Stone, Hat, Ribbon and Rose

A map – a world – unfolds on a table. We take an audiovisual tour through Brussels, which at the same time forms a cinematic message to Chantal Akerman.

Is it necessary to point out that this film, shot in Brussels in a variety of places at various times of night and day, stemmed from a collective project dedicated to Chantal Akerman? The address is clear. It is underscored by the choice of a city worth a thousand clues, by the graceful precision of the frames, and by the very principle of the address—for there is no denying that Akerman’s films are fundamentally addressed (to her, making films was like sending a letter, as Serge Daney so accurately put it). Still, it goes without saying that this humble and beautiful exercise in admiration is more than the work of a talented copy artist. The city presented to us is not scattered with clues designed to lead us back to Akerman’s Brussels, or meant to tie back in with shots from Jeanne Dielman or All Night Long. Instead, its sidelong glances seem directed at films set in other cities: the metro platform in Brussels takes us back to the New York subway in News from Home, a hall recalls the Russian setting in From the East, a museum conjures up memories of The Captive… By scouring Brussels for shreds of the mundane and liquid time that makes up the very fabric of Akerman’s films, Stone, Hat, Ribbon and Rose looks past the clichés. Instead, the breathing that it attempts to keep alive adds a handful of minutes to those celluloid nights and days, every moment of which brings back the wonder of seeing for the very first time.         

Jérôme Momcilovic