Akerman’s maddening, hypnotic, fascinating, mundane, electrifying, mind-numbing, and ultimately shocking portrait of three days in the life of an “ordinary” widow and housewife is a singular achievement, with its complex aesthetic of unadorned stasis giving us an undeniably fascinating sense of fly-on-the-wall surveillance while also studiously denying us many of the typical pleasures of Hollywood cinema. Despite being with her for more than three hours, Jeanne remains an enigma, which gives the film a sharp dual edge with which it cuts through the banality of hidden labor and exposes the dark recesses beneath. (DVD)