buddylove447

I've seen a number of movies from Akerman and almost all have been absolutely dire - mind numbingly boring, lacking in story and character development...... But because she is a woman and a feminist reviewers on here and other platforms have their trousers around their ankles for her. I've seen her described as a minamalist......ie nothing happens in her films. They are like watching paint dry. Why on earth would anyone want to see Jeanne Dielman at the cinema ? Nothing happens. When I was watching it my wife came in during a 5 min long scene in which we see a motionless Dielman sitting in a chair ....and my wife asked why I had paused the film....... I had to explain that I hadn't paused it, it was just that nothing was happening. She just laughed. Akerman clearly thought she could be a director. But we can't all be what we want to be in life. Some things need talent. She has none, but luckily she is part of an age that rewards the untalented.

The plot summary for this is tripe. Suppressed women, male dominated society blah de blah. One woman (the gymnast) is coached by a man AND a woman and ends up a coach herself. The other woman, after no doubt leading the man into marriage and kids, then decides this isn't for her and finds it frustrating. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? Isn't the man as much of a victim of societal pressures and expectations? I enjoyed some of the shots and editing, and at times felt I could watch the wonderful Eva Bosáková all day, but there isn't any story here, very little characterisation, and not a great deal of talent on show from Chytilova, who made her reputation with the wildly experimental but overrated DAISIES. Some of these directors just thought a storyline was disposable if they filmed with jaunty angles in black and white.

I love a good noir - but this isn't one. The plotting and dialogue (especially the voice over going on on in Loretta Young's head) is so poor that at times it is utterly laughable. In fact this film gave me more laughs than the entire Abbott and Costello box set my estranged ex gave me for Xmas. For me this made the film impossible to take seriously, and very difficult to get involved in as a serious thriller or drama. The leads flounder a bit, but Corey and Jaffe stand out and are rather decent. The romance doesn't work, and neither does the ending.though I was glad it came.