taking care of her son, her husband having died years earlier. She spends most of her day at home, either prostituting herself or briefly taking care of a neighbor’s baby. Extended scenes find her either preparing food or simply staring off. There is nothing for her to really do in her life. It is a miserable journey to watch, but it’s easy to see that it is the director’s purpose to question mundane living. The slow crawl of the film is only a fraction of the boredom and misery that Jeanne must be in. It is unrelenting in everything it does. Some scenes simply consist of a single take for over ten minutes, only showing Jeanne preparing a meal. What the film lacks in action, it makes up for in cinematography. The shots are incredibly beautiful even with the dull coloring of all the walls and surroundings.