Transcript of 70mm’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) Episode.
SLIM Hey, it’s your old pal Slim and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers just like you. Every Monday I chat about recently watched movies with my close friend and artist, Danny Haas.
DANNY No. I mean, when a publication that no one’s ever heard of puts a movie that no one’s ever heard of at number one… I was never going to give it a second thought.
SLIM And my close friend and movie insider, Protolexus.
PROTO Jeanne Dielman, 23 qua… [attempts to pronounce French words] de… Commerce… 1080 Braaazil…
SLIM Every month we have a new theme that guides our featured presentation for that episode. And this time around, we’re continuing with 70s Month and my pick, the winner of the recent Sight & Sound poll for greatest film of all time, Jeanne Dielman, from 1975. Was this depiction of a widowed housewife a revelation? Or did it put us to sleep? Let’s find out… right now.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM Top movies of all time. We mentioned it last week in our Discord, Mckenzie from the Austin Danger Podcast, that hit podcast, is putting together a poll. Sight & Sound put our movie this week, Jeanne Dielman at the top — the greatest movie ever made. Mckenzie says let’s take it up a notch. Top 100 films of all time, according to the VHS Village. So I have never put a list like this together, but I did. Private Letterboxd list. Not gonna share it just yet.
DANNY Mine’s private.
SLIM Proto, is yours private?
PROTO It’s totally private. [Slim & Danny laugh]
SLIM We need a — can we get a Five Hour Energy on DoorDash delivery to Proto? So this is a lot of work. I mean, how many times have you sat down to say what are the top best films ever made? I’ve never done it before this moment. So we’re gonna cycle through, give maybe a few of our picks from our own private lists. There was some consternation in Discord this week that Danny’s list was just going to be Steven Spielberg movies. Are you ready to put the kibosh on those rumors Danny and reveal one of your picks?
DANNY Let me count how many Spielberg’s are in my top 10… Three… [Danny & Proto laugh] I didn’t realize there was that many.
PROTO Amazing.
SLIM Let’s hear one of those 10. What do you think is one of the best movies ever made? The greatest?
DANNY This film made my list because A, it’s so fresh in my brain and B, because I loved it so much — Singin’ in the Rain made my top 10 of all time. It’s a movie I’ve thought about multiple times since I’ve watched it recently for the first time and also it’s like I want to revisit it so bad. And I feel like a movie that sinks its teeth that well into me. I know from here on out it’s going to be a movie that I will consider one of the bests.
SLIM I had this in my top 15.
DANNY Oh! It didn’t make top 10 for you?
SLIM No, it didn’t make top 10. Remember when Singin’ in the Rain lost the vote? Lost the vote in the VHS Village.
DANNY What did we do instead?
PROTO I can’t even tell you what we did instead.
SLIM Nobody remembers. It was probably the most popular episode of the year but nobody remembers. [Slim laughs] Proto, what’s one of your choices for the best films of all time?
PROTO One of my choices, a movie we covered on the show. I think at the time, I said this might be one of the most beautiful movies I’ve ever seen in my life. There were tears on this episode. Lawrence of Arabia.
SLIM Ohhhh!
PROTO I mean, we’re talking about beautiful 4k picture, we’re talking about epic story, talking about what’s his face? Who’s that actor? Peter O’Toole being a weirdo in the desert. Had everything.
DANNY Alec Guinness.
PROTO Oh my god.
SLIM I mean, wow. The brown face alone.
DANNY Seriously.
SLIM For those listening right now, yes, Proto has a lozenge in his mouth. Proto has had a hard week, okay? You’re probably hearing it in your headphones. What’s that noise?
DANNY Slapping around.
SLIM Rattling around in my headphones.
DANNY We’re not editing it out.
PROTO Listen, it’s done, alright? I just swallowed the last piece. It’s over.
DANNY That’s dangerous!
SLIM Oh my goodness. Yeah, you gotta be careful what you swallow. [Danny laughs] One of my picks for the best films ever made, is a movie that we covered for a bonus episode. Well not bonus, just supporter-only episode. Remember when we did that tier where people could choose the movies we did? You know, speaking of which we did a mailbag episode just for supporters. I was trying to that question didn’t come up, Mike. When he backs that tear. Nobody wants to thank God that settles that we’re not doing enough that nobody asked about it. This is currently number three in the Letterbox top 250. 1962, Harakiri.
DANNY Ohhhh, good pick.
PROTO Oh my god.
SLIM That’s in my opinion, one of the best movies ever made. Top 10, easy. 4.6. Misaki Kobayashi.
DANNY Oh my gosh, that’s so high, 4.6.
SLIM Yeah, number three. Number three on the list. Behind Parasite and movie I still haven’t seen, Come and See. So that’s just a taste of what a movie is in my top 10. Danny, what’s another taste of yours?
DANNY Another taste of my top 10. One that you just said: Parasite. I put Parasite in my top 10. That movie felt like a moment and I remember just loving that film. And I think it deserves to be top 10 all time.
SLIM I don’t even know how to respond to that. I’m shocked right now.
DANNY Is it in your top 15?
SLIM It wasn’t in my top 15. Maybe my top 15 is wrong. I haven’t submitted this yet. If you’re curious, you want to submit, you wanna become part of this VHS village top 100, you have to join the Patreon. Join the Discord. And you can find out the info ASAP.
