Je Tu Il Elle

Je Tu Il Elle
Je Tu Il Elle
Directed by	Chantal Akerman
Written by	Chantal Akerman; Eric de Kuyper; Paul Paquay
Produced by	Chantal Akerman
Starring	Chantal Akerman; Niels Arestrup; Claire Wauthion
Cinematography	Bénédicte Delesalle
Edited by	Luc Fréché; Geneviève Luciani;
Release date	1974;
Running time	86 minutes
Countries	Belgium; France
Language	French

Je Tu Il Elle ([ʒə ty il ɛl]; English: "I You He She") is a 1974 French-Belgian film by the Belgian film director Chantal Akerman. 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.^[1]

Plot

Julie, the narrator of the film, lives alone in her room. 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 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.

Julie then visits a woman, her ex-lover, who makes Julie sandwiches and a drink. Julie then suggestively begins to undress the woman, and they have sex. Julie's narration says the woman told her she had to leave in the morning, and she does.

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.^[2] 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.^[3]^[4]^[5]

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.^[6]