Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/2016/03/ome-rief-reflection-on-a-
counte-from-hong-kong/)
Dead Pigeon on eethoven treet (1973 & 2016) →
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/2016/04/dead-pigeon-on-eethoven-treet-
1973-2016/)
Place and Diplacement:
Akerman and Documentar
Poted March (http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/2016/03/) 29
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/2016/03/29/), 2016
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/2016/)
Written for Chantal Akerman: Four Film, a DVD ox et
releaed Icaru Film
(http://icarufilm.com/filmmaker/chant.html) on
March 29, 2016. — J.R.
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content/upload/1997/10/det2.jpg)
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content/upload/2016/02/ud-church-front.jpg)
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content/upload/2016/02/De-lautre-cote-wall.jpg)
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content/upload/2016/02/la-a.jpg)
“When ou tr to how realit in cinema, mot of the time
it’ totall fale. ut when ou how what’ going on in
people’ mind that’ ver cinematic.”
Chantal Akerman
If I had to decrie the art of Chantal Akerman (1950-
2015) in a ingle word, I think I’d opt for “compoition”.
Thi i a term that need to e undertood in it platic
a well a it muical meaning: a viual oject that ha
to e framed in pace, a muical oject that ha to e
compoed in time. And if we factor in the implied
definition offered aove Akerman regarding what’
realit and what’ cinematic, what’ going on in
people’ mind and what’ going on in front of a camera
and microphone, then we have to acknowledge that
what he chooe to compoe repreent a kind of
unea truce etween all four element (or five
element, if we regard ound and image a eparate).
How much he and we privilege mind over matter and
cinema over realit — or vice vera — ha a lot of
earing on what’ derived from the encounter.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/ChantalAkermanFromHere.jpg)
The four Akerman documentarie included in thi ox
et — D’et (From the at, 1993), ud (outh, 1999), De
l’autre côté (From the Other ide, 2002), and Là-a
(Down There, 2006) — and the documentar aout her
included a an extra (Gutavo eck and Leonardo Luiz
Ferreira’ 2010 Chantal Akerman, From Here) are all elf-
decried in relation to place. Yet all five film are
deepl involved with diplacement, thank to the
unea truce etween their element that I’ve jut
alluded to. Chantal Akerman, From Here i further
diplaced from the four Akerman film virtue of the
fact that it ma appear uperficiall to reemle her
own film in it handling of pace and time, although I
would argue that in fact it doe omething that’
actuall antithetical to her methodolog: a fixed camera
poition that eem uncompoed, at leat in relation to
Akerman’ own monumentall forceful and weighted
framing, and a ue of real time that eem imilarl
haphazard and unfocued in contrat to the more
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/) tructured ue of real time that he periodicall
emplo. A Akerman herelf point out in the
interview proper, which give Chantal Akerman, From
JONATHAN
Here it undeniale value and relevanc, the houehold
RONAUM
ritual of Jeanne Dielman in her mot famou fiction
film, even if the eem to unfold in “real time,” are in
(HTTP://WWW.JONATHANRONAUM.NT/)
fact “recompoed”. And even more relevant are her
Information
remark in thi interview aout the viewer’ perception
Aout
Aout
of time paing, a oppoed to the more commercial
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/aout-
norm of time “fling ”—a ujective experience that
thi-ite/)
i far removed from the notion of “real time” adopted
Pulication
eck and Ferreira. (‘’If I have a reputation for eing
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/pulication/)
difficult,” he once aid, “it’ ecaue I love the everda and
vent
want to preent it. In general people go to the movie
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/event/)
preciel to ecape the everda.”) Thi help to explain
Archive wh, in the ame interview, he note that
Featured Text documentarie gave her more freedom a an editor than
her narrative feature virtue of allowing her more
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/featured-
text/) choice in how to comine diparate material. Freed
Note from the trann impoed the neceit of following
torie and character, her et documentarie can
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/note/)
Date argual call on a fuller range of oth her aethetic
reource and the imagination of her viewer, which i
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/archive-
-date/) implied the title he gave to her 1995 intallation
related to From the at, ordering on Fiction.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2014/03/JeanneDielman-
wiener1.jpg)
A rilliant French televiion producer once howed me
a paper he wrote arguing that Akerman’ greatet film
were her documentarie and aked me for comment.
