Slideshow
JE TU IL ELLE
France/Belgium, 1974
Directed by Chantal Akerman
With Chantal Akerman, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion
In French with Engish subtitles
Approx. 90 min. DCP.
A young woman (played by a 24-year-old Akerman) rearranges furniture, writes and re-writes letters, dresses and undresses, and subsists on only spoonfuls of sugar. She finally leaves, hitching a ride with a young truck driver. She is dropped off at her former lover's apartment where she is reluctantly admitted with the caveat that she leave in the morning. They make love.
JE TU IL ELLE hits all the phenomenal highs in a freewheeling discourse on self and others, past and present. As usual, Akerman’s cinematic discipline is an open invitation to improvisation, seen comprehensively as change, death, disaster, and fun. The revelatory and raw love-making scene remains as bold and poignant today as it was upon its release. The intimacy of the subject matter is underlined by the presence of Akerman in the central role.
Reviews
“The film’s absolutely un-eroticised lesbian lovemaking scene must be credited for its courage in 1974, especially given that it includes the filmmaker in the scene.”
– Andrea Weiss