Night and Day (Akerman, 1991): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 3.30pm
This 35mm screening is part of the Chantal Akerman season at BFI. The screening on Friday 7 March will be introduced by Laura Carreira, director of On Falling.
Chicago Reader review:
One of the constants of Chantal Akerman’s remarkable work is a powerful
if “heavy” painterly style that practically precludes narrative flow
even when she’s telling stories. Even at her best, as in Jeanne Dielman and The Man With a Suitcase,
the only kind of character development she seems able to articulate
with conviction is a gradual descent into madness. But the relatively
unneurotic Night and Day (1991) strikes me as her most successful
work in years. Julie (Guilaine Londez), the heroine, makes love to Jack
(Thomas Langmann) in their small flat by day and wanders through Paris
at night while he drives a cab—until she meets Joseph (Francois Negret)
and guiltlessly launches a secret nighttime affair with him. Akerman
brings a lyricism to the material that makes it “sing” like a musical.
Whether the camera is gracefully traversing Jack and Julie’s flat or
slowly retreating from Julie and Joseph across bustling traffic while he
recounts the things he loves about Paris, Akerman seems to have
discovered both a musical rhythm for her mise en scene and a deftness in
integrating her score that eluded her in her literal musical Window Shopping. This movie isn’t for everyone—no Akerman feature is—but if you care about her work you shouldn’t miss it.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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