The earlier films all intrigued in various ways, but here’s where the hype I’ve read about Chantal Akerman starts ringing true: this was an entirely singular filmmaker, a mold-breaking original, so piercingly real and bracingly fresh in setup after setup and scene after scene that I ought to say this is an entirely singular filmmaker, for her work hasn’t aged. As nakedly honest as cinema comes, braver than all of Peckinpah’s violence put together.
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Knokke: une petite fiction 2 1967
Part 2 of Chantal & Marilyn’s shopping spree in Knokke, with a brief appearance from the budding director herself. Remarkable to see this material and realize that less than a decade later they will have their production company (Paradise Films) and Akerman will have transformed perspectives on what’s possible in cinema.
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Hanging Out Yonkers 1973
Seems unfair to rate this one, given its unfinished condition. Plenty of intriguing visuals, courtesy of Babette Mangolte’s camera work, and the setting (a juvenile rehabilitation center in the smoke-‘em-if-you-got-‘em ‘70s) is a rich one for such cinema verité. But while some scenes hold attention on their own — the chess match, the billiards bit, a few of the desultory poses — others clearly would have been improved by hearing what these teens had to say, or even just via ambient background. Shame about the missing sound reels. This might’ve been of most lasting value than merely a minor missing link.
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The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman 1971
Allegedly unfinished and definitely disowned, and I guess I see why on both counts, in that this effective but not brilliant short merely presents future Akerman obsessions/motifs without imbuing them with any profound meaning. A tease, not a testament. But it’s plenty daring, then and now, in its nakedness, as evident in the confessional sequence involving Claire Wauthion’s literally nude self-assessment in the mirror, which reminds how much insecurity can ensnare beauty. What Akerman felt it lacked back in ‘71…
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