I'm 30 minutes into the so-called "19th greatest movie of all time" on TCM and am thoroughly bored stupid. I like ploddingly-paced movies, arthouse and foreign films, but good god, this is downright tedious! Too tedious to waste another 2 1/2+ hours of my life on, no matter how great some pretentious critics claim it is. This makes Warhol's "Chelsea Girls" seem fast-paced by comparison, which I would've thought was utterly implausible before enduring a half hour of this crap.
shareHey, it's the perfect flick for getting up from the easy chair while it's "in progress" on TCM to do stuff like going to the bathroom, fixing coffee-'n'-eats, and foolin' around at IMDb, knowing you're not missing anything! Thank heavens for boring, plodding movies or nothing would EVER get done around the house!
Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!
NO! You can't leave for a second! You might miss something!
She might go outside. You will hate yourself if she goes outside and you miss it.
She might get a letter from her sister and read it out loud after dinner.
What if you miss the gripping scene where the neighbor stops to get the baby and tells Jeanne all about her fascinating trip to the butcher shop. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what she finally bought for dinner. (And I love Jeanne being all catty. "We like veal.")
I love this movie. I gave it a "10."
But I'll admit that I doubt I'll end up seeing it as many times as I've seen Planet of the Apes or The Corpse Vanishes.
Janet! Donkeys!
I agree with you. I've seen plenty of long, slow-paced movies, particularly European films. So I figured I might be able to handle this film.
Boy, was I wrong. I thought movies like "8 1/2," "Breathless," and "Jules et Jim" were chores to sit through. With Jeanne Dielman, more than 2 hours in, I was thinking shooting myself in the head would be much more entertaining than this piece *beep*:
-Uninspired, lazy, static camerawork.
-Actress would have her back to the camera and at times walk off camera without the scene changing or director following her (which made me want to strangle them both)
-Ridiculously long, tedious scenes (I guess the title should've been a dead giveaway on this)- I understand the director wants us to have an insight at Jeanne's routine, but there is absolutely no reason to spend minutes upon minutes upon minutes to watch Jeanne bathe herself and just sit and stare into space, when a fraction of the time would've sufficed.
-The so-called shocking climax of this movie left me so cold because of how utterly bored I was with the movie.
I feel terrible for the women directors who actually make good, entertaining films who don't get recognition.
I apologize immensely to the film crew and production of every film I have ever passed up, thinking them to be too stupid or slow before coming upon this piece of tripe.
Forlorn: The only reason I sat through this movie was because, frankly, I had nothing else to do -- it was my night off from both of my jobs, most places in my town are closed overnight, and there was nothing else to watch on the tube but stupid infomercials and inane celebs fare.
I understand the lady director was only 25 years of age when she made this, and her youth would explain much -- think of it, it's the mid 1970's and at the peak of the new wave, edgy, independent style in filmmaking both in Europe and in the U.S. But the director plainly went too far with her own self-indulgence in her apparent craving to wow the critics and the avante-garde crowd, by telling a story that's over three hours long when everything essential to the narrative could have been included in a film of the same length as the average TV sitcom.
I suppose her (the director's) heart was in the right place, but her entire approach as a storyteller was as wrongheaded as it gets in cinema.
One good thing about it echoes what you've already pointed out: by comparison, it makes practically any other overlong and meandering drama watchable!
Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!
The film is intentionally slow but is worth watching. It is well made and artistic, just deliberately slow paced.
shareDespite its incredible length and minimal efforts of long takes, repetition, little dialogue, lack of score or character development, I found it to be a fascinating character study of single motherhood.
I'm typically turned off by tedious artsy films like Somewhere (2010), but somehow I managed to be engaged.
Same. I am also a half hour in, and am shocked to find myself mesmerized. There's no reason I shouldn't be bored to tears but I'm not.
shareI was engrossed by this. I think the tedium is crucial to the story and it, and the amount of it, are very intentional. One way to get an inkling of how mundane JD's life is is to sit through three-plus hours of washing dishes, scrubbing tubs, and buying meat.
I had to keep watching to find the point when something was going to happen. When that something finally did happen, it was so rapid, I almost missed it, because I'd been lulled into a certain detachment concern JD. Then...WHAM! and it was, "Wow, did what think just happened just happen?"
I thought it was brilliant.
I was engrossed by this. I think the tedium is crucial to the story and it, and the amount of it, are very intentional. One way to get an inkling of how mundane JD's life is is to sit through three-plus hours of washing dishes, scrubbing tubs, and buying meat.Very well put.
I had to keep watching to find the point when something was going to happen. When that something finally did happen, it was so rapid, I almost missed it, because I'd been lulled into a certain detachment concern JD. Then...WHAM! and it was, "Wow, did what think just happened just happen?"
I thought it was brilliant.
The only reason I made it to the end was because I was on my phone while it was playing on the background. I can not possible imagine sitting in a theater and focus on nothing but this woman doing chores for almost 4 hours!
shareAt least give it an hour to familiarise yourself with it, the amount of cinema I've seen which had a dull first hour and really picked up in the last is a fairly significant amount. If anything I've valued a first hour of a film I previously didn't enjoy much more on a second viewing, it can really alter your perspective. Never give up on a film.
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