Là-bas (Down There). 2006. Belgium/France. Written and directed by Chantal Akerman. DCP courtesy Icarus Films. In French, English; English subtitles. 79 min.
Chantal Akerman takes the simplest of premises, the world as seen from her Tel Aviv window, and turns it into a fascinating rumination on interiority and exteriority, darkness and light. In voiceover, she speaks of her own family’s history of exile and mental illness, the suicides of her aunt and the mother of her friend the writer Amos Oz, and the fate of Israel after a recent suicide bombing. Her narration suggests that of a shut-in. The sounds of birdsong, children playing, and street traffic intrude upon the solitude of her apartment, intermingling with the sounds of Akerman’s own voice on the telephone (as she listlessly speaks of a frugal diet and the need to work), the turning of pages, and footsteps echoing. Framing devices of glass doors, rattan shades, and iron railings give a painterly aspect to the geometric arrangement of buildings and balconies where people, unaware they’re being observed, have breakfast or make rooftop repairs. For one brief moment, while washing dishes, her head intrudes upon the frame. Suddenly, as an airplane roars overhead, the world speeds up, almost panicked. Israel is no promised land, Akerman suggests: “There is no ‘over there,’ no paradise, no elsewhere. That’s also why I film, at one point, people looking at the sea, still over there. It will forever be nothing but a dream, this ‘over there.’”