the images soon catch up with the narrative, but the diegesis remains enigmatic. akerman works with an approach towards non-solidity, images may fade or resist, transitions may be abrupt, but the movie structures itself in some kind of watery resistance nonetheless: what we see resists that which we perceive and vice-versa.

there is some perverse causality within the dissembling black & white and the sudden shifts of light: the anguish is palpable, but we can't fully grasp it. the entire film constructs itself within some ilusory sense of compactness, of impenetrability, as if chantal wanted to hide her pain by showing only a glimpse of it.

"i realised that life stood still no matter what, that nothing would happen, and that i had to wait until it stopped snowing and the snow melted. it snowed a long time."

the last scene tranfigures love as rage, and when it's over, she leaves once more.

Explorar dimensões. Akerman assume esse estudo das formas e suas limitações, sendo os limites essenciais para enquadrar os corpos paralelos das paredes do quarto e do humano, sendo este último o principal. E sendo o feminino, claro, com sua sexualidade se tornando a maior manifestação de vida. Quando existe o sexo com o masculino (a cena da masturbação do caminhoneiro) nem dentro do quadro ele está, porque simplesmente não interessa, não há vida ali. 

As dimensões solitárias da jovem sozinha no quarto fúnebre se transformando no último momento, quando as duas amantes se encontram. Nesse encontro, tanto o quarto quanto o humano mudam, tudo se torna vivo. Todas as dimensões estão em movimento.

tired: rooney mara eating pie
wired: chantal akerman eating sugar

watching this while also naked in bed was ... surreal

I really tried to like this! The cinematography is amazing and there is absolutely no voyeurism for the female nude and the sex scenes but God I really am so bored and only 50 minutes in. Nothing has happened. The camera lingers for so long that I'm just in the same torment as the protagonist. If the case is that I'm supposed to be in this position, then mission accomplished. That still doesn't cancel the fact I really thought this dragged on, even for my love for long takes it seemed too gratuitous, unnecessary. Would be much higher if this was in a short film format.

Ce soit comme ça parfois.

so ahead of its time!!!!!

Queer depression means laying in bed naked while eating sugar, then hooking up with a truck driver and an ex.

A woman unable to leave her room and then she does. Precisely constructed and strange glimpses into the life of a character played by Akerman herself. With a deliberate pacing and definite structure that starts to emerge, it encapsulates threads explored by Akerman in her other films both dramatic and documentary. Unsettling at times with a radical honesty as boundaries are pushed.

great movie to paint your nails to

I just can’t stand these types of films. Or, character studies. I don’t like it, but I don’t despise it. I understand how it sort of breaks the barrier of film in that you truly do feel like you are experiencing every moment with Chantel Akerman but still...I feel like I’m going to explode. 

Also,

What was that sex scene? Disappointing.