These are astute observations, Chuck. Thanks. > On Oct 8, 2015, at 7:41 PM, Chuck Kleinhans <chuck...@northwestern.edu> wrote: > > I appreciate Gene Youngblood’s observations. I would point out in addition > some of the decisions Akerman made which shaped the reception of her work. > > First, and I think incredibly importantly, was her choice of Babette Mongolte > to be her cinematographer on Jeanne Dielman. Mongolte had already done the > camerawork on Rainer’s Lives of Performers and Film About a Woman Who. > Seeing those works as connected by visual sensibility gives the works at > least a second “authorship” in the cinematographer. > > Second, Jeanne Dielman arrived in 1975-6. It was screened at some film > centers and then the print left the country. Yeet during its brief > appearance it inspired almost all the emerging feminist film makers, critics, > scholars, teachers, and intellectuals to rave about it. And the writers > wrote about it with a strong femiist analysis > > I think this was due to at least two factors, One was that feminist film > criticism was looking for new work that escaped the Hollywood expectations. > Remember this is the exact moment when Laura Mulvey’s landmark essay on > "Visual Pleasure and Narrative CInema" hit the scene. Jeanne Dielman was the > perfect film to see after or before reading Mulvey.. This was also the time > of emerging feminist film festivals, feminist film courses in colleges and > universities, feminist film programming being a regular part of film center > programming, etc. > > Second, there was at that time a certain momentum in the women’s movement for > thinking anew about housework and domestic space. In the UK one high profile > group of feminists led a campaign for “Wages for Housework”—demanding > recognition of women’s unpaid labor. In N. America there was an active > discussion of the “double day” and women working outside the home but also > then being totally responsible for domestic chores, cleaning, child-rearing, > etc. So within the political wing of the women’s movement there was interest > in this and Jeanne Dielman, although in one sense one of the “least likely” > films to appeal to feminist activists unfamiliar with art film narrative in > fact when they did get to see the film found it often intriguing and made > them rethink what feminist film might be. > > But, as I said, that rare print disappeared from N. America and Akermann > essentially rejected the genuine enthusiastic audience for her film and > wasn’t interested in having it placed with some logical upstart feminist film > distributors nor was she willing to deposit a copy with the NY Coop or > Canyon, which would have at least kept it alive for those who wanted to show > it. I never heard the story from her side of why she made this decision. > The gossip I heard was that she had a very high opinion of herself and wanted > to be treated as a Major European Film Artist like Wenders or Fassbinder. > She was holding out for Big Time art film distribution in N. America. And > that never happened. > > There’s an excellent (if kind of lopsided by her enthusiasms) presentation of > that Ackerman moment in Ruby Rich’s book Chick Flicks: Theories and Memories > of the Feminist Film Movement. > > The point being that artists have some role to play in their own > reputation/success and some decisions end up shaping their critical horizon > and artistic capital. > > > > > > > > > > On Oct 6, 2015, at 1:26 PM, Gene Youngblood <ato...@comcast.net > <mailto:ato...@comcast.net>> wrote: > >> Unless I’m mistaken, the American premiere of Jeanne Dielmann was at Filmex >> in 1976. That’s the Los Angeles International Film Exposition, which was the >> largest festival in the world at that time except for Cannes, which we >> considered to be a market, not a festival. I saw it twice, first on the >> selection committee, then at the festival, where it impressed me even more >> the second time. I met Chantal for lunch immediately after, somewhat >> disoriented that such a reserved, shy little person could have made this >> work of monumental intelligence and power. She was with Lloyd Cohn, whose >> fledgling company, World Artists (I think that’s the name), was the American >> distributor of the film. I met Lloyd ten years earlier when he was doing >> publicity for Monte Hellman’s remarkable westerns, The Shooting and Ride In >> the Whirlwind, which I reviewed in the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. The >> review attracted a considerable audience for the films (Cameron Mitchell >> took out a full page ad in Variety to thank me and Jack Nicholson, who >> wrote, co-produced and starred in both), and because of that Lloyd was >> “loyal” to me over the years, which is how I ended up having lunch with him >> and Chantal Akerman. Lloyd was a small person too, about the same height as >> Chantal, and I remember feeling conspicuous, being more than a foot taller >> than them, as we entered the restaurant. I don’t remember much of the >> conversation except about Godard and Michael Snow, and how perceptive >> Chantal’s observations were. (As an aside, I prefer her “One Day Pina >> Asked…” over Wim Wenders’ piece on Bausch). I’m not sure about this, but I >> think Lloyd Cohn distributed some of Chantal’s experimental shorts for a >> brief period of time, and maybe The Meetings of Anna, and then I lost track >> of him. I showed Jeanne Dielmann, The Meetings of Anna, Hotel Monterey, Je >> tu il elle, and I’m Hungry I’m Cold in various classes every year for about >> 20 years, first at Calarts, then the College of Santa Fe. There were always >> lively discussions, and a handful of students invariably wrote term papers >> on Jeanne Dielmann or Meetings of Anna or both. Chantal affected me as >> profoundly as she did many others, maybe even a few of my students. By the >> way, if anyone knows what Lloyd Cohn is doing these days, please contact me >> off list. >> >> > > Chuck Kleinhans > > > > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > FrameWorks@jonasmekasfilms.com > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks
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