Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Elle and François Ozon’s period drama Frantz scored the most nominations.Scroll Down For List Of Nominees
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences has unveiled the nominations for this year’s César Awards.
Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Elle and François Ozon’s post-First World War drama Frantz, followed by Bruno Dumont’s quirky crime caper Slack Bay, lead the contenders for the 42nd edition of the event.
The nominations were revealed at the César’s traditional press conference held at Le Fouquet’s restaurant on the Champs-Elysées on Wednesday morning (Jan 25).
Elle clinched 11 nominations including best film, best director and best actress for Isabelle Huppert. Frantz scored the same number - both films will vie for best film, best director and best adaptation. Slack Bay has nine.
Surprise shut-outs included Bertrand Bonello’s Nocturama, Stéphane Brizé’s A Woman’s Life and Olivier Assayas’s Personal Shopper. Alain Guiraudie’s Staying...
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences has unveiled the nominations for this year’s César Awards.
Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Elle and François Ozon’s post-First World War drama Frantz, followed by Bruno Dumont’s quirky crime caper Slack Bay, lead the contenders for the 42nd edition of the event.
The nominations were revealed at the César’s traditional press conference held at Le Fouquet’s restaurant on the Champs-Elysées on Wednesday morning (Jan 25).
Elle clinched 11 nominations including best film, best director and best actress for Isabelle Huppert. Frantz scored the same number - both films will vie for best film, best director and best adaptation. Slack Bay has nine.
Surprise shut-outs included Bertrand Bonello’s Nocturama, Stéphane Brizé’s A Woman’s Life and Olivier Assayas’s Personal Shopper. Alain Guiraudie’s Staying...
- 1/25/2017
- ScreenDaily
Paul Verhoeven’s Oscar-nominated thriller Elle leads the pack with 11 nods.Scroll Down For List Of Nominees
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominations for this year’s César Awards today (Jan 25).
Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Elle, followed by Bruno Dumont’s quirky period drama Slack Bay, led the nominations for 42nd edition of the Cesar Awards.
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques revealed the nominations at its traditional conference at Le Fouquet’s restaurant on the Champs-Elysées on Wednesday morning.
Elle clinched 11 nominations including best film, best director and best actress for Isabelle Huppert.
The awards have been overshadowed by controversy this year after Roman Polanski turned down an offer to preside over the 42nd edition of the award after a public outcry.
Alongside calls for a boycott, a petition demanding his removal from the role drew some 60,000 signatures.
A number of women’s rights groups had called for a demonstration...
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominations for this year’s César Awards today (Jan 25).
Paul Verhoeven’s thriller Elle, followed by Bruno Dumont’s quirky period drama Slack Bay, led the nominations for 42nd edition of the Cesar Awards.
France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques revealed the nominations at its traditional conference at Le Fouquet’s restaurant on the Champs-Elysées on Wednesday morning.
Elle clinched 11 nominations including best film, best director and best actress for Isabelle Huppert.
The awards have been overshadowed by controversy this year after Roman Polanski turned down an offer to preside over the 42nd edition of the award after a public outcry.
Alongside calls for a boycott, a petition demanding his removal from the role drew some 60,000 signatures.
A number of women’s rights groups had called for a demonstration...
- 1/25/2017
- ScreenDaily
With its focus on the effects of exploration by white men on foreign lands, Ciro Guerra’s Oscar-nominated Embrace of the Serpent will inevitably be compared to Werner Herzog’s stories of savage nature, and while Guerra is investigating some of Herzog’s most well trodden themes, the chaos of man exists in the background, while the unspoiled sit front and center here.
Embrace of the Serpent centers on two explorers, separated by decades in time, searching for Yakruna – a fictional sacred plant with hallucinogenic qualities – but the movie is more about how outsiders – whether consciously or unconsciously – exert control. The repercussions of colonialism hover over the text even as these characters have “noble” intentions.
Loosely based on the adventures of real life explorers, Richard Evans Schultes and Theodor Koch-Grünberg, Theodor (Jan Bijvoet) and Evan (Brionne Davis) are men of science who do their best not to step on the toes of outside cultures.
Embrace of the Serpent centers on two explorers, separated by decades in time, searching for Yakruna – a fictional sacred plant with hallucinogenic qualities – but the movie is more about how outsiders – whether consciously or unconsciously – exert control. The repercussions of colonialism hover over the text even as these characters have “noble” intentions.
Loosely based on the adventures of real life explorers, Richard Evans Schultes and Theodor Koch-Grünberg, Theodor (Jan Bijvoet) and Evan (Brionne Davis) are men of science who do their best not to step on the toes of outside cultures.
