This showed up on the Criterion Channel, so I thought I would take a look. I'm not a Proust person, and not familiar with Akerman. But I do know Hitchcock, and was initially put off by how the entire opening sequence, after the home movie bit, is a riff on Scottie following Madeline in Vertigo. I mean, it is not imitation, but almost a quotation. So for me the entire film plays out in dialog with Vertigo. This is a good thing. Akerman's film is both an explanation of, and is explained by, the Hitchcock film. This becomes more clear when you think about it. When you are watching it, ir is like entering the internal state of Scottie/Simon, and with them the viewer is obsessed with the blankness of Madeline/Ariane. You want to find the secret -- there must be a secret! -- to her complete passivity, her submission. People complain about the length of the movie, but for me, I was astonished when it ended. It seemed like I had only been watching for 15 minutes.
Then you start to think about it. It is a film that will live in your memory. One of the fascinating things about the interplay with Vertigo is what Akerman decides to show us, and what she withholds. In Vertigo, Scottie's sexual attraction for Madeline is never made explicit. Instead, he indicates the impossible moment when Scottie undresses the (pretending to be unconscious?) Madeline in his apartment after she jumps in the bay. Akerman, on the other hand, shows us Simon having what passes for him as sex with Ariane, while she pretends to be asleep. I am still sorting out what this choice means. Another comparison is the ending of both films, Scottie in the bell tower, looking wildly at Judy's dead body, and Simon, in the bow of the boat, looking wildly at something -- Ariane's corpse? -- on the shore. Whereas it is clear what has happened in the Hitchcock picture, here we can only suspect. In a way, there is no resolution in Akerman's film. We are just left with a puzzle -- the puzzle of desire.
Then you start to think about it. It is a film that will live in your memory. One of the fascinating things about the interplay with Vertigo is what Akerman decides to show us, and what she withholds. In Vertigo, Scottie's sexual attraction for Madeline is never made explicit. Instead, he indicates the impossible moment when Scottie undresses the (pretending to be unconscious?) Madeline in his apartment after she jumps in the bay. Akerman, on the other hand, shows us Simon having what passes for him as sex with Ariane, while she pretends to be asleep. I am still sorting out what this choice means. Another comparison is the ending of both films, Scottie in the bell tower, looking wildly at Judy's dead body, and Simon, in the bow of the boat, looking wildly at something -- Ariane's corpse? -- on the shore. Whereas it is clear what has happened in the Hitchcock picture, here we can only suspect. In a way, there is no resolution in Akerman's film. We are just left with a puzzle -- the puzzle of desire.