Leading Ladies in European Film Series - The Captive

On the occasion of International Women's Day 2024, the House of European History proudly presents three extraordinary and very different European films, written and directed by three leading ladies in genuine European cinema. The Czech director Věra Chytilová (1929-2014), the Belgian director Chantal Akerman (1950-2015) and the French director Céline Sciamma (1978), representing three generations of powerful and independent European filmmaking from the 1960s to today.

Each film will be introduced in English by film historian and film curator Wouter Hessels (RITCS & INSAS) and followed by a brief discussion and Q&A. Registration in advance is mandatory, the event is free of charge. Register for the movie.

We encourage you to join a guided tour at 18h15 in the permanent exhibition before the movie screening, focusing on women and their role in society. Book your guided tour.

• Wednesday 20/3/2024
• 19:00 - The Captive (La Captive), Chantal Akerman

• Belgium/France, 2000, 118’, Original FR version, with EN subtitles

“The Captive / La Captive” was inspired by “La Prisonnière” - the fifth and final volume of “À la recherche du temps perdu” by Marcel Proust. Chantal Akerman transforms this work of world literature into a mesmerising study of voyeurism, control and sexual obsession. Akerman was director of “Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080”, which was recently voted ‘greatest film of all time’ according to Sight & Sound's poll of 1000 film critics.

The film is centered on the relationship between a possessive young man Simon (Stanislas Merhar) and his lover Ariane (Sylvie Testud). With this abundant plot, full of hilariously absurd details and references to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, Akerman once again proves her talent for subjects like the destructiveness of love and the complex nature of sexuality.