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    Chantal Akerman

    Jew Score:
    12

    I4

    O4

    K4
    June 6, 1950 – October 5, 2015

    We're willing to bet that you, the reader of this profile, have no idea who Chantal Akerman is. And yet... she directed the greatest movie of all time.

    No, not "Citizen Kane". No, not "Casablanca". No, not "Crocodile Dundee". Akerman's movie is "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles". We're willing to bet you've never heard of it either. And yet...

    And yet, every ten years, Britain's Sight & Sound magazine holds a prestigious "100 Greatest Films" that only a select group of film critics are allowed to participate in. For five decades, the top spot belonged to "Citizen Kane". 10 years ago, it was bumped by Hitchcock's "Vertigo". In 2022, Akerman's mouthful of the title took the top spot. And who are we to argue with prestigious critics?

    So what is "Jean Dielman, etc, etc"? It's 200 minutes of (quoting Wikipedia here) "restrained pace, long takes, and static camerawork" that depicts "a widowed housewife over the course of three days". That's your greatest movie of all time. Perhaps we should argue with prestigious critics?

    In any case, Akerman, a Belgian Jew and a child of Holocaust survivors, did not live to see this great accolade, passing away in 2015. So we will wait with baited breath for Sight & Sound's 2032 poll... Perhaps they will finally give "Crocodile Dundee" its due?

    Verdict: Jew.

    December 28, 2022

    See Also

    Susanne Bier

    Maya Deren

    Agnieszka Holland

    Julie Taymor

    Sophie Wilmes
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