A reflection of filmmaker Chantal Akerman on filmmaking, both through…
I Don't Belong Anywhere: The Cinema of Chantal Akerman

- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
I DON'T BELONG ANYWHERE: THE CINEMA OF CHANTAL AKERMAN explores some of the Belgian filmmaker's 40 plus films, and from Brussels to Tel Aviv, from Paris to New York, it charts the sites of her peregrinations.
An experimental filmmaker, a nomad, Chantal Akerman shared with Marianne Lambert her cinematic trajectory, one that never ceased to interrogate the meaning of her existence. And with her editor and long-time collaborator, Claire Atherton, she examines the origins of her film language, and aesthetic stance.
I DON'T BELONG ANYWHERE includes excerpts from many films made throughout Akerman's career, including JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES (1975), NEWS FROM HOME (1976), THE RENDEZ-VOUS OF ANNA, JE, TU, IL, ELLE (1974), SOUTH (1998), FROM THE EAST (1993), FROM THE OTHER SIDE (2002), LA-BAS (2006), and, what would be Chantal Akerman's last film, NO HOME MOVIE (2015).
'A career-spanning documentary [that] provides valuable insights' - Variety
'Offers an overview of Akerman's career while showcasing the behind-the-scenes process of her work.' - IndieWire
'The least sentimental love letter you'll ever come across.' - Vogue
Citation
Main credits
Lambert, Marianne (film director)
Lambert, Marianne (screenwriter)
Akerman, Chantal (interviewee)
Jabon, Luc (screenwriter)
Quinet, Patrick (film producer)
Dujardin, Francis (film producer)
Van Sant, Gus (interviewee)
Atherton, Claire (interviewee)
Clément, Aurore (interviewee)
Other credits
Cinematographer, Remon Fromont; film editor, Marc De Coster; original music, Casimir Liberski.
Distributor subjects
Cinema Studies; France; Gay Studies; Jewish Studies; Women's StudiesKeywords
WEBVTT
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:13.000
[music]
00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:03.000
[sil.]
00:02:55.000 --> 00:03:03.000
[sil.]
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:13.000
[sil.]
00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.999
From where are you from?
(inaudible), where are you from?
00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.999
From Paris. And what place… Sweden.
Sweden. Yeah.
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.999
You should (inaudible) Brooklyn beach is beautiful.
Brooklyn beach? Yeah. Yeah, we’ll go and then try.
00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.999
Do you live here? I lived
here when I was much younger
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:44.999
in ‘70… from ‘71 to ‘73.
And now I’m living between
00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.999
(inaudible), Israel, whatever.
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:54.999
I’m a nomadic person. Yeah. That’s nice.
00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000
[sil.]
00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:53.000
[sil.]
00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:25.000
[sil.]
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
A rabbit always passed through a village
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
to get to the forest and
there at a foot of a tree
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
and it was always a same one he
began to pray and God heard him,
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
his son too always passed through the
same village to get to the forest.
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
But he could not remember where that
he was, so he prayed at the foot of
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
any all tree and God heard him.
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
His grandson did not know where the
tree was, not the forest, so he went to
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
pray in the village and God heard him.
His great grandson
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
did not know where the tree was, not
the forest, not even the village,
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
but he still knew the worth of the prayer.
So he prayed in his house
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
and God heard him. His great grandson
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
did not know where the tree was, not the
forest, nor the forest, nor the village
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
but even the worth of the prayer,
but he still knew the story,
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
so he told it to his
children and God heard him.
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
My own story
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
is full of missing links, full of blanks
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
and I do not even have a child.
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:18.000
[music]
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:53.000
[sil.]
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:40.000
[sil.]
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:28.000
[sil.]
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:20.000
[sil.]
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:13.000
[sil.]
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:13.000
[sil.]
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:53.000
[sil.]
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
When we made last days in particular we…
we were inspired by Jeanne Dielman.
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:40.000
[sil.]
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:58.000
[sil.]
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
First, we watched Jeanne Dielman
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
and we were working in a house,
so he was very much like
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
taken with the cinematographic
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
umm… aspects of the way Chantal
Akerman like positioned the camera
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
and looked at characters. She
seemed to be looking at…
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
architecturally and there
were specific angles
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
that that she was shooting,
they would be looking directly
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
parallel to the wall, there
wasn’t any like sideways shots.
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
And in that cinematography, we started to
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
think of our film in that way in sort of
like an architectural representation of
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
the… the room and… and the characters.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
We usually put the camera like
36 inches or 38 inches up,
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
and whenever a character was in a particular
room, the camera will be in the same place,
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:40.000
and it was pretty much… that
was the main inspiration.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:58.000
[sil.]
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
I have seen where are they’ve
mentioned real time as, you know,
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
in talking about Chantal, but I think
that she umm… sort of rejects real time,
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
you know, she calls it her time or my time,
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
umm… which I guess is… is… is true.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
But umm… just by… just by not worrying
about time, you all of a sudden
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
enter into this… other realm of… of,
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:38.000
you know, against cinema time.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:05.000
[sil.]
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:18.000
[sil.]
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:23.000
[sil.]
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
Shooting for a long time from
one angle starts to emulate
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
the real time that might be happening in the
room and it also takes advantage of… of
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
whatever that is that’s
happening in the room.
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
And which would be usually the actors,
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
whatever they’re doing becomes like sort of
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
hyper authentic because
there isn’t manipulation
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.000
via like editing, you leave at… you
sort of leave editing out of it.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:20.000
[sil.]
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:30.000
[sil.]
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:35.000
[sil.]
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:48.000
[sil.]
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:18.000
[sil.]
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:30.000
[sil.]
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:43.000
[sil.]
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:18.000
[sil.]
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:08.000
[music]
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:13.000
[music]
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:30.000
[sil.]
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:33.000
[sil.]
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:13.000
[sil.]
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:10.000
[sil.]
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
But I think that Chantal’s films, you
know, will always stand on there own
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
as the things that there are, you know,
the sort of works that they are,
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
which are valuable and I think that,
you know, the young film makers will,
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
you know, find them and popularize them,
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:45.000
I think, I hope.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:35.000
[music]
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
This is bridge just give (inaudible).
What a beauty I like it.
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:08.000
Good for you. And for you what’s good?
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:33.000
[sil.]
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:05.000
Looking to exchange a New York apartment…
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:35.000
[sil.]
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:53.000
[sil.]
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:10.000
[sil.]
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:05.000
[music]
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:30.000
[music]
00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:18.000
[sil.]
00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:43.000
[sil.]
00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:53.000
[sil.]
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:40.000
[music]
00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:53.000
[music]
00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:05.000
[non-English narration]
00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:25.000
[music]
00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:05.000
[sil.]
00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:48.000
[music]
01:01:10.000 --> 01:01:15.000
[sil.]
01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:38.000
[sil.]
01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:38.000
[sil.]
01:04:10.000 --> 01:04:14.999
[sil.]
01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:23.000
[music]
01:07:45.000 --> 01:07:53.000
[sil.]
Distributor: Icarus Films
Length: 67 minutes
Date: 2015
Genre: Essayistic
Language: English; French / English subtitles
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
Please log in to your public library's site to view this film.