Jeanne Dielman is a middle-aged widow whose daily routine of chores includes making the beds, cooking dinner for her teenage son, and some occasional sex work. The rhythm and the rites of her every day are unchangeable. But when something changes, her routine slowly begins to unravel.
Swatting Hitchcock’s Vertigo off its perch as the greatest film of all time in Sight and Sound magazine’s 2022 decennial poll, Chantal Akerman’s masterpiece is a radical work of commanding power. In a steady accumulation of domestic scenes, Jeanne Dielman revolutionises the language of cinema.