Movie

Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window

1983 · 46 min

A quiet, patient gaze at still images, closer to contemplation than storytelling, rewarding viewers who settle into its slow, ascetic rhythm.

Overview: Jean-Claude Rousseau's Jeune femme à sa fenêtre lisant une lettre is not only his first medium-length film, but a chance to discover this filmmaker whom Jean-Marie Straub has called, along with Frans Van de Staak and Peter Nestler, the greatest working in Europe. With this newly restored print there is also a possibility to discover the relationship between Rousseau's art of filming and Jan Vermeer's famous painting. As Prosper Hillairet wrote in 1988, four years after Rousseau had finished Jeune femme ... (for the first time as we know today): «Without adopting the usual systematic spirit and form of cinéma structurel, Rousseau presents us with simple images and leaves it at that. Keeps the image in hand. A minimalist and ascetic expression of cinema: a shot that lasts.»
How it feels: Slow-burning and demanding.
About: Art, isolation, memory
Content: No violence, gore, sexual content or swearing.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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