Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) (Criterion Collection, 2 DVDs)

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A singular work in film history, Chantal Akerman`s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles brillantly evokes, with meticulous detail and sense of impending doom, the daily domestic routine of a middle-aged widow - whose chores include making the beds, cooking dinner for her grown son, and turning the occasional trick- just as it begins to break down. In its enormous spareness, Akerman`s film seems simple, but it encompasses an entire world. Whether seen as an exacting character portrait or one of cinema`s most hypnotic and complete depictions of space and time, Jeanne Dielman is an astonishing, compelling movie experiment, one that has been analyzed and argued over for decades.