Chantal Akerman Shorts

Chantal Akerman’s shorts explore interiors — the psychological interiors of people, and the spatial interiors of places. Saute ma ville — which can be seen as a precursor to Jeanne Dielman — follows a young woman (played by Akerman) as she frantically moves through her apartment, completing her domestic tasks in what amounts to an emotional downward spiral. In La Chambre the camera moves slowly around a room, along walls and past objects, but the scenes are intermittently and increasingly punctuated by shots of a woman in bed. Hôtel Monterey, Akerman’s first longer film, has three main characters — the camera, a hotel, and silence — and can be seen as a study on architectural space, light, reflections, and time.