Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles · reception & legacy

How Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

Hailed at its 1975 Cannes debut as 'the first masterpiece of the feminine in the history of cinema' but long confined to art-house and academic circles, it stunned everyone in 2022 by topping the Sight and Sound poll — dethroning Vertigo as the official Greatest Film of All Time.

What's debated

Since the Sight and Sound crowning, film fans endlessly relitigate whether a 201-minute film of domestic routine can really be #1 — Paul Schrader publicly grumbled about the result, and 'is it a masterpiece or a endurance test?' remains the fight.

Its footprint

The potato-peeling scene is the film's endlessly referenced image — shorthand for slow cinema itself — and after the 2022 poll it became a genuine Letterboxd meme, with reviewers timing their own chores against Jeanne's.

Where it stands

Once a feminist-canon deep cut you had to seek out, it's now the ultimate 'you must have seen this' — the first film directed by a woman to top the Sight and Sound all-time poll.

Named by the director

Influences Chantal Akerman has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

• Michael Snow — Akerman repeatedly credited discovering Snow's structural films in New York with transforming her sense of duration and the fixed frame, the formal approach that shaped Jeanne Dielman.