PROTO but I have to revisit Parasite. I haven’t seen it since the theater.
SLIM Maybe we should do a Parasite ep.
DANNY Ohhh, baby.
SLIM Could you imagine Danny Parasite art?
[Proto yelps?] [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM Proto’s shoes just flew across the room.
DANNY The lozenge just came back up.
SLIM Oh my gosh.
DANNY But yeah, I feel like Parasite belongs there. At least top 10 I don’t know if it’s the best but it deserves it in my opinion.
SLIM Good call. Good call. I mean, I’m not gonna argue, this is you know, this is all our own.
DANNY I would never argue with you, Slim.
SLIM Thank you. Proto, what’s another movie from your top 10 best films of all time.
PROTO How about this one? From the master himself…
DANNY Uh oh.
PROTO John Carpenter’s The Thing.
SLIM Ohhhhh.
DANNY Yoooo, okay.
PROTO Talk about a movie.
DANNY Talk about a real movie.
PROTO That ending.
SLIM Talk about a movie. My favorite part about that little teaser, the master. I was thinking of five different directors that we’ve called the master at a certain point. [Danny & Proto laugh] Who is it gonna be? Yeah, gosh,.
DANNY Great movie.
SLIM Did I rewatch that recently? No.
DANNY Yeah, we covered it for our podcast.
SLIM Didn’t you say you weren’t gonna argue with me? You’d never argue with me.
DANNY I was answering your question for you.
SLIM Didn’t you just say that? Criminy. Let me look at my list one more time. I’ve only given one so I have two more. This one might shock people.
DANNY It won’t.
SLIM 2017. Just because you’re invited doesn’t mean you’re welcome. From the master of horror himself, Jordan Peele. Get Out.
DANNY Ohhh, Get Out. Okay.
PROTO Whaaat?
SLIM What do you think about that Proto?
PROTO That’s crazy. [Slim & Danny laugh] I like it, though. Dang!
SLIM It’s number 188 on the Letterboxd Top 250. I mean, we talked about doing a Jordan Peele month. We almost did that for Halloween, didn’t we? Wasn’t that one of the options?
DANNY He’s got just enough movies to do a month.
PROTO Three week month. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM What if. Danny, you’re up again?
DANNY Up again. I’m picking another one, I’m not gonna say one of my Spielberg ones. You guys can guess my Spielberg movies. This is one we covered on the podcast. And one that kind of gripped my life for like a month, maybe two months straight after watching it. The Godfather.
SLIM Ohhhh.
DANNY The Godfather is something that I feel like it’s something special that was made and it’s an incredible film, and I spiraled into making ofs and watching you know the new TV show The Offer and learning everything I can about how this film was made, Coppola’s process, the actors. I mean, this movie gripped me this year watching for the first time, so I am putting it on my top 10, for sure.
SLIM My gosh. Proto, your thoughts on that being in the top 10 best films of all time?
PROTO I mean, that’s up there with a lot of people, right? I think 50% of the male population has it as their number one movie.
SLIM Their personalities are built around The Godfather. Speaking of which, what if we did a Scarface episode?
DANNY I thought you hate that movie.
SLIM No, I don’t have opinions either way.
DANNY You have a poster.
SLIM I don’t have a poster. I do not. I bet you there’s 20% of our audience listening right now has had a Scarface poster and at some point their life.
DANNY His Omega watch in that. You kidding me?
PROTO I mean, Brian De Palma with Al Pacino, that could be the most diabolical mix for me of all time.
SLIM Proto would retire podcasting after that episode I think. Proto, one more?
PROTO One more. You know, there was some talk this week in the Discord about everyone was giving their top 10 Ghibli Studio movies. So here’s my number one. The Wind Rises. That’s in my top 10.
DANNY Absolute banger.
PROTO Absolute banger. I love that movie so much. Just amazing animation. I think it’s like Ghibli at the top of their game. But just in the awesome, the story. You know, of course, I love Ghibli for like the fantasy aspect. But this is all set in, you know, historical, Japan, so it’s different. It’s a different vibe. But, man, I was just I was blown away by the story in that.
SLIM Yeah, I like that movie when it came out. What was your number one Ghibli? Didn’t you just post a list? And it was like every Ghibli movie or something?
DANNY There’s no way I could — my number one is Nausicaä. I think that’s my go to. They’re all incredible.
SLIM Did you see this new movie? Hayao Miyazaki is having out in 2023? How Do You Live? You heard about this? A lot of buzz. Some kind of bird on the poster.
DANNY The Movie Insider let me know about it.
SLIM Really? I didn’t see that IG post. I’ll tell you that much.
DANNY It’s on his Only Fans. [Slim laughs]
PROTO Pay up.
SLIM Just spit up on myself laughing at that. Let me go back to my list. One more pick from my list. 2006.
DANNY Uh oh.
SLIM A director I’ve said previously that I would follow directly into the sun if I had to, burn me alive. To follow in his footsteps. Children of Men.
DANNY That’s on your top 10?
SLIM Yes.
DANNY Top 10 of all time.
SLIM Top 10 movies ever made.
DANNY Oh…
SLIM Five banger. That’s an instant five bang. I will five bang that movie until the day I die. [Danny laughs]
DANNY Great pick.
