Blanchett then slowly hangs up the phone and returns, defeated, to the kitchen. The camera frames her in a medium shot and in a single take that will last about one minute, she sits at the table, facing us, and begins to robotically peel one apple, then another, then another. And there she is, before our eyes. We are witnessing the renaissance of Jeanne Dielman!
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Of the entire cast (poor Rooney Mara!), only Toni Collette’s Mademoiselle Zeena catches our interest. Like Blondell in the original, she gives her character a modicum of humanity and pathos. This is yet another addition to her wonderous collection of memorable characters starting, of course, with Muriel at that wedding!
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Then, by the second day, you begin to notice subtle changes in Jeanne’s rituals. Trivial things at first, like dropping a newly washed spoon, and then, as the movie progresses , we realize that Jeanne is slowly losing her mind before our eyes. A sense of unease settles over us. A hunch that something terrible is going to happen, and it does.
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