Belgium10 Essential Belgian FilmsStop 3 of 10

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

1975

Across three days, a widowed Brussels housewife performs the rituals of her ordered life — cooking, cleaning, caring for her son, and discreetly receiving gentlemen callers in the afternoons — until tiny cracks begin to show. Chantal Akerman's monumental, hypnotic study of routine.

Why it’s here

Chantal Akerman's Brussels-set Belgian/French landmark and a defining Belgian-authored film.