PROTO That gets so much love on Letterboxd, people rabid for Children of Men. They’re rabid for it.
DANNY Clive Owen never worked again.
SLIM I’m not sure if that’s true. He did a lot of BMW commercials.
DANNY Yo BMW films slaaaapped.
SLIM Clive has been in a lot of junk. I’m looking at his filmography here. But he’s been in Children of Men and that’s really all that matters. Ezra says Children of Men needs a Criterion. I agree. Very much so. Every week, we give out a free year. letterbox Pro. You share the show on social media. Tag A review get entered to win. Disclaimer. A letterbox employee that gets rid of ads gets its extensive urine stats comes from Bobby walnut, who last week said just because we’re recording this in advance. Can’t wait for the 70 mm pod doubleheader tonight. Definitely number one podcast in my orbit this last year. Oh, my gosh, I’ll be walnut. Thank you. Congratulations. So Jeanne Dielman is our movie this week and I we talked about how this was, you know, it got buzz like the last month or two because it was put up at the top of this Critics Poll, Sight & Sound poll that’s done every 10 years. And I think it’s been in the top 10 Or somewhere near the top 10 slowly moving up. So maybe we can go through that list real quick. We’re only 15 minutes in this episode. So Danny had mentioned Singin’ in the Rain, that’s number 10 on this year’s list from the critics list.
DANNY I gotta pull it up.
SLIM You’re just gonna watch Singin’ in the Rain right now as we record?
DANNY I’m gonna pull up the movie real quick. Let me look at the lists, that’s what I’m talking about.
SLIM Number nine is a movie, to be perfectly frank I have not heard of man with a movie camera. I gotta punch this into Letterboxd.
PROTO Is that the one where the his face is the camera?
SLIM A cameraman wanders around Moscow Kyiv in a desert with a camera slung over his shoulder documenting urban life with dazzling invention. This list is interesting to me, you know, I’m not saying that the Letterboxd Top 250 is like the end all be all but some of these are like aren’t even really barely even in it like this one is not in the Letterboxd Top 250. Jeanne Dielman I think is like in the maybe in the low to hundreds. So it’s fascinating to see like how critics and and filmmakers because there’s like a separate polar as a Critics Poll, there’s a director’s poll where they give their best films of all time. So the directors poll 2001: A Space Odyssey won as the best movie ever made.
DANNY I will say another one of my top 10 is in the Sight & Sound Top 10, be that as it may.
SLIM Number eight is Mulholland Drive, David Lynch from the Critics Poll.
DANNY Wild.
PROTO Okay.
DANNY I’ve never seen Tokyo Story. Have you seen Tokyo Story?
SLIM No, I have not. In the Mood for Love also in the critics poll. Beau Travail from Claire Denis.
DANNY What a poster.
SLIM 2001 also on the critics poll, and the top three for the site and sand critics is Citizen Kane, Vertigo and Jeanne Dielman. Vertigo.
DANNY Vertigo is interesting.
SLIM Yeah, I wouldn’t expect that given the rest of this list.
DANNY I don’t know that I would put Vertigo above Rear Window for Hitchcock.
PROTO Yeah, is Vertigo considered his best?
DANNY No, not over Psycho.
SLIM So they polled, I thought I had the number, I feel like it was several 1000 — oh 1600 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics. And Jeanne Dieleman had 215 of those votes. So 13%. So if that puts it into perspective. Rear Window, remember when he had that like full body cast? What’s going on when he goes number two in that cast? He had it over his butt.
DANNY It was over his a-cheeks.
SLIM It was over his a-cheeks. I think it was over his front cheeks.
DANNY Excuse me?
SLIM So a lot of questions I had while watching that movie. [Danny & Proto laugh]
DANNY Yeah, but Grace Kelly in that movie.
SLIM Oh my God.
DANNY Lord have mercy.
SLIM Was it this podcast that I had mentioned that Grace Kelly — I get Grace Kelly vibes from Brie Larson sometimes.
DANNY What?
SLIM Yeah.
DANNY That can’t be.
SLIM I think so.
DANNY You’ve never said that.
SLIM I mean, Grace is still number one of my book. So in the directors poll, there is also In the Mood for Love, Persona makes the list, Vertigo, Tokyo Story, Jeanne Dieleman is actually four in the director’s poll. The Godfather, Citizen Kane and 2001. 2001 — is it in our list?
PROTO It’s a big one.
DANNY Yes, it’s in mine. [Danny laughs] There you go, there’s my fourth.
SLIM 2001. When are we covering 2001?
DANNY Oh, that’s a big day when we do.
PROTO Maybe the last movie we ever do. [Slim laughs]
DANNY Hang it up.
SLIM I mean, we got to start thinking about what episode 200 is gonna be.
DANNY We have to start thinking about our exit strategy. [Slim laugh]
SLIM Aquahire, acquire hire 70mm. All right. We should get into the movie. I think it’s time. Jeanne Dielman is my pick for 70s Month. And I felt like you know this movie popped up on sight and sound. I think it was like a 5,000% increase on watchlists on Letterboxd. So if folks like to watch along with us, then maybe there’s now’s a good time to kind of force people to check something new out if they want. Proto, what’s this movie?