- 2/1/2016
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
High Life
Director: Claire Denis
Writers: Claire Denis, Zadie Smith, Nick Laird
French auteur Claire Denis is back with sci-fi tale High Life, co-written by novelists Zadie Smith and Nick Laird. Notably, this is Denis’ twelfth feature and her English language debut, which concerns ‘a galactic journey beyond our solar system.’ Intriguingly, French philosopher and physicist Aurelien Barrau was consulted on the project while Danish-Icelandic sculptor Olafur Eliasson is involved. Most headlines about the project concern Robert Pattinson and Patricia Arquette among the main cast members, which will certainly heighten Denis’ reputation abroad.
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Patricia Arquette, Mia Goth.
Production Co.: Alcatraz Films, Apocalypse, Pandora
U.S. Distributor: Rights available. Tbd (domestic) Wild Bunch (international).
Release Date: Denis’ has played twice at Cannes, in the main competition with her stellar 1988 debut Chocolat and in Ucr with 2013’s Bastards. She’s won Locarno’s top prize for Nenette et...
Director: Claire Denis
Writers: Claire Denis, Zadie Smith, Nick Laird
French auteur Claire Denis is back with sci-fi tale High Life, co-written by novelists Zadie Smith and Nick Laird. Notably, this is Denis’ twelfth feature and her English language debut, which concerns ‘a galactic journey beyond our solar system.’ Intriguingly, French philosopher and physicist Aurelien Barrau was consulted on the project while Danish-Icelandic sculptor Olafur Eliasson is involved. Most headlines about the project concern Robert Pattinson and Patricia Arquette among the main cast members, which will certainly heighten Denis’ reputation abroad.
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Patricia Arquette, Mia Goth.
Production Co.: Alcatraz Films, Apocalypse, Pandora
U.S. Distributor: Rights available. Tbd (domestic) Wild Bunch (international).
Release Date: Denis’ has played twice at Cannes, in the main competition with her stellar 1988 debut Chocolat and in Ucr with 2013’s Bastards. She’s won Locarno’s top prize for Nenette et...
- 1/15/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
The Film Society at Lincoln Center
A new 35mm print of Claire Denis‘ debut, Chocolat, screens throughout the week.
Film Forum
For a Vittorio de Sica retrospective, see The Bicycle Thief on Friday, Miracle in Milan on Saturday and Sunday, and Mister Max & Marriage Italian Style on Sunday.
A new restoration of Otto Preminger‘s...
The Film Society at Lincoln Center
A new 35mm print of Claire Denis‘ debut, Chocolat, screens throughout the week.
Film Forum
For a Vittorio de Sica retrospective, see The Bicycle Thief on Friday, Miracle in Milan on Saturday and Sunday, and Mister Max & Marriage Italian Style on Sunday.
A new restoration of Otto Preminger‘s...
- 9/18/2015
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Robert Pattinson: Actor to play E.T. astronaut. Robert Pattinson to star for Claire Denis If all goes as planned, Robert Pattinson will get to star in French screenwriter-director Claire Denis' recently announced – and as yet untitled – English-language sci-fier, penned by Denis and White Teeth author Zadie Smith and her novelist husband Nick Laird, from an original idea by Denis and writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau. Among Claire Denis' credits are the interracial love story Chocolat (1988), the sociopolitical drama White Material (2009), and the generally well-regarded Billy Budd reboot Beau Travail (1999), winner of the César Award for Best Cinematography (Agnès Godard). Robert Pattinson, for his part, is best known for playing the veggie vampire in the wildly popular Twilight movies costarring Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner. Robert Pattinson, astronaut In Claire Denis' film, Robert Pattinson is slated to play an E.T. astronaut. But what happens to said astronaut? Does...
- 8/27/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
With twenty-five years of filmmaking under her belt, French auteur Claire Denis is still at it. Her latest movie is Bastards, a stark look under the bonnet of the upper class, revealing dark possibilities and even bleaker realities. It continues her run of films which look inwardly at cultures and the various factors that make them tick – or break – such as Chocolat or 35 Shots of Rum.
The director was kind enough to share some time with HeyUGuys about Bastards, and the methods and motivations behind making it.
Bastards stars Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille, Michel Subor, Lola Créton, Alex Descas and is in cinemas now.
Kathir a Madurai lad goes to Coimbatore with a purpose and very soon flips for the charms of a beautiful Pavithra who is their neighbor. But Pavithra is already in love with her friend Gautham who is ‘not a nice guy’. Kathir who was...
