This blog is a personal journal of all the movies, Tv-Shows, & Games I consume during a year which enhances my overall experience. The ratings that I give are fully based on my personal preference and enjoyment at the time of watching and I'm writing spoiler-free reviews. (All HBD earnings are used to get extra Hive Power Delegations!)
Fun Fact is that there is a famous top 250 Ranking of Films (Sight and Sound List) where only Cineasts are able to vote on which is made every 10 Years. Last time this happened was in 2022 and the #1 ranked movie on that list is actually Jeanne Dielman 23 Quai Du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles.
Jeanne Dielman 23 Quai Du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (8.9/10)
Very early on in the movie you get a sense of what you can expect and why this movie is so long as you get to fixed cameras that film a housewife doing chores and going through her daily routine. The movie spans over 3 days and each of the scenes tend to be quite long. This makes it so that you can easily take a bathroom break without the need to put it on pauze or the fear to have missed out on anything. If she's cooking, you can be sure it takes a while and she still will be cooking when you are back. At the same time, it's also not taken to the extreme I would say and at least for me it never was boring.
The visuals are also beatiful since it's a fixed camera stand the director managed to make each scene a work of art that just really looked nice and where everything was in the perfect place. It's a movie from the 70s and you really get that time machine feeling of being there. The fixed camera angles also kind of make you feel like a voyeur especially early on in the scene where she is taking a bath.
Things I Loved About This Movie
#1 How My Brain Reacted
I went into this one with the best mindest of making it an experience and fully embracing it for 3+ Hours which was the best thing I could have done. It took me places where I didn't expect it to take me and bring a ton of joy from just many small things. Some Examples...
As it's filmed with fixed camera angles mainly in a small house, you quickly have seen all the different rooms. However, a bit furter in the film all of a sudden, one of the rooms is filmed from a different angle. This small thing however gave so much joy and I started wanting more which the film also gave.
There was also a scene where she was doing the dishes putting the plates that were cleaned on the side. One of them still had some soap bubbles on them. I was thinking to myself, 'if it were me I would redo that one' and sure enough a minute later she took the plate and washed it again.
Image SourceOn day 1 she also went out to do some shopping passing by different stores but the camera just filmed the outside why I really wanted to see what the inside looked like. This is exactly what they gave in day 2 and again one of those small things that gave a tremenous feeling of joy since your sensories are so deprived by that point
There are some other things in the movie where my mind made some wild predictions what would happen but I'm not going to go into any spoilers. In a world where everything is 5 seconds attention span with quick cuts & zooms, this movie is the perfect antidote.
#2 The Relatable Main Theme
I would say many things and themes can be seen in this movie but as someone who is quite fond of having routines, I mainly related to the idea of how they kind of help to get some sense of control and reduced anxiety. This while at the same time they can also drive you crazy. I would say solitude is also one of the themes. However, the entire feminism, & women in the 70s kind of passed by me also because she was a widow and chose to keep up with the housewife routine.
#3 This Movie Makes You Feel Great About Your Own Life!
Right now, we live in a world of social media where I would say everything is fake and everyone pretends to be happy having this great life all of the time. It's easy to believe everything that you see and it kind of makes you feel bad about your own life. Jeanne Dielman does exactly the opposite showing a more realistic picture of things at least in the 70s and I can imagine that especially yough people who are forced to watch this movie with the right context come out of this one for a change feeling super great about their lives.
#4 Recognizable Nostalgia!
As someone born in 1982 in Belgium, many of the things I saw in the movie just brought me back to my childhood and what I saw at my grandparents and older peope in general. This in the form of the bottle of soap, the "Luikse stroop" for breakfast, the milk bottles, the furniture especially the bedroom closet, ...
Image Source
I also liked how in that time people grinded their own coffee beans which took me back as I remember a device in the kitche of my grandmother that did this. So I started wondering why people don't do this anymore an everything now is those capsules which kind of have 'unhealthy' written all over. So I looked it up asking Chat GPT during the movie which allowed me to wander off a bit without really missing anything.