PROTO Jeanne Dielman is a widowed mother of a teenage son. She spends her time keeping her home making her meals and sleeping with men to make ends meet. Her routines begin to unravel over the course of four days until it culminates in a decisive deviation from routine. Jeanne Dielman, 23 qua… [attempts to pronounce French words] de… Commerce… 1080 Braaazil…
SLIM Danny, had heard anything about this movie before Sight & Sound or at all like in your movie watching history?
DANNY No — I mean, when a publication that no one’s ever heard of puts a movie that no one’s ever heard of at number on, I was never going to give it a second thought.
SLIM Yeah, full disclosure. I had never heard of Sight & Sound before.
DANNY No, never.
SLIM The release came out in the Letterboxd Slack. Everyone’s like, oh my God, and then he just released this list. I think I might even said like, I’ll be brave right now. I have no idea what the eff you guys are talking about? Like, what is this list? No clue.
DANNY I feel like everyone was losing their minds that this hit number one on Sight & Sound. It was impressive to see Twitter implode too.
SLIM Twitter lost it.
DANNY Yeah.
SLIM This podcast is for people who know what Sight & Sound is and those who don’t know what Sight & Sound is. We’re the cross-section, we’re the Venn diagram of those people. What about you, Proto?
PROTO Yes, of course. I’ve heard of this movie, please. [Danny laughs] As an avid Letterboxd peruser of lists and whatnot, yeah, I’ve definitely come across this movie. I mean, I think the I was the poster is very intriguing of her. sitting at a table. It must have been like on a list of Greatest Movies of All Time. And then like, I think a movie like I never heard of with a poster like this. So I’ve clicked on it. Definitely a couple times, but you look at like, okay, 202 minutes. Alright, maybe maybe next life. We’ll check that one out.
DANNY Got a great Criterion cover too.
SLIM Yes, yes, it does. I had only known about this movie because on the letterbox show, maybe last year, Gemma and I interviewed Isabel Sandoval, the director of Lingua Franca, and then she did an episode of that. Andrew Garfield TV show. Oh, she did. I think she did the episode where he was in the car where he cried. I think that one. And one of her four favorites was this movie. This was also the probably the first time I’d ever heard of French New Wave. We’re like, I have no idea what that is. So two of her movies were kind of like weirdly styled. And that was like, oh, French wave is like a thing. So just everyone just give us give us some space. If you know what French New Wave is, and you’re on your eyes, please. This is how people learn. We’re learning together. We’re changing. We’re experiencing new things. So the I did watch it last year. And I think in my letterbox review I even said like I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. You know, I’m watching Steven Seagal directed video movies. Okay, you ever see this? You’re gonna get whiplash. More than whiplash. You’re gonna die, potentially. So Shawn, tall, Ackerman is the director of this movie. And in this segment, we’ll go roundtable. Each host jots down three things that we want to try to bring up in conversation. And then we’ll we’ll go through honorable mentions and letterbox ratings to close out the discussion. So let’s start with Danny this week.
DANNY Sure. I my number one thing is how impressive Chantal was at the the stationary cameras in each room. How it felt like, there was just I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t even really know how to explain it, how it just felt very. Somehow I was like in it. Like I felt like I was really into what she was doing. And my favorite bits that she would do would be when a scene would end. And John would leave or leave the room, turn the lights off on a room something and transition, we would linger there for maybe two or three extra seconds more. And it just felt like we were left with our thoughts on what just happened that scene before we move on to the next scene of whatever task she’s moved on to whether it be a gentleman caller or taking like cleaning artisan shoes. Cooking like there was just there were these like little bits of moments that gave us time to pause and just kind of catch up and think about what’s happening. What’s gonna happen. And it honestly gave us time to catch the things that ultimately lead her to losing herself. There was a moment I remember saying to Casey were watching oh my gosh, she missed a button and her dress or and or like when she’s peeling the potatoes and it’s a little bit slower. She just stares at it for a second. It’s like you can catch these little things because you’ve you’ve sat with this woman and her routine for so long and it’s just it’s it’s impressive. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.
SLIM Right? We should We should tell people if that you’re listening and haven’t washed it like their shot for the last like five or 10 minutes so she’s making dinner she’s were cleaning shoes that that’s what you’re looking at for extended periods of time, but no dialogue. Me my co host and we can watch list. There was a screening in December that she went to, with, you know, presumably a bunch of movie nerds. And she left this review that was cracking me up. Chantel forces you to memorize and empathize with this woman’s routine long static wide shots of John polishing shoes and washing dishes and brushing your hair last for several minutes with no cuts so that when she inevitably begins to suddenly unravel we take notice so much so that when she accidentally drops a fork around our to the whole audience gasps
DANNY it’s so true.
PROTO Yeah, so full disclosure for me. Let’s didn’t finish it. I was up against a tight tight a window of time to watch this movie. And I actually had to watch like the first three fourths of this while was wrapping Christmas presents. So I was slightly a preoccupied so I was trying to watch, I couldn’t watch scenes of a marriage for a marriage while doing it, because you have to read the whole time. But it was like, Oh, this one, there’s no reading. That’s good. So, but I think it kind of did break me out of it. Because it’s weird in a movie, that’s three hours long that you need to be. That’s very slow. And there’s a lot of repeating scenes, even my son came into the room and he was like, he I think he asked multiple times if I pause the movie. So even though it’s slow, it like demands your attention, because you need to notice those little things that happen. And I, I did pick up on some of those things. But as I was reading the reviews, I could tell that like I just I didn’t have the attention for this movie that it requires to get the full experience from it. Which is kind of which is a shame. I wish I was able at the time to give it like everything that it required. So I think I don’t know that that’s, that was my experience. So like not having that full the full attention on it. It didn’t allow me to kind of be, I think absorbed with what was going on.
SLIM Yeah, there isn’t another movie. Like you could say the same thing. Last week’s scenes from a marriage demands your attention in that you have to read the subtitles. There’s no there’s almost like no breaks for that three and a half hours. This one is a completely different experience in that, like no one is saying anything on screen. But what’s happening on screen almost demands your attention in a different way. Like when after she has that dude come over the second day. I think it was a second day. And she gets the money and she puts it in the pocket. She doesn’t put the lid back on. Yeah. And then that was like another tell that like slowly things are starting to change a little bit. Like the one that Amanda noticed. Or the one maybe that I pointed out was when she went to get coffee and someone was in her seat. And then Oh yeah. Oh shit. Oh, it’s
PROTO Did Amanda watch the whole thing?
SLIM Yeah, maybe that’ll lead into Was that your first point? Or was that a general comment?
PROTO I guess that wasn’t my I’ll take it.
SLIM I’ll take it was my first point. Okay. Yeah, my, I guess my first point will be like so I put this on. I think I put this almost like right after scenes from a marriage Lord, but I can’t remember the order of events. But I don’t think manda would know Amanda was not with me when I watched things from marriage. So this one came on and like literally five minutes. She’s like, what is what are you watching? What is this? I was like trying to tell her like well, it only gets worse from here. So she like she didn’t really get it at first. Like obviously she’s she’s like crocheting while this is happening. So most of the stuff we watch, she’s crocheting kind of in the background. Right off the bat, she I had to like explain her. I was like, as soon as I like outloud tried to explain what French New Wave was. I was like pushing and putting my glasses. I was like, wow, they make these weird movies that are different than your normal movie. So by the end, I was kind of like pointing out when some of that stuff would happen. Like the button stuff, or the where she’d like the fork drop. And then I think either she or I said he might have been her or me I can remember. It was like I put this quote does she have the worst life ever? And then like when you ask when you’re watching this movie, and you ask that question out loud, you’re almost like, now you’re getting it. You’re almost like the movie forces you to like to think about this way of life for so many people and in your maybe your own life really, or the people around you that I have like this way of life, this way of going day to day through menial tasks and what that impact on them is, you know, there’s obviously a huge feminist curve to this movie and was at the time that this came out. But by the end, Amanda was like, I think I put in my one of my review, she wanted to strangle me. But really, like, you could say, she wanted to strangle me in different ways. Like, you know, you could say like, I’m the man. At a certain point, like any man, she would probably want to strangle really by the movie, because so many women go through this, etc, etc. So, by the end of the movie, she I think she enjoyed the experience. Danny, what’s your number two?
DANNY Number two, I want to talk about the ending real quick. And, I mean, we talked about how she slowly loses it. I forget while we pause it at one point in case he went and did something and she texted me like she was really liking this film. And I was like, I Rebecca’s like I need murder. Like I was like, I want I wanted to kill so like, I really wanted murder in this film. There was something about it that felt so when she actually kills the guy at the end with the scissors after that, the hard to watch sexing with the two of them. I don’t even I don’t even know if you can call that sec. I don’t know what that was that was happening in that bed will be. But I was I was shocked. Like my eyes were like wide open when she stabbed him in the neck with the scissors. And then she just sits in quiet with blood on her in a kind of how that like that’s it’s how the movie ends. And I was in shock that this is how this movie ended. I really did not expect. Actually, I had no idea how this movie was going to end I really done it. But her killing one of her patrons was not what I was expecting. I don’t know about you guys.
SLIM No, I think the first time I watched it, I probably was waiting. I was like, Why? Because you could almost like call this like a documentary really, in some respects, like a really long cut documentary. And you’re like, what is the ending of this movie going to be? I don’t think the first time I saw it, I was aware of like the little bits and pieces that happen. You know that cause her to kind of go off track and change or like religious get over it or so I think I was probably more like Pardo on that first viewing when I watched it through the letterbox. So I just kind of missed all that I glossed over it in that feeling.
PROTO I kind of had the sense that she was going to kill him at the end. But I also I guess, you know, not not being fully engaged with Mrs. Movie. At the end. I’m just I was kind of like just like shrug like my hands up in the air like, like what like what’s like, why? Like what’s going on? Like, is there is there a good explanation or like, a, like a summary as to what what this means because I really just like have no idea. Like there’s a feeling like, I’ve just kind of like lost as I’m like, you know, looking up from cutting paper and taping boxes to like, see these, you know, random seemingly random moments. And then at the end, she just kills this guy.
SLIM I mean, you could you could say all those random moments caused it. I mean, I think one of the themes is like at that stage of the expectations for a housewife or a woman to like, do these tasks, these menial tasks and just get used to it get over it. But I mean, when she does it every day, day in and day out, you start to see that just sucks. Like why can’t she go out and have a job? Or why is that expectation on her like her son? That shitheel son of hers never like says thank you to anything that she does. And then when certain cracks happen in her day to day, she doesn’t really have anything, a thing to fall back on. She can’t talk to her son about it. She can’t talk to her dead husband. She can’t. I mean, her one was that even her friend that dropped off the kid. Like even Amanda was like, she doesn’t even talk to the woman who drops off the child. She doesn’t talk to anybody. She has nobody. Oh, yeah, and their manners like who even drops off a baby without saying hello or goodbye. She was like furious at this woman
DANNY to jarred baby too.
