On episode 139 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter discuss the next film in their Chantal Akerman series, Les Rendez-vous d'Anna (1978).
Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love.
It’s not easy following up what people consider to be the greatest film of all time, but Akerman, her next feature film seemed to be another perfect, meticulous examination of a woman’s journey through life, continuing the trend she’s looked at within the first two films of this series. But what makes Les Rendez-vous d'Anna such a fascinating film is that the picture feels as if it’s from someone who has lived a life, and as they enter their thirties, their reflection on who they are, what they’ve done in their life, and what their purpose becomes clearer as she meets more and more figures of her past. It’s a blistering, meta look into the director’s life at the time, and what she thought about choosing her art over a more normal type of life. Ryan and Jay break down their thoughts on the film and how they see the turning points of their lives reflected within the honest piece of cinema by Akerman.
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This podcast runs 1h29m. The guys will be back next week to conclude their series on the films of Chantal Akerman with a review of her next film, A Couch in New York. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.
Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).
