Belgian director Chantal Akerman's Les Rendezvous d'Anna is an obviously autobiographical mood piece about a young woman director named Anna Silver (Aurore Clement) who travels Europe by train to be on hand for showings of her latest film. In Germany, she meets a young father whose wife has left him to tend for their daughter. After a brief night of love, Anna visits the man's house, and listens to a ten-minute speech about Germany. Rather than just being a jarring reminder that we are watching a film, and an "art film" at that, the scene becomes the recurrent motif of the film. In France, Anna visits with her mother, and at the train station, the mother--looking into the camera--delivers a ten-minute mumbler. On board the train again, Anna plays arty-fartsy footsie with some guy, as they wordlessly take turns: one stars out the window at the passing scenery, while the other faces forward; then they shift. Eventually the guy gets around to having his ten-minute platform. And so on. Visually, Les Rendezvous d'Anna has some very nice shots indeed, but as a portrait of the artist being out of sync with society, it's neither new nor interesting. Toute Une Nuit, on the other hand, is simply amazing. Using almost no dialogue, the camera shows us a handful of people as they dance, drink, sleep, answer the phone, smoke cigarettes while gazing out the window, wait on the sidewalk, wait in front of shops, wait inside their living rooms. Wait eternally, it seems. Set over the course of one night, this 90 minute film does seem like its about 8 hours long. The Village Voice calls it art, of course. But then again, if you strapped a camcorder to a baby's butt and let him crawl through the mall for a couple of hours, the VV would call whatever resulted art. These two Akerman films are self-indulgent in the extreme, offering neither wit nor insight, just boredom. Not recommended (Note: These films are available individually as part of a four-pack, which also includes Akerman's je tu il elle and The Eighties, for $279.80.). (R. Pitman)
Les Rendezvous d'Anna; Toute Une Nuit
(1978) 120 min. In French w/English subtitles. $79.95. World Artists, Inc. Library Journal
Les Rendezvous d'Anna; Toute Une Nuit
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: