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Eclipse Series 19: Chantal Akerman in the Seventies (La Chambre / Hotel Monterey / News from Home / Je Tu Il Elle / Les Rendez-Vous d'Anna) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Chantal Akerman (Actor, Director), Aurore Clément (Actor) Rated:
NR
Format: DVD
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 52 ratings
IMDb5.9/10.0
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January 19, 2010
The Criterion Collection
3
$59.94
$84.95 $49.14
Genre Drama
Format Multiple Formats, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, Color, Box set
Contributor Niels Arestrup, Hanns Zischler, Aurore Clément, Helmut Griem, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Magali Noël, Claire Wauthion, Chantal Akerman, Lea Massari See more
Language French
Number Of Discs 3
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Product Description

Over the past four decades, Belgian director Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles) has created one of cinemas most distinctive bodies of work formally daring, often autobiographical films about people and places, time and space. In this collection, we present the early films that put her on the map: intensely personal, modernist investigations of cities, history, family, and sexuality, made in the 1970s in the United States and Europe and strongly influenced by the New York experimental film scene. Bold and iconoclastic, these five films pushed boundaries in their day and continue to have a profound influence on filmmakers all over the world. La Chambre (1972, Silent, 11min): In this early short film, we see the furniture and clutter of one small room in an apartment become the subject of a moving still life with Akerman herself staring back at us. This breakthrough formal experiment is the first film the director made in New York. Hotel Monterey (1972, Silent, 62 min): Under Akermans watchful eye, a cheap New York hotel glows with mystery and unexpected beauty, it's corridors, elevators, rooms, windows, and occasional tenants framed as though part of an Edward Hopper tableau. News from Home (1976, French w/ English Subs, 89 minutes): Letters from Akermans mother are read over a series of elegantly composed shots of 1976 New York, where our (unseen) filmmaker and protagonist has relocated. Akermans unforgettable time capsule of the city is also a gorgeous meditation on urban alienation and personal and familial disconnection. Je Tu Il Elle (1974, B/W, French w/ English Subs, 86 min): In her sexually provocative first feature, Akerman stars as a nameless, rootless young woman who leaves self-imposed isolation to embark on a road trip that leads to lonely love affairs with a male truck driver and a former girlfriend. With it's famous real-time sexual encounter and it's daring minimalist plot, Je Tu Il Elle is Akermans most audaciously erotic film. Les ezdez-Vous DAnna (1978, French w/ English Subs, 127 min): In one of Akermans most penetrating character studies, Anna, an accomplished filmmaker (played by Aurore Clment), makes her way through a series of anonymous European cities to promote her latest movie. Through a succession of eerie, exquisitely shot brief encounters with men and women, family and strangers we come to see her emotional and physical detachment from the world.

Product details

  • Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 8.8 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ CRRNECL85DVD
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Chantal Akerman
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ Multiple Formats, Black & White, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen, Color, Box set
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 6 hours and 11 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ January 19, 2010
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Chantal Akerman, Aurore Clément, Helmut Griem, Magali Noël, Lea Massari
  • Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion Collection
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002U6DVOO
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 3
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 52 ratings

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
52 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Dale Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique Visions
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2022
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Admittedly her work is not for everyone, but I find her films to be fascinating. I’ve been a fan ever since I stumbled across Hotel Monterrey some years back and I’m tickled to add these films to my collection.
2 people found this helpful
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Joseph Elia
5.0 out of 5 stars Chantal Akerman was a great visual artist.
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2018
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If you know the cartoons of Saul Steinberg -- his depictions of New York City as a kind of giant carnival -- you'll be reminded of that in watching "Letters from Home." The final scene, the progress of the Staten Island ferry out into the harbor, will grab you by the throat.

The experimental stuff is, well, experimental but they are not failed experiments.

This is a collection to be savored.
4 people found this helpful
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Carlos Enriquez
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Introduction to a Great Filmmaker
Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2018
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Next to Jeanne Dielmann, this box set is the perfect way to introduce yourself and others to a great filmmaker.
2 people found this helpful
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L. Ruth
5.0 out of 5 stars Not Enough Stars Exist
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2010
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Where has Chantal Akerman been all my life? Her films are glorious, gorgeous, tense and absolute. Stunning. Do not live another minute without this collection. It will change your life.
13 people found this helpful
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KG
4.0 out of 5 stars Early works by an under-known master
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2010
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Chantal Akerman is arguably the most important and interesting female director of her era, yet she is sadly under-known here in the U.S. The range of her work is astounding, from largely experimental 'difficult' works represented by the three shorter films on in this set ('Hotel Monterey', 'News From Home' and 'La Chambre' ), to frothy musical-comedy, to introspective dramas represented here by 'Je Tu Il Elle' and 'Les Rendz-vous D'Anna'. Even if you don't respond to these films, you may well like other things she has done. She seems to exist in a constant state of self-reinvention as an artist. I highly recommend the set for anyone interested in her work, or women film-makers, or film-makers with unique, challenging and individual voices.