M main comment wa to ak aout the 201-minute
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai de Commerce, 1080 ruxelle
(1975), onl to dicover that he’d never een it. ut
depite thi major caveat — hi overlooking of one of
Akerman’ greatet film, with an indelile depiction of
houework and other form of female entrapment, a
uject that ecome no le worth of epic
proportion than thoe of From the at and From the
Other ide – I think hi overall point ha ome merit. It’
epeciall valid once one acknowledge that like man
of the other greatet filmmaker, Akerman worked in a
zone in which non-fiction and fiction frequentl
intermingle and ometime even trade place. The final
equence of From the Other ide i argual more
novelitic in the depth of it feeling and in it creation
of a fictional temporalit than anthing in her no le
ditinctive adaptation of Marcel Prout, La captive
(2000), while the final equence in her onl other (and
no le free) adaptation of a novel, Joeph Conrad’
Almaer’ Foll (2011), end with a triking ue of
extended real time that ecome in effect a
documentar aout it lead actor, tanilau Merhar.
Furthermore, it i ea to conclude that Le année 80
(1983), her documentar aout the making of her onl
muical, Golden ightie (1986), i far more ucceful
and expreive, even a a muical, than the finihed
work (largel ecaue of Akerman’ own contriution
during the recording eion) — a itterweet tale of
croed romantic detinie that unfold almot entirel
inide a hopping mall.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/Almaer-Foll.jpg)
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/AlmaerFoll2.jpg)
Returning to Akerman’ tatement aout what’
cinematic, I think it’ fair to a that From the at,
outh, From the Other ide, and Down There are onl
nominall and incidentall film aout a journe from
erlin to Mocow, or the town of Japer, Texa, or the
order etween the United tate and Mexico, or a
narrow patch in Tel Aviv mainl coniting of a room in
Akerman’ rented flat and it immediate environ. More
aicall, the’re film aout the tate of Akerman’
concioune, her thought and feeling of
diplacement and alienation, in relation to thoe place.
uch diplacement can e found throughout her work
—perhap mot memoral in two film linking her
ene of homelene with the figure of her mother:
New From Home (1976), occaioning what wa perhap
her firt major ue of autoiographical and
documentar material (letter from her mother that
are read Chantal over hot of New York), and No
Home Movie (2015), her final film (motl converation
with her mother, hortl efore her mother’ death,
during which he trie and fail to get her to open up
aout other famil memer — converation which, a
Janet ergtrom ha written, are “filled with the
tenion of Akerman’ need to interrogate her mother
aout thing that were taoo for her ince childhood”).
Akerman’ peronal invetment — or lack of ame —
in the place that he film ha a great deal of relevance
to her thought and feeling aout them. orn in
ruel a the daughter of Polih Jew who were
Holocaut urvivor — including a mother, Natalia,
whoe own parent and other relative perihed in
Auchwitz — and with one ounger iter who
eventuall emigrated to Mexico (and who appear,
along with Natalia and Chantal herelf, in No Home
Movie), he maintained throughout her career a refual
to participate in identit politic regarding her exualit
or her feminim outide the realm of her filmmaking,
although her identit a a Jew remained crucial. Apart
from her Judaim, he refued to accept trial
definition and categorie, although he wa no
mean apolitical or unaffiliated in her poition. Thu
her voage from German to Ruia hortl after the fall
of the erlin Wall in From the at i directl inflected
the fate of other atern uropean at that
hitorical moment; her lack of a peronal connection to
the American outh in outh (apart from her horrified
repone to the rutal murder of a lack man everal
white men in Japer, Texa) oliged her to forego much
of her cutomar lricim in that film and to function
motl a a journalit (not generall her forte); her own
perceived tatu a a homele alien who moved
etween ruel and Pari (and, le often, New York)
for mot of her career informed her treatment of
order in From the Other ide, a, more pecificall, did
her variou viit to her iter in Mexico; and her
difficult in engaging with Irael in Down There ha to
e een in relation to her father’’ deciion not to ettle
there after the war, chooing intead to move to
ruel, which he decrie in ome detail in her
cloing monologue.
In addition, our own peronal repone to thee film
are necearil and unfortunatel affected Chantal
Akerman’ uicide in Pari at the age of 65, on Octoer
5, 2015, after extended period of hopitalization for her
depreion following her mother’ death. A with the
uicide of lvia Plath at the age of 30 in 1963, thi i a
uicide that retroactivel inform our ene of the
anguih and depair underling much of her work, even
to the extent of ditorting it through
overdetermination. Like the facile and mainl unhelpful
lotting of her work into ome rand of o-called
leian or iexual cinema, it overimplifie far too
much of the torment and anger a well a the
exuerance and pleaure found in her work in divere
media.
