Je Tu Il Elle
1974 Belgian film
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Je Tu Il Elle ([ʒə ty il ɛl]; English: "I You He She") is a 1974 drama film produced and directed by Chantal Akerman, co-written by Akerman, Eric de Kuyper and Paul Paquay. Starring Akerman, Niels Arestrup and Claire Wauthion, it follows the depressed lesbian Julie following a breakup with her lover.
- Chantal Akerman
- Eric de Kuyper
- Paul Paquay
- Chantal Akerman
- Niels Arestrup
- Claire Wauthion
| Je Tu Il Elle | |
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French theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Chantal Akerman |
| Written by |
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| Produced by | Chantal Akerman |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography |
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Production company | Paradise Films |
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Release dates |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
| Countries | Belgium France |
| Language | French |
The film was originally received with mixed reviews, for its slow pace and explicit lesbian sex scene (a first for a mainstream feature film). In the following decades, it gained reappraisal alongside Akerman’s body of work, becoming a cult classic. It has been labelled as a feminist film and an early example of the slow cinema genre.[1][2]
Plot
Julie is a depressed young woman who locks herself alone in her home after a painful breakup with her unnamed lover. For the first third of the film, she rearranges her furniture, writes letters, lounges naked, and eats sugar out of a paper bag.
She eventually leaves her room and hitchhikes with a young male truck driver. They make stops at a restaurant, a bar, and a restroom. She gives him a handjob and he discusses his family life in a long monologue, before they part ways.
She then visits a woman, her ex-lover, who makes Julie sandwiches and a drink. Julie suggestively begins to undress the woman, who tells her to only leave in the morning, and they have sex. As dawn breaks, Julie leaves.
Cast
- Chantal Akerman as Julie
- Niels Arestrup as the driver
- Claire Wauthion as the woman
Production
Akerman wrote the story for the film a few years prior to filming that she described once as both very personal along with not autobiographical due to its structure that mixes with her experiences as a teenager.[3] The sex scene between Julie and her ex-lover is the first graphic lesbian sex scene in mainstream cinema, and one of the longest lesbian sex scenes in film.[4][5][6]
Release
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was selected to be shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016.[7]
Critical reception
The movie was well received by critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 100% rating based on reviews from 8 critics, and an average rating of 7.80/10.[8]
Feminist and queer film scholar B. Ruby Rich believed that Je Tu Il Elle can be seen as a "cinematic Rosetta Stone of female sexuality".[9]
