Barbie vs Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce: True Life Lies Between Barbie and Jeanne

2023-08-16

Who had any expectations for a Barbie movie? But somehow the heavily branded toy franchise has given birth to a smart and witty satire that’s started a lot of conversations about the lives of women in the 21st century. We talk about what we enjoyed and what we missed, and compare it to the 1975 ‘slow cinema’ masterpiece now acknowledged by Sight and Sound as the greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. It’s two sides of the same coin once again. ...

Who had any expectations for a Barbie movie? But somehow the heavily branded toy franchise has given birth to a smart and witty satire that’s started a lot of conversations about the lives of women in the 21st century. We talk about what we enjoyed and what we missed, and compare it to the 1975 ‘slow cinema’ masterpiece now acknowledged by Sight and Sound as the greatest film of all time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. It’s two sides of the same coin once again. But which film wants to smash the patriarchy, which film presents the greatest shock, and which film wants to sell you a Chevrolet?

In between, we manage to forget Mitt Romney (an understandable mistake if ever there was one), launch a brand new social network under the banner of a single letter of the alphabet (which letter did we choose, do you think?), rewatch a recent hit with new (googly) eyes, learn about the invention of sonar, and discuss the complexities of plastic surgery.

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Or come to our website, where we’ll be writing about the movies we cover in the show and a few more things besides: https://tworeelcinemaclub.com

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