The Story Itself:
I only read the plot of the movie which sounded interesting and knew she was also a Prostitute which can easily be derived from the 'the occasional trick' description.
A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet, but something happens that changes her safe routine.
However, I was constantly thinking about what it could be that happens that changes her routine. I figured that she might fall in love but this simply isn't your cliché standard hollywood movie. Another idea I had was that maye the news would come that her son had died but that would have made things overly dramatic. Somewhat later in the movie I was thinking that the fact that she overcooked here potatoes might have been the thing. However it were more small gradual things in the fact that she was up a hour too early which made it so that the shop was still closed that started messing up her routine. So I would say, don't go in that in the middle of the movie something spectacular happens that changes everything.
The one things I would say I didn't really like about the movie was the weird and somewhat cringe acting and dialogue of her son. It is a movie with very little taking in it though which I would say is a good thing.
Who This Movie Is For...
So the question now is if you should watch this and who I would recommend it to. I would say if you meet 1 or more of these criteria it might be worth the watch for you. If not, this movie might be a torture to watch.
- If you read the plot and think "this might be Something for me".
- If you are someone who is using routine to feel safe and supresse anxiety.
- If you have Low Attention Span and want and Antidote.
- If you want to feel great about your own life.
- If you are a cinefile and look for something completely different.
- If you are frome Belgium and were born in the 70s-80s.
- If none of the above and you want to experience torture.
Conclusion
I was afraid when it came down to this movie before watching it that I might not have much to write about. However, that is not the case at all! I went in with high expectations and with the right mindset at the right time without knowing too much about this film and it exceeded them! It gave me something that I never experienced before and I absolutely loved it. This movie gave me the joy of beating a Dark Souls boss after hours of trying just by providing a view of the appartment from a different angle as my sensory input was so deprived. I would describe this movie as Groundhog Day (which is my favorite movie if all time) but realistic with a housewife in the 70s. This movie for me is an unique masterpiece and this review is my love letter to it! It also is still growing on me and my score only keeps rising 8.9/10
| # | 2025 Watched Movies | Score |
|---|---|---|
| #01 | Heretic | 7.8/10 |
| #02 | A Different Man | 6.9/10 |
| #03 | Look Back | 6.9/10 |
| #04 | Caddo Lake | 7.5/10 |
| #05 | Sing Sing | 6.0/10 |
| #06 | Paris, Texas | 9.2/10 |
| #07 | The Greatest Night In Pop | 7.2/10 |
| #08 | Sometimes I Think About Dying | 7.3/10 |
| #09 | Memory Lane | 6.8/10 |
| #10 | Winter In Sokcho | 7.6/10 |
| #11 | On Falling | 6.8/10 |
| #12 | Carry-On | 6.9/10 |
| #13 | The Brutalist | 6.6/10 |
| #14 | Dune Part Two | 6.1/10 |
| #15 | Companion | 7.8/10 |
| #16 | Under The Silver Lake | 7.2/10 |
| #17 | After Life | 7.5/10 |
| #18 | Hit Man | 7.3/10 |
| #19 | The Edge Of Seventeen | 7.3/10 |
| #20 | Anora | 6.6/10 |
| #21 | Mickey 17 | 7.6/10 |
| #22 | Taste Of Cherry | 7.3/10 |
| #23 | My Old Ass | 7.7/10 |
| #24 | Drop | 6.4/10 |
| #25 | A Silent Voice | 7.9/10 |
| #26 | Conclave | 7.0/10 |
| #27 | Fandango | 7.5/10 |
| #28 | Sinners | 7.9/10 |
| #29 | Perfect Blue | 7.0/10 |
| #30 | Challengers | 7.1/10 |
| #31 | Bring Her Back | 7.0/10 |
| #32 | Ghost In The Shell | 7.6/10 |
| #33 | F1: The Movie | 7.7/10 |
| #34 | Jurassic World Rebirth | 7.0/10 |
| #35 | The Social Network | 7.0/10 |
| #36 | Jeanne Dielman 23 Quai Du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles | 8.9/10 |