As for these five early films of hers, my personal thoughts;

Hotel Monterey: (1972) My rating ****1/2. Experimental silent 60 minute 'documentary' set in a cheap NY hotel. No story, just images that cross the sadness of Edward Hopper's paintings with the weirdness of David Lynch (who seems to have been influenced by this). It's like a great photo book come to life. It has a fascinating look (very grainy 16mm, with super rich colors). No question that by nature this feels dull in spots and some images are less powerful or repetitive, but its full of wonderful, disquieting moments, and it has a fascinating, hypnotic almost imperceptible build to a `climax'. If nothing else, the film is worth it for the simple power of the moment when the camera starts to move after 30 minutes of still images.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974 ) ****1/4 Often sad, and sometimes absurdly funny. A three part film with little obvious plot, its a delicate character study of a young, neurotic woman. Part one shows her stuck alone in her room over a period of days, trying to write a letter to a lover, eating sugar, walking around naked - emotionally as well as physically. Part 2 is her journey with a truck driver who picks her up hitchhiking on her way to meet her female lover, and the relationship that develops between them, and part 3 is her arriving at her lover's apartment, spending the night making love with that woman, and finally resolving their relationship. The images, though often striking, don't have quite the power of her very best work, and while some moments have a real charge-- sexual or emotional -- others feel awkward. An intelligent and complex film, ultimately wistfully touching, but missing that last step to greatness. The first third is very strong, the second almost as good, but the last 'act' feels less complete, and the 15 minute love making scene is sort of awkward in that it's very explicit, but never seems quite real. None-the-less, an impressive first narrative film, that sets the ground for her great dramas to follow.

Les Rendez-Vous D'Anna (1978) **** Amazingly shot, with the film always demonstrating a tremendous, disciplined use of image to convey mood and story. The film is full of long takes using striking symmetry, the camera always finding frames within frames. For me, the story itself is interesting intellectually, but lacks emotional power; traveling to a film festival, a young femme filmmaker has a series of sadly empty encounters with people, leading to long, well-written monologues by the various lost souls. Sometimes too on the nose and speechy with its ideas, but always intelligent, physically beautiful film-making.

News From Home (1977) ***1/2 An interesting experiment; Various images of New York City, mostly still at first, with ever more movement as the film goes along, accompanied by the sound of Akerman reading aloud letters from her mother in France. Stays pretty interesting, though never really gets emotionally involving. Once again, Akerman's city images are great, evoking Hopper. But the images and overall impact seem less to me than the somewhat similar 'Hotel Monterey'.

La Chamber (1972) **1/2 11 minute experimental short, where the camera slowly turns in circles revealing a room, first one way, than the other, occasionally passing Akerman in bed, staring, sleeping, perhaps masturbating, but treating her as just another object in the room. Interesting as an `idea', but -- for me -- slightly boring to watch.
33 people found this helpful
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pickles
4.0 out of 5 stars Remembering old new york
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2022
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If you want to remember some good parts of New York, the way it was years ago.
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amblin
1.0 out of 5 stars I find these experimental works to be incredably useless and of no artistic value
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2015
This is an experimental film, in my opinion it is simply (intentionally) boring and of no artistic value. However, if you are looking for works or statements about "nothingness" then this film is for you. I dont bleive she is a fraud but I do believe there is very little substance to any of her work and the immense amount of fawining reveals more about our culture than about her value as an artist. I am interested in all that has been written about this artist because her work is so devoid of substance that it attracts projection and discussion. I blank canvas, for some, is as interesting as a Monet and there is something that intelligent folks like to project onto the art of nothingness. i dont hate her work, simply dislike it & i doubt the integrity of the context and believe it is purely another [failed] experiment of the 70's [that painting expressed better than film], not a work of art.
5 people found this helpful
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I like all kinds of stuff
4.0 out of 5 stars meditations
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2013
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If you know what you're getting into these films are stunning. They are strong transfers and demonstrate the Eclipse Series' usual attention. I love these detailed, almost OCD, examinations and the characters that inhabit them.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Candido Campos
5.0 out of 5 stars Muito bom -
Reviewed in Brazil on October 20, 2020
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Excelente -
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Anthony M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful cinema
Reviewed in Canada on October 14, 2020
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So many amazing things
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Michael Forester
5.0 out of 5 stars Buenas películas, mal servicio de envío.
Reviewed in Mexico on January 13, 2016
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La colección Criterion es posiblemente la mejor en el mundo en cuanto a su calidad y contenidos. Por otra parte, escribo esta reseña por la parte negativa del envío por UPS de Amazon México. Al parecer las películas fueron abiertas por parte de Amazon México para re-empacarlas para evadir impuestos, cuando a mi sí se me cobró una tarifa. Uno de los paquetes llegó dañado, con las cajas maltratadas y rotas. Amazon.com nunca presentó este problema. Muy mal servicio de paquetería esta vez.
One person found this helpful
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A. W. Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars Chantal Ackerman
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2010
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These are all rare hard to find films. The delivery from USA was good. The packaging and sleeve notes excellent. The films are hard work and let no one say otherwise, but, if you are a fan they are a must. Completely uncut, which with Je Tu Il Elle is quite something. Go on - riski it and try and understand them
5 people found this helpful
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