Down There

Là-Bas

Director: Chantal Akerman
France/Belgium 2006 79mins
Language: English

“When Jews in France say to each other ‘Tu vas là-bas’ they usually mean: ‘are you going to Israel?’ We have the place where we live and we have ‘là-bas’.” Akerman didn’t intend to make a film about Israel. But then, while staying in a rented seaside apartment in Tel Aviv, she started filming. She continues to ask: are images possible there? Is normal life possible there? In this meditative exploration, Akerman remembers her childhood, contemplates Jewish identity and shares the difficulties involved in the most basic chores of daily life. Questions about place, identity, family history and relationships are woven into magical images that capture the screen in long durée, typical of Akerman’s challenging work. This is a candid cinematic journey about exile as an existential mode, in Europe or at the heart of Tel Aviv.