Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

press release: MMoCA Cinema returns for a free special screening this weekend, featuring Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, voted in 2022 as the greatest film of all time by Sight and Sound. Join us for this event from 2-5:30 PM on Sunday, June 11, in MMoCA’s Lecture Hall.

Directed by Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles follows a widowed housewife (Delphine Seyrig) over the course of three days. Distributor Janus Films says the film “meticulously details, with a sense of impending doom, the daily routine of a middle-aged widow, whose chores include making the beds, cooking dinner for her son, and turning the occasional trick. In its enormous spareness, Akerman’s film seems simple, but it encompasses an entire world.” The feature is in French with English subtitles.

The film is an exemplar of the slow cinema genre and a landmark in feminist film. This MMoCA Cinema screening is presented in conjunction with Christina Ramberg: Vertical Amnesia, which uses 1970s film theory to explore Ramberg’s extreme close-ups and hyperfocus on femininity. Check out the exhibition before or after the film.