The Eighties

Chantal Akerman was preparing a musical. It was to be set in a shopping arcade. Money was needed before it could be shot. Akerman filmed the preparation itself. This is what came of that. The first part is auditions and rehearsals. Performers try the same line over and over. The same song is sung again and again. The camera keeps those repetitions as they are. What becomes visible is how a scene gets built. The later part carries a shortened version of the musical. The distance between the two parts is what the film is about. The preparation did bear fruit in the end. The musical was made in 1986 as Golden Eighties. Aurore Clément, Magali Noël and Pascale Salkin appear in the eighty six minute film, a Belgian and French production by Chantal Akerman.