PROTO I was nervous for that baby.
SLIM I also thought something was gonna happen to the baby the first time.
PROTO The way she was picking that baby up and trying to console it without but like being completely devoid of like any human empathy while doing it was was scary.
SLIM Proto, number two. We’ve already gone through Proto’s list.
PROTO I have this line written down. Mom I used to try to stop dad from thrusting inside of you. And then the mom basically said Son, it’s late love to read I you know actually what I meant to do because I wasn’t able to watch much of this movie, like be engaged with it. I wanted to go and read about it. I’ve just like breakdowns of it because it’s clearly there’s like a lot up here, but I’m just like I don’t I didn’t have I don’t have the tools. Like I didn’t have the time.
SLIM Yeah this do we both son sorry people like the Son I just thought was a dweeb, the penis sword talk and him making up nightmares so that she would not have sex with the dad because he thought that, like his interpretation of sex was like him harm causing harm to the mother so he would make up nightmares to like, take her out of the room at night. Oh, my God, the matter of factness of that conversation. Oh, my God made me completely unsettled. Completely unsettled.
DANNY He’s also like 40 years old. I’m so confused at how little he knows about sex at this point.
SLIM He has a he has a wind of washes. Notice that though Oh, what was the washer inside and see what the watch was, but he wound it before bed. I definitely made a note. She has she has like she tries to explain about like, love being in love. And she just makes his like offhanded comments, just a detail and then goes to bed? Oh,
PROTO you know what a question I have is at the end. Like, when was it? I guess like after dinner? They would then go out and go on those walks? Yeah. Was there an explanation? Oh, is that what it was? It was just like a walk around the block.
SLIM The one thing when they were walking at night, was in the darkest alley in the history and going who would ever go out at night and walk in that alley? You wouldn’t be dead, murdered. That was my TV by some crook,
PROTO Chantal, can we get some lighting?
SLIM That was another 100 grand for it. There my my other note, I think my number two would just be this type of filmmaking. And for anyone that watched this movie for the first time, it was just kind of like WTF, thanks for joining us. But Chantel also has another movie that I’ve seen news from home, which is it’s just almost just video footage of New York City while she was there while reading letters that her mother sent her back home in Brussels. And that is another just kind of, I want to say like bizarre format. But it’s a it’s a, it’s similar to this in that, Wow, I’ve never watched a movie like that before, where it’s just still visit like video of New York City while she’s reading these letters. And it’s 85 minutes long. I think someone had that as a as a for favor as well. So she has a very varied filmography. And I also just am so blown away by her making this movie at 25 What the French was doing when I was 25. I mean, you were with all to make this movie and try to make a statement about you know, a lonely you know, housewife, I guess so to speak. And your your perception of like gender roles in the 70s at 25. I mean, the amount of balls she had to do this. And it’s still regarded as like one of the greatest movies ever made, regardless of sight and sounds poll. I’m just blown away by that.
DANNY Yeah, when I read she was 25. I immediate was like, Oh, this is probably something maybe not on the level of the prostitution. But this may be something she watched her mother do, or just the monotony of life. Like maybe she’s experienced this on some level with her mother, because she’s so young. But this is this feels like a story. I don’t know, an older not a 25 year old is making the story is what I would assume. And I there’s a there’s a hole on Vimeo or however you want to say it. There’s like an hour long documentary. And it really is just whoever was someone on set filming them film this movie. And it was an all female crew and absolute incredible thing to see. But they were just the tightness of this apartment that they’re filming this and with so many people around like Ackerman sitting at the foot of the bed while she’s staring in the mirror like she’s a foot from her in this whole scene. It’s like it’s incredible to watch how they made this so it was something that kind of blew my mind. Oh, I
PROTO just I love the how the kitchen was shot. It was mostly shot from like two directions, like either facing the sink or facing the window out so you could see you’re sitting at the table but then at the end of the movie, you saw it from the window like going towards the door. And even that was kind of shocking just to have like that different perspective in the room. Whereas you were so acquainted with the other view for so long
SLIM when she was peeling those potatoes. Oh, I was like yelling at my TV
DANNY scared that I think she would cut her hand off. stressing me out.
SLIM I was like how long does it take? Number three.
DANNY The only thing I’ve read right now that we’ve talked about is just the cooking. I don’t know why. There was the the whatever scene she was making a meatloaf. I couldn’t it was incredible but like my skin was also crawling like how many times she needed the meat. It was just the sounds of that seen someone someone had said it was like an ASMR movie and it really is at some point when you can hear the slapping of the meat. It was it was a lot to take it but a lot of the cooking stuff was just it was just interesting to sit and watch that I was just I was really impressed.
PROTO Yeah when she was preparing the veal I was like sister you need another plate or something platter.
SLIM Something bigger meat fondling.