The director was kind enough to share some time with HeyUGuys about Bastards, and the methods and motivations behind making it.
Bastards stars Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille, Michel Subor, Lola Créton, Alex Descas and is in cinemas now.
Kathir a Madurai lad goes to Coimbatore with a purpose and very soon flips for the charms of a beautiful Pavithra who is their neighbor. But Pavithra is already in love with her friend Gautham who is ‘not a nice guy’. Kathir who was...
- 2/20/2014
- by Gary Green
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Sensuous. Challenging, Mysterious. Dark. Maddening. Just a few words that have been used to describe the cinema of Claire Denis. Her work is being illustriously shown in the retrospective ‘Objects of Desire: The Cinema of Claire Denis‘ by Tiff Cinematheque this October.
Grasping for a word to capture her early work, notably Chocolat and I Can’t Sleep, this word would undoubtedly be spellbinding. In Chocolat, Denis’ poised directorial debut, a secondary character notes that the house where most of the proceedings occur has a spell on it, and the same can be said of the film’s bewitched viewers. In this personal and semi-autobiographical work, the film explores themes of colonialism, family relations, and conscious isolation and distance (exhibited in the characters’ relationships to one another, within themselves, and geographically on a much more monumental scale). These themes are oft explored in Denis’ early filmography, and recur in her later White Material.
Grasping for a word to capture her early work, notably Chocolat and I Can’t Sleep, this word would undoubtedly be spellbinding. In Chocolat, Denis’ poised directorial debut, a secondary character notes that the house where most of the proceedings occur has a spell on it, and the same can be said of the film’s bewitched viewers. In this personal and semi-autobiographical work, the film explores themes of colonialism, family relations, and conscious isolation and distance (exhibited in the characters’ relationships to one another, within themselves, and geographically on a much more monumental scale). These themes are oft explored in Denis’ early filmography, and recur in her later White Material.
- 10/11/2013
- by Leora Heilbronn
- IONCINEMA.com
French filmmaker Claire Denis has been named as the recipient of this year's Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award.
The director will receive the Bronze Horse award and meet the audience at a seminar after a screening of Bastards at the Stockholm Film Festival on November 7.
Announcing the award, the Jury said: ”Claire Denis refuses to close her eyes to the creative and destructive force unleashed by human weaknesses. A bold explorer of postcolonial Africa and the dark corners of modern society, who invites the audience to an exposed universe that is beautiful and raw. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry”.
Denis made her feature debut in 1988 with Chocolat and followed up with a number of acclaimed films, such as Nénette and Boni (1996), Beau Travail (1999),...
The director will receive the Bronze Horse award and meet the audience at a seminar after a screening of Bastards at the Stockholm Film Festival on November 7.
Announcing the award, the Jury said: ”Claire Denis refuses to close her eyes to the creative and destructive force unleashed by human weaknesses. A bold explorer of postcolonial Africa and the dark corners of modern society, who invites the audience to an exposed universe that is beautiful and raw. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry”.
Denis made her feature debut in 1988 with Chocolat and followed up with a number of acclaimed films, such as Nénette and Boni (1996), Beau Travail (1999),...
- 10/8/2013
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Bastards director first woman to receive Stockholm’s lifetime achievement award.
French director Claire Denis is to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17).
She will receive the Bronze Horse on Nov 7 following a screening of Bastards (Les Salauds), which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in May.
The prize has previously been awarded to directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Oliver Stone.
A statement from the Stockholm jury said: “Claire Denis refuses to close her eyes to the creative and destructive force unleashed by human weaknesses. A bold explorer of postcolonial Africa and the dark corners of modern society, who invites the audience to an exposed universe that is beautiful and raw.
“This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry”.
Denis...
French director Claire Denis is to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17).
She will receive the Bronze Horse on Nov 7 following a screening of Bastards (Les Salauds), which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in May.
The prize has previously been awarded to directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Quentin Tarantino, David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Oliver Stone.
A statement from the Stockholm jury said: “Claire Denis refuses to close her eyes to the creative and destructive force unleashed by human weaknesses. A bold explorer of postcolonial Africa and the dark corners of modern society, who invites the audience to an exposed universe that is beautiful and raw.
“This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award goes to a filmmaker who continues to seek what others turn away from, always fearless and with a rare eye for visual poetry”.
Denis...
