A Nos Amours: Chantal Akerman 24: Là-bas (Over There)

Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound, introduces the film

A camera in a room. A series of shots of a window, balcony, the light of the exterior world. Off screen we hear the voice of Akerman, on the phone. Has she been to the beach? No. She is indoors.

Akerman’s camera sees life beyond, glimpses of lives lived as in Hitchcock’s Rear Window. But the story told is very different: this is Tel Aviv, and Akerman is the daughter of Holocaust survivors. She is apprehensive about a recent bombing, and meditates on the whether Israel is indeed the ‘promised land’ or merely a new form of exile.

There are of course no conclusions to be drawn, because the debate is only ever at best provisional. "It’s complicated," she states. Her relationship with Israel is overwhelming and frustrating, a matter of love and hate.

And what of the sea? The vast untroubled waters have lapped these shores throughout human history. The sea is an image of freedom, or ease, of human concerns dwarfed. But as ever, it is back to the apartment, and the glimpse of a life outside, beyond the shutters.

This screening is part of the Chantal Akerman retrospective presented by A Nos Amours.

Picturehouse Members’ Offer

Picturehouse Members can receive £7 tickets (usually £11) to A Nos Amours: Chantal Akerman Retrospective screenings with the Picturehouse offer code (please see Picturehouse social media channels). This discount is available for two tickets per customer and can be booked online, over the phone or in person. You must present a valid Picturehouse membership card when collecting tickets.