Akerman, Chantal: My Mother Laughs

Akerman, Chantal: My Mother Laughs

Regular price $20.00 Sale

Song Cave, paperback

Translated by Corina Copp

Publication Date: June 18, 2019

Publisher Marketing:

A memoir in the form of a poetic musing on the inevitability of death and the difficulty of letting loved ones go." -Alex Greenberger, ARTnews

First published in France in 2013, My Mother Laughs is the final book written by the legendary and beloved Belgian artist and director Chantal Akerman (1950-2015) before her death. A moving and unforgettable memoir, the book delves deeply into one of the central themes and focuses of Akerman's often autobiographical films: her mother, who was the direct subject of her final film No Home Movie (2015).

With a particular focus on the difficulties Akerman faced in conjunction with the end of her mother's life, the book combines a matter-of-fact writing style with family photographs and stills from her own films in order to better convey the totality of her experience. Akerman writes: "With pride because I finally believed in my ability to say something that I'd had trouble saying. I told myself, I am strong for once, I speak. I tell the truth."