119. Chantal Akerman: Je Tu Il Elle (featuring Justina Yam)

Dec 28, 2025
1h 11m

Episode Description

We are joined by none other than friend of the pod and the artist behind all of our DC covers, Justina Yam! Justina comes on the podcast to take us back to the works of Chantal Akerman, with her first feature Je Tu Il Elle. Justina talks about her personal connection to Akerman’s films, and discusses how she continues to play with time in her filmography. Wilson and Eli talk about expressions through body language and narration, and Ben has a theory about Je Tu Il Elle being a non-linear film. 

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Links:

Justina’s Instagram

Justina’s recent photojournalism project: 風流 (Feng Liu)

Ira Sachs on Je Tu Il Elle

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:44 Introducing Justina Yam

00:07:09 Je tu il elle introduction

00:08:04 General thoughts on Je Tu Il Elle from Justina and Wilson

00:13:21 General context of the film

00:15:27 General reactions from Ben and Eli

00:18:09 Sugar? Long Takes?

00:20:56 Feminism and Akerman 

00:23:30 The three act structure

00:27:44 Blocking and the body

00:34:06 Long takes

00:36:42 Sex scenes

00:41:43 Autobiographical nature of the film

00:47:16 Temporality 

00:53:49 The ending and career context

00:58:49 Discomfort within Akerman’s cinema 

01:04:03 Outro

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