DANNY My also one other point I had written down was how like how not just very. In the beginning when everything is done correctly the every time she leaves a room the light turns off the door closes when she have puts out the tablecloth because it’s just her and her son now in the house. She only does half the table, folding his his launch his own PJs and folding them back up into the folding bed every night. I just there was there was something about the day to day or the hour to hour of watching this that was mesmerizing.
SLIM I don’t even think I do the same thing every night before bed. Let alone full. Like I’ll kick off some pants in the room. Maybe I’ll clean those up a week from now. Sorry, John.
DANNY That’s definitely me.
PROTO I’m like the complete I’m like I’m like a total creature of habit. I like to be the same exact thing every single day.
DANNY Not every day. I do have a routine at night but yeah.
SLIM perote toe number three for John demon.
PROTO Um, I guess just some of the random notes I had. I don’t really have like a third point. I just kept thinking of Edie TV the whole time watching this, you know, just felt like very voyeuristic of like watching someone’s life. And you’re just thinking that Matthew McConaughey movie from back in the day because remember that I never I was like he’s like He has like a TV station and it’s just like his someone follows him with a camera and it’s kind of like The Truman Show but if the person was in on it whereas hold
SLIM on Howard movie I think it came out the same year as Truman Show was like one of those double O reliable releases um I could be wrong but doing Harrelson ah listen that backdrop he shot incredible
PROTO this is the Avengers end game of doing chores Yeah, and that’s pretty much it. I wish I wish I really could have been more engaged with this because as to it’s it’s something else you know, it’s something different. Bah bah, bah bah bah.
SLIM So I did want to talk I don’t have a ton to say like I talked about a little bit of about French New Wave so in that episode with Isabel she also chose Hiroshima mon amour, which I really loved set in Hiroshima at the end of World War Two the couple letters turned friends recount over many hours previous romances and life experiences, the to intertwine their stories about the past with pondering the devastation wrought by the atomic bomb dropped in the city. So that was a great movie. And I think I’d watched eight and a half, which is a movie The Senate’s did and that was a kind of weird, formatted movie that I did not like at all. But I don’t know it’s I want to investigate more of this style of filmmaking. Movies that just are are structured outside the norm. But I can see why some people don’t like they they watch one weirdly structured movie they’re like, I think I’m out. I’m gonna get back to what I like watching and that’s good enough for me Steven Seagal to do any closing thoughts, audible mentions and rating for this movie?
DANNY Um No honorable mentions closing thoughts. I think when I finished watching this movie, I was sitting at four stars. But this is this files definitely under the more you sit with it kind of cinema. And the more I read about it, the more I read about Chantel, and super bummed that she took her life at 65. Like, it’s just, there’s just it just really, I don’t know there’s something about that that really bummed me out and but I really started to love this film, reading about the making of and how she got up made and I think I’m at five stars for this. And I do think it’s a masterpiece.
PROTO Oh my god,
SLIM five stars. Stunned
PROTO I’m not gonna apologize again. i Yeah, I’ll have to rewatch this at some point. I’ll give it three stars,
SLIM three stars from Pearl on this watch. Listen, people can have different experiences. You know, you know, different experiences when you watch these movies. Right and I’ve watched it the next time I watch it, you might write it three stars next time you watch it. It’s gonna be a Christmas movie at the Haas household. After It’s A Wonderful Life. Fire up was John. My final thoughts scene where she forgets her bag and she looks in that store window. Instead of like going home. She goes back in that she just like goes in that store off kilter. The button conversation she was trying to explain to like the seamstresses. But the button on the odd, I’m like scratching my forehead and like I can’t, I can’t deal with this conversation and I can’t do it. dark streets, someone in our chair. I think I’m at four stars for this movie. It’s worth experiencing. And that’s the main reason I wanted to choose this movie was to try to have people watch this and see something different for the first time like not that you don’t experience different movies. But this is very different than the norm. I mean, we just did three friggin gyms kick James Cameron movies, you know, just to avatars and Titanic. And we followed it up with with scenes for marriage and this so I hope people enjoyed watching along with us and felt something different than then maybe they have in the past. All right, we have a letter I think to get to can shoot us a letter at 70 Mm pod@gmail.com John Dieleman email John Dieleman they want to make that joke Yeah. Oh Captain John Dieleman I’m glad to get let’s move on. I’m gonna have to get South waiting to make a t shirt for this.
DANNY I need a I need you to not
SLIM John Dieleman make it in like the Phillies font or the flyers font or something that
PROTO works every time my cat just writes itself.
SLIM It’s comes from Robert Hey, 70 mm fam. My favorite thing about 70 Mm. And what got me immediately hooked when I first found the show was the unique variety of films that you all covered. When I started doing my own dive into older films. Yours was the only podcast I found that covered both wings and Metropolis. And then wait is that Shrek and Monty Python the same theme? I love that you will make it a point to shine light on different voices in film that haven’t always gotten the shine. They deserve my favorite new discovery thanks to 70 mm so far is his house. A five bagger that I never would have washed without you guys. I can’t wax poetic like others, including some fellow VHS villagers have about the incredible filmmaking on display in John Dieleman. But I just love the fact that she was able to make something so rebellious and its dedication to simplicity and domesticity. So many women were intentionally excluded from writing and directing for decades and with this feminist masterpiece of a movie Aquaman showed exactly what the male studio executives were afraid of being different, challenging and ending with a small explosion of all the pent up frustration towards those in power. It was a quiet revolution of of film, and that’s why I’m so pleased that atop the sight and sound list. Thank you for all your wonderful conversations mind blowing artwork and the best discord community in the world. The goodness Robert my god Riley, Robert, Thanks, Robert. Robert. What a letter what a letter. Did you drop the artwork yet? I did. Oh my god. I mean Marielle dropped shows dot png meme. Please. I think we all agree. So like, talking about Robert about how we had the variety. I love that we have that variety. We don’t do the same thing in all these episodes. And we kind of know when we’ve done to like many like Main Street camera hits that and we have like a sizable audience. So I personally feel like we have a responsibility to shed light on those voices that Otherwise, people might not watch you know, you get you get roped into the same thing over and over again. Change it up.
