Je Tu Il Elle

Je, tu, il, elle (1974) is Chantal Akerman's debut feature, a Belgian-French drama you can watch online on iFILM. Akerman herself plays Julie, a young woman who shuts herself inside a bare room after a breakup.

The film moves in three movements. First comes solitude: Julie shoves furniture around, eats spoonfuls of sugar straight from the bag, rewrites the same letter for weeks. Then a road trip with a near-silent truck driver (Niels Arestrup). Finally, a night with a former lover (Claire Wauthion). The camera barely moves, the takes run long, the words are few.

Akerman shot this at 24, a year before Jeanne Dielman, and her fixation on bodies, time and the everyday is already fully formed. Slow, physical, uncompromising — this one isn't for everyone. Stream Je, tu, il, elle online on iFILM.