Avant-garde Cinema

There's no rioting, protesting, or marching for civil rights here. Jeanne Dielman, single mother and sometime sex worker, has a simple life: laundry, dinner, the occasional john. The mundanity of being a housewife is on achingly tedious display for three-plus hours in Chantal Akerman's experimental film. And that's why it's brilliant.

Věra Chytilová’s surrealist Czech New Wave masterpiece follows two teenage girls, both named Marie, who embark on a series of anarchic pranks and destructive games in a world going 'bad.' Through avant-garde experimentation and radical humor, the film critiques patriarchy, consumerism, and political stagnation.