***
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The haunting materpiece From the at document
without an commentar, dialogue, or utitle
Akerman’ everal-month-long trip from at
German to Mocow, offering a formall rigorou
inventor of what the former oviet loc looked and
felt like at the time. Yet depite the overall narrative
trajector, Akerman’ painterl penchant for finding
dward Hopper wherever he goe ha never een
more oviou. Thi travelogue eemingl offer vita
that an alert tourit could find, et it deliver a erie
of image and ound that are impoile to hake
afterward, eeping into our concioune a if
omoi: the countle tracking hot of treet life, the
ene of people forever waiting, the rare occurrence of a
plaintive offcreen cello over an otherwie denel (and
ometime deceptivel) amient ound track, an
oncreen olo cello performance ( the previou
cellit’ teacher), tatic glimpe of roadide ite and
dometic interior, everda activitie inide other
dometic interior, the peripher of an outdoor rock
concert, a heav Mocow nowfall, and a crowded
terminal where wear people and aggage are huddled
together like o man dropped handkerchief. The onl
other film I know that impart uch a vivid ene of
eing omewhere i the gptian ection of trau-
Huillet’ 1982 Too arl, Too Late. verone goe to
movie in earch of event, ut the extraordinar event
in Akerman’ orrowful, intractale film are mainl the
hot themelve.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/1997/10/det.jpg)
Although it ma not e precie in all of it particular,
the mot telling account of what From the at doe
appear in the length propectu Akerman wrote
efore making the film, reprinted in the Walker Art
Center catalogue for her multimedia intallation two
ear later, ordering on Fiction: Chantal Akerman’
D’et. To quote onl the opening paragraph, efore he
roache her peronal invetment in the material
(including her parent’ Polih origin, her elgian
upringing, and an earlier trip to the oviet Union):
While there’ till time, I would like to make a grand
journe acro atern urope.
To Ruia, Poland, Hungar, Czecholovakia, the former
at German, and ack to elgium.
I’d like to film there, in m own tle of documentar
ordering on fiction. I’d like to hoot everthing.
verthing that move me.
Face, treet, car going and ue, train tation
and plain, river and ocean, tream and rook, tree
and foret. Field and factorie and et more face.
Food, interior, door, window, meal eing prepared.
Women and men, oung and old, people paing or
at ret, eated or tanding, even ling down. Da and
night, wind and rain, now and pringtime.
And everthing I ee along the wa that i lowl
changing — face and landcape. All thee countrie in
the throe of great change. Countrie that have hared a
common hitor ince the war and are till deepl
marked thi hitor, even in the ver contour of the
earth. Countrie now emarking on different path.
I would like to record the ound of thi land, to make
ou feel the paage from one language to another, the
difference, the imilaritie.
A ound track onl partiall in nc, if at all. A river of
divere voice orne along image. Voice that will
tell torie oth great and mall, often ver imple one
that we won’t alwa need to undertand ut can grap
anwa, like muic from a foreign land, onl more
familiar.
Wh make thi trip to atern urope?
There are the oviou hitorical, ocial, and political
reaon, reaon that underlie o man documentarie
and new report — and that rarel indulge a calm and
attentive gaze. ut although thee are ignificant, the
are not the onl reaon. I will not attempt to how the
diintegration of a tem, nor the difficultie of
entering into another one, ecaue he who eek hall
find, find all too well, and end up clouding her viion
with her own preconception. Thi undoutedl will
happen anwa; it can’t e helped. ut it will happen
indirectl.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/ud-02.png)
We don’t have acce to Akerman’ propectu for ud –
whoe title ugget that it wa originall intended a a
complementar offhoot of From the at — ut
reportedl her original intention wa to create a more
general portrait of the American outh, inpired in part
her admiration for the work of William Faulkner.
