Family in Brussels

Ackermann's death approaches this historical chasm in a particularly striking way, attempting to reach across this divide while simultaneously conceding the futility of the gesture, le beau.

In Une Famille à Bruxelles, published in 1998, Chantal Ackermann, alternating between her own voice and that of her mother, imagined her mother's thoughts about her husband, his illness and death, her two daughters, Chantal and her younger sister, Sylviane, who lives with her husband and two young children in Mexico, and her mother's extended family in Belgium.

In Ma Marie, published in 2013, Ackerman sets alongside the trajectory of the serious illness and recovery of her mother, the traumatic and ultimately violent collapse of her relationship with a younger English woman named C. Ackerman was a prolific filmmaker, directing 42 films, ranging from arthouse and experimental films, such as L'Homme à la Ville Lise, 1983, in 1982, to commercial projects such as La Captive, 2000, based on Marcel Proust's novel La Prisonnière, and Almeyer's Folly, 2011, based on Joseph Conrad's first novel.

Tristan's particular interest was in the two films Jean Delman, 23 K de Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, 1975, and Les Rendez-Vous d'Anna, 1978.