La Captive

The Captive

If there is one film that shows how Akerman never allowed easy judgements or interpretations, this portrait of a tortured relationship is it.

  • Director

    Chantal Akerman

  • With

    Stanislas Mehrar, Sylvie Testud

  • France 2000. 118min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

  • English subtitles

‘That’s a story for me,’ said Akerman of Marcel Proust’s The Prisoner, when she remembered ‘there was that apartment, and the corridor, and the two characters’. This languorous, beguiling adaptation – where, again, Akerman resets our sense of time – probes possessive love. A wealthy young man obsesses over his girlfriend. But who is the captor asks Akerman, who considered a person could be a cage as much as a room.

The screenings on Sunday 9 March 18:20 NFT2 and Monday 17 March 18:00 NFT1 will be presented with additional Descriptive Subtitles of non-dialogue audio.

Also available on BFI Player