“My eyes are imprisoned/ Weeping with great longing”. Soèdade (saudade) — “longing” or “yearning” — is a Portuguese word that does not have a precise translation in English. It has been described as a “…vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot...
Between rain and clearer spells, in the footsteps of Ozu in today’s Japan, people met, wordless encounters… Also some seismic events, a trembling of the ground which does not interrupt the course of the film. And just for the sake of a story: a forgotten umbrella in a hotel room.
Rooms must be vacated before noon on the day of departure. An extra night will be charged for all late departures." Jean-Claude Rousseau has used this banal, well-known notice as a synopsis for his film. Taken out of context, thereby rendering it mysterious, it is an ideal introduction to this...
A hotel room and a few sweets, their wrappers stacked like gold leaf... An interview with Chantal Akerman and ongoing coverage of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, and what emerges is a genuine tragedy, as simple as Racine's.
The continuing demand for high standards is what sets Rouseau's work apart. What makes this film distinctive is the way Rousseau explicitly returns to the source of his creative inspiration. So here he is at home reciting «Bérénice» to himself, whilst going about his household chores. It verges...
In a darkened room a dark figure holding numerous flickering candles walks towards the camera. The single frame, however, keeps the secret of the scene to itself.
Rousseau is shown sitting in a room, waiting. Voices leave messages on his answering machine (sound); a table lamp (light) and an empty writing pad (memory) adopt the meaning due to them under this arrangement. In between, the flowing movements of nocturnal ice dancers are accompanied by...
Thirty-five years after "Keep in Touch", Jean-Claude Rousseau’s filmmaking returns to the city of Carl Andre and Hollis Frampton. It’s like a miniature remake of "Rear Window", but a New York version – Rear Window as seen by a minimalist artist from New York. The window takes up almost the...
‘Her triumph was the dance named Flamenco. What a tragic dance! It is, so to speak, all passion expressed in three acts: desire, seduction, and pleasure.’ (Pierre Louÿs, The Woman and the Puppet, 1898)