- 10/8/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
New York -- Last week, I met up here with Claire Denis, the veteran French director, to discuss her life, career and latest film, Bastards, which had just had its North American premiere at the 51st New York Film Festival, and which will be released on Wednesday in select theaters, on iTunes and on-demand. The 65-year-old's 13 earlier features -- including her feature directorial debut, Chocolat (1988), and her most acclaimed work, Beau Travail (1999) -- established her as one of her nation's top auteurs and its most famous female filmmaker, save for perhaps Agnes Varda. They displayed a proclivity
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- 10/8/2013
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
★★☆☆☆ French director Claire Denis has maintained a wonderful run, from her 1998 debut Chocolat to recent efforts such as 36 Shots of Rum and White Material. Her latest, Bastards (Les Salauds, 2013), shows not in the main competition at Cannes - which, as ever, is woefully short on women - but instead in the Un Certain Regard strand. In retrospect, however, this decision might be just for Bastards, a broken revenge tragedy set in a rainswept France - a misstep, if not a downright stumble. A man commits suicide and his teenage daughter, Justine (Lola Créton), is found wandering the streets with blood running down her thighs.
The recently-deceased gentleman's friend and brother-in-law, Marco (played by Vincent Lindon, who many will remember from 2009's Welcome), is a ship's captain on an oil tanker stationed out in the Middle East. However, on hearing the tragic news, he returns immediately to France to find out...
The recently-deceased gentleman's friend and brother-in-law, Marco (played by Vincent Lindon, who many will remember from 2009's Welcome), is a ship's captain on an oil tanker stationed out in the Middle East. However, on hearing the tragic news, he returns immediately to France to find out...
- 5/24/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
#16. Claire Denis’ Bastards
Gist: Container ship captain Marco Silvestri is called urgently back to Paris. His sister, Sandra, is desperate… her husband has committed suicide, the family business has gone under, her daughter has been admitted into psychiatric care. Sandra accuses the powerful businessman, Edouard Laporte of being responsible. Determined to find the businessman’s weak spot and exact a terrible revenge for the violence done to his family, Marco moves into the building where Laporte’s mistress, Raphaëlle, lives with her son. Headlining the feature are Vincent Lindon (who starred in her 2002 film, Friday Night) and Chiara Mastroianni. Enough said.
Prediction: Denis is another name it’s hard to believe hasn’t competed more in the Cannes Main Competition, with her 1988 debut, Chocolat, being her only title to bear that distinction. That said, she’s been selected five times for Venice. Should Wild Bunch attempt to seduce the Croisette,...
Gist: Container ship captain Marco Silvestri is called urgently back to Paris. His sister, Sandra, is desperate… her husband has committed suicide, the family business has gone under, her daughter has been admitted into psychiatric care. Sandra accuses the powerful businessman, Edouard Laporte of being responsible. Determined to find the businessman’s weak spot and exact a terrible revenge for the violence done to his family, Marco moves into the building where Laporte’s mistress, Raphaëlle, lives with her son. Headlining the feature are Vincent Lindon (who starred in her 2002 film, Friday Night) and Chiara Mastroianni. Enough said.
Prediction: Denis is another name it’s hard to believe hasn’t competed more in the Cannes Main Competition, with her 1988 debut, Chocolat, being her only title to bear that distinction. That said, she’s been selected five times for Venice. Should Wild Bunch attempt to seduce the Croisette,...
- 4/13/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2; Alps; Killing Them Softly; The Claire Denis Collection
With author Stephenie Meyer's bodysnatching romp The Host due in cinemas shortly, and the underrated Beautiful Creatures sadly failing to fill the Twi-hard gap, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012, EntertainmentOne, 12) ships up on disc alongside the boxed set The Twilight Saga – The Complete Collection. The last time I defended Bella, Edward and Jacob in these pages, it provoked a barrage of Guardianista messageboard abuse, so let me say that if you're not already on board, there's nothing here for you – just move along. For everyone else, the second part of this final instalment finds safe pair of hands Bill Condon (who provides a commentary track) having more campy fun than he did in Part 1, with Kristen Stewart's long-suffering heroine finally growing a set of vampire teeth and taking command of centre stage.
Having...
With author Stephenie Meyer's bodysnatching romp The Host due in cinemas shortly, and the underrated Beautiful Creatures sadly failing to fill the Twi-hard gap, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012, EntertainmentOne, 12) ships up on disc alongside the boxed set The Twilight Saga – The Complete Collection. The last time I defended Bella, Edward and Jacob in these pages, it provoked a barrage of Guardianista messageboard abuse, so let me say that if you're not already on board, there's nothing here for you – just move along. For everyone else, the second part of