Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles 1978

The film intricately explores the life of a widowed mother whose meticulously structured days revolve around cooking, cleaning, and mothering, while also managing her daily errands over a span of three days. The character, Jeanne Dielman, whose name is revealed solely in the title and a letter she reads to her son, supplements her income by engaging in sexual encounters with a different client each afternoon, just before her son returns from school. For Jeanne, this prostitution is woven into her monotonous routine, carried out with an almost mechanical precision.

However, after a visit from a client on the second day, Jeanne’s meticulously organized life begins to show signs of disarray. She overcooks potatoes during dinner preparation, meanders throughout her apartment with the pot, and forgets crucial tasks such as placing the lid on the urn where she keeps her earnings. Her forgetfulness extends to leaving lights on in various rooms, missing a button on her house coat, and even dropping a recently washed spoon. These gradual deviations from her established routine escalate on the third day when her client arrives.

During the encounter, a complex mix of emotions brews within Jeanne; she grapples with either experiencing an orgasm or feeling a profound disgust for her actions. Following the encounter, she dresses and instead of providing comfort to her client, she shocksingly turns violent, using scissors to stab him to death. After committing this act, she quietly retreats to her dining room table, where she sits in eerie stillness, leaving the audience to ponder the profound implications of her life and choices.