DANNY I mean, we may be three white men. We have three different voices right?
SLIM We’re three white men. We’re trying our best here. The man is holding us down everywhere we go. And I’m just kidding. That’s fake. That’s fake. I don’t believe that, please. Oh my god, you know, I just remembered what we’re getting protos pick for seven days month. Mom. The grind. This proto has said this is the best decade in human history.
DANNY Who did? I did say that.
SLIM So your turn is next week.
PROTO My trans next week, you know, I went back and forth. I feel like I’m going back and forth a little bit. Even right now. I will say a movie that I was looking at. It’s not my pick. But I almost turned into a this month into a live Ohlman. Mo there’s a movie called The immigrants from 1971. But it’s not. It’s like not streaming anywhere. And it’s like really, really hard to get a hold of so I didn’t want to pick that because I just didn’t think anybody would want to be able to watch it. But it’s actually a I think it’s like a two parter.
DANNY I think she was nominated for Best Actress and really, Yes,
PROTO Mark Max von Seidel as well. So I have it on my watch list some someday I’ll watch it. Um, yeah, this was hard. There was a few big heavy hitters to pick from, but I you know, I love watching new movies, things we haven’t seen before. So I haven’t seen this movie. It’s from 1975 Some call this the most beautiful picture ever made. I’ve read that. Oh, avatar to Stanley Kubrick’s very Linden
DANNY oh man was this our first cube no I was like six years ago sorry. Well I also
PROTO thought it’s good to keep you know we’ve done now we’ve done five movies that are three hours long. Let’s just keep the train going. Is it three hours long that’s another three hours
DANNY man I’m excited I’ve been wanting to watch this for a while I think I thought you watched it no II in from the center knots former producer now disgraced loves this film, I believe any champion to a bit and so I’ve wanted to watch it. So I’m very excited. Oh, this was this was almost on my shortlist pronoun for this month too. So very, very excited. I’ve never seen it
SLIM in Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England. Transforming himself from the humble Redman berry into the noble Barry Lyndon
DANNY Ryan I’m excited.
SLIM God starring at Kubrick live a weird suns never seen this. Brandon, who posted a dead Kermit GIF. Five stars. Oh, to log jobs flawless in February 2021. Oh my gosh. And then five stars again? May 2022
DANNY Holy cow.
SLIM Let me see a Veeder can pull up some data here. We need some data. I’m gonna do this. I’m gonna kick Veeder the supercomputer who loves me the proto build up and I’m gonna punch in Barry and Linden and it’s going to tell me what our supporters think of this movie using the power of computers and technology. App. Oh my god. average rating for Barry Lyndon 4.21.
DANNY Good God. It’s a four three on letterbox.
SLIM Every frame is a painting. Guti says
DANNY I’m excited. I’m very excited actually,
SLIM in our former producer who we’ve mentioned is disgraced. We had to part ways early in the show’s history. Yeah. Started 2021 with a heater all caps, four and a half stars. Classic. Yeah, it’s the most Ian review ever I’m surprising and say you know 10 out of 10 for one five stars. Idiot and who those might remember from the Stranger Things season four episode. I love how Veeder like cuts off after the first like sort of sentence so you get like half thoughts. Chris left a review on video watched a criterion blu ray. Oh Blake sweet Brian, why Lucas? This was something Robert. Oh my goodness. Are you guys this morning? Robert is this same Robert who left us that beautiful? Oh no letter two stars one of the most boring movies I’ve ever seen.
DANNY Oh my God why? lower expectations Robert
SLIM with a total 180 stopped around the two hour mark because I couldn’t bear one more hour.
DANNY You probably had Christmas wrapping.
SLIM Christmas Eve wrapping gifts passed out all right, this is streaming on HBO max for all our max Yes, Maxis out there.
PROTO I might have to grab the criteria and though no one else is happening.
DANNY Kind of does the criterion a Blu ray? Yeah. Oh,
SLIM it’s great. Greg poster number 86 in the top 250 Incredible Okay,
DANNY great Peck. Very excited.
SLIM Cubes back after the shining, which I if everyone remembers I gave three and a half stars.
DANNY You did not have to remind us just if anyone
SLIM was forgetting the infamous shining episode. Go back and listen to it. Pardo any closing thoughts? This week before we go into Barry Lyndon?
PROTO I love what you said slam you know, we got to open yourself up to different types of movies. And we did that this week was John Dillman, John Dolman so I’m glad that we can do that for the people and continue to do that until we’ve finished the show with 2001.
SLIM We’ll see everybody next week. Barry Lyndon.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
