The Man with the Suitcase
(L'Homme à la valise)
Chantal Akerman based this droll study of human beings and their living space on an autobiographical incident in which she devoted a month of her life to the sheer frustration of having her home invaded by an unwanted male house guest. A woman (played by Akerman) returns to her apartment after loaning it to friends, only to find that a friend-of-the-friends has installed himself there. Gradually, she retreats to a corner of the flat, using the exaggerated sounds emanating from the “invisible enemy” as warning signals of his whereabouts. (That this seemingly innocent intruder is given to singing arias from Oklahoma does not help matters in the least.) “The commonplace that hell is other people finds a new twist in Akerman's use of (the) soundtrack” (Variety); visually, through a studied, static observation of space, Akerman builds up the frustration of her existential heroine so effectively that a second's glimpse of a man's naked body in the bathroom resonates with meaning.