Thi plan wa quickl overtaken her repone to a
horrifing hate crime in Japer, Texa that occurred a
few da efore her arrival in June 1998 and received
international attention, in which a lack man named
Jame rd Jr. wa eaten and tortured three white
upremacit, chained to the ack of a truck, and
dragged three mile to hi death through a
predominantl lack neighorhood, evering oth hi
head and hi right arm in the proce. Thi crime had
man repercuion, including the arret of the three
men reponile (one of whom ha ince een
executed) and the paage of hate crime legilation,
ut Akerman’ film, made hortl after the arret, i
clearl limited having een made off the cuff,
without much preparation.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/ud-03-600x400.jpg)
The aumed audience of oth From the at and outh
are mainl if not excluivel Francophone, o that the
“foreignne” of the etting ovioul won’t regiter in
the ame wa for atern uropean or Ruian who
ee the former, or for American (or more pecificall,
American outherner or at Texan) who ee the
latter. Thi i epeciall relevant in the cae of outh,
which might e aid to reemle Jean-Paul artre’ 1946
pla La Putain repectueue, inpired the cottoro
cae, in eing concioul or unconcioul addreed
to a non-American audience.
peaking a a non-Texan outherner, I can identif two
rief moment in outh that evoke poeticall (a
oppoed to literall) the mall town in Alaama where I
grew up: the ound of inect heard at the eginning
efore an image appear, and a lovel, melanchol,
low-moving hot through Japer’ main treet at duk.
ut mae thi latter hot peak to me directl
ecaue it’ virtuall the onl hot in the film that
how white pedetrian. All the other neighorhood
een in the film are peopled lack, and onl three
white people are hown and interviewed in interior, all
of them men, in contrat to the man lack women and
men encountered.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/ud-Road-360x206.jpg)
Given Akerman’ feeling of olidarit and
identification with Japer’ poor lack population, thi
i undertandale (a i her deciion to omit her own
quetion and her preence throughout the film), ut it
make her portrait of the communit far from
complete. Nineteen of the film’ 70 minute pa efore
we ee a ingle white peron, even though a white town
official whom we ee much later etimate that Japer i
two-third white (contrar to Wikipedia, which claim
an almot even plit etween lack and white aed
on a 2010 cenu), and the onl commentarie we
encounter aout thi part of the communit are a few
peronal anecdote from lack people, a rief
decription a white man of the Aran Nation and
Chritian Identit movement, and the aforementioned
interview with a local official, who predictal trie to
oft-pedal Japer’ racial trife arguing that the
town’ prolem are chiefl economic. The two longet
equence are a memorial for rd held in a lack
church (13 minute) and the concluding hot, roughl
half a long, filmed from the ack of a car driving down
the three mile of Huff Creek Road where rd’ od
wa dragged. There’ a diquieting clah etween the
eaut of the hot and the horror of what it ignifie
and ak u to imagine, ut all Akerman can do with
uch a hot i ear mute witne to the crime.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2012/09/fromtheotheride3.jpg)
In From the Other ide, we hear Akerman interviewing
Mexican in panih and American in nglih. Thi
time it’ far more evident that her interet in her
uject goe well eond mpathetic tourim. The
final equence here, hot from the front of a car
traveling down a freewa at night, feature her own
eautiful and moving monologue, poken in French, in
which he peculate aout the fate of an interviewee’
mother, who diappeared after croing the order into
the U.. We never ee thi woman, and he in’t
mentioned efore thi monologue, o we wind up
imagining her a we would a character in a hort tor.
Akerman trace ome of her jo and find olique
reference to her in the tra comment of other
people, following the woman’ eluive trajector a if
he were a ghot fading into the anonmit of the
hpnotic uperhighwa. Thi character’ fugitive and
emifictional exitence, which flit in and out of our
concioune efore vanihing, provide a
heartreaking ummation of all the hard fact aout her
and other Mexican migrant we’ve een aoring over
the previou 90 minute. Thi i oth enitive
portraiture and harp invetigative journalim,
maintaining a repectful, inquiitive ditance from it
uject that recall ome of Walker van’
photograph of Alaama harecropper in hi ook with
Jame Agee, Let U Now Praie Famou Men. In a wa,
Akerman’ powerful monologue erve a a kind of
counterpart to Agee’ impaioned and empathetic
proe.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2009/01/fromtheotheride.jpg)
he egin the film interviewing a 21-ear-old
Mexican on the Mexican ide of the order aout hi
older rother; he tried to cro to the U.. with a group,
and all of them eventuall perihed in the deert. Next
he focue on portion of the order itelf—a wide,
dut road, a field where three kid pla aeall, and
another road flanked a high wall. Then he
interview Delfina, a woman in her late 70, aout her
famil, including the on and grandon he lot when
the tried to cro the order. Her huand le
toicall emoan their lo. Akerman then turn ack
to the variou landcape along the order. Onl much
later in the film doe he finall get around to people
and place on the American ide — pending time in a
retaurant, then talking to a rancher and hi wife, who
expre fear aout Mexican “taking over and doing a
lot of damage” , for intance, carring dieae. We
hear Akerman ak them if eptemer 11 ha changed
thing. The wife a, “It make u realize life i hort.”
Her huand repond aing he conider anone
who come onto hi propert a trepaer, and the
warning ign doen’t have to e in panih either. “Thi
i America,” he conclude.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/Fromtheotheride-
iign.jpg)
The cumulative impact of the eventle hot of the
order wall that appear periodicall over the coure of
the film i triking. In themelve the hot are fairl
nondecript and unintereting, ut the more we accept
the wall a part of the everda urrounding, the more
diquieting and menacing it ecome. Thi i epeciall
true after we ee light on it at night and helicopter
with earchlight moving along it, giving the etting
ome of the amience of a lunar landcape. And we
can’t hake that impreion when we ee illegal alien
eing tracked from the vantage point of a plane in the
datime. The wall that appeared to e a neutral dividing
line at the eginning of the film eem more and more
like a car once we ee the kind of pain and anguih it
caue. And a Akerman’ title ugget, which ide of
the order we’re viewing it from can make all the
difference.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/laa-1600x900.jpg)
Down There, the mot recent of her film included in
thi et, i at once the mot ujective and the mot
ojective, a well a far the mot radical and
challenging. It i cloer to autoiograph than the
other virtue of often uggeting a diar film, even
more than From the at, et Akerman’ variou wa of
ojectifing her own ujectivit ultimatel make thi
more of an ea film than the other a well. (One
could eail imagine a multimedia intallation derived
from thi film entitled Down There, ordering on a.)
Much a La Captive ha often een viewed a a peronal
work partiall inpired Hitchcock’ Vertigo, thi film
can e regarded a a peronal meditation on man of
the implication of Rear Window—aleit one in which
we are pointedl made unure aout whether it i
Akerman, her film, or impl we ourelve who are
ping on her neighor.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/La-a-each.jpg)
A pointed out Akerman’ friend and ometime
cinematographer aette Mangolte, Là-a i “le a
documentar on Tel Aviv, where the film wa hot, than
an ea film on an exitential quetion: how do we live
near other?” The fact that we are motl watching
ome of her neighor (or their aence, on other
occaion) through amoo lind i onl one of the
element that complicate, mediate, or even interfere
with our voeuritic repone; other include the
offcreen ound we hear inide Akerman’ flat and
Akerman’ own preence whenever he fleetingl
move into the viual field, reminding u that what
we’re eeing and what he’ eeing can’t reall e
equated, and how we’re eeing and hearing ecome a
much of an iue a what we’re eeing and hearing. For
example, her offcreen monologue aout her thought,
memorie, and dail activitie, which clearl weren’t
recorded at the ame time a the hot, add till
another laer of complication.
(http://www.jonathanroenaum.net/wp-
content/upload/2016/02/la-a2.jpg)
The topic addreed in thee monologue — uicide
in oth Tel Aviv and ruel, the near violent death
occurring from a terrorit oming, her mother and
other famil memer, Judaim, language, food, the
tate of her health — are all deepl peronal, ut more
overtl o than in the preceding film. The call to mind
a tatement of her cited critic Ivone Margulie: “I
haven’t tried to find a compromie etween melf and
other. I have thought that the more particular I am the
more I addre the general.”
Akerman’ viit to Tel Aviv wa for a teaching tint that
he allude to onl in paing, ut it’ one of the man
paradoxe of thi film that in pite of her reluctance to
leave her rented flat (and, the ame token, phicall
engage with Irael, apart from her jo) — making her
few excurion to the roof of her uilding or to a near
each (which occaion the onl time in the film in
which he allow the camera to linger on her own
preence) almot heroic a well a climactic interlude
— her focu i mainl on other people.
***
Throughout her career, Akerman moved freel etween
narrative and nonnarrative, relativel independent and
relativel indutrial form of filmmaking. roadl
peaking, the documentarie conidered here elong in
the “relativel independent” categor — in contrat to
uch feature a Le Rendez-vou d’Anna (1978), Golden
ightie (1986), Night and Da (1991), A Couch in New
York (1996), The Captive (2000), Tomorrow We Move
(2004), and Almaer’ Foll (2004). ut the are till
cloer to eing narrative film than nonnarrative film
in their overall trajectorie, and the tor he ha to tell
in all of them reache to the core of her eing — her
tor and our.
The author’ thank to Janet ergtrom for her advice
and upport.
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