Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1972) by Chantal Akerman
Sunday, November 20, 1988, 8:00 pm
Je, Tu, Il, Elle by Chantal Akerman
with Near the Big Chakra by Anne Severson
JE, TU, IL, ELLE (1972) 90 min, 16mm, color. Akerman stars as a young woman alienated and abandoned, who struggles from the solitary “JE” (I) in the first section through a casual but tender encounter with “IL” (He) in the second and culminating in the passionate embrace of “ELLE” (She) in the third. “TU” (You) is the viewer who completes the cycle of subjects and objects. What is less apparent in this schematicized description is Akerman’s comic sensibility and her talent at mixing film styles to sabotage our preconceived notions of narrative, confession and art film. Near the Big Chakra is Severson’s straight-forward presentation of 37 vaginas, a curiously neutral depiction of sexuality that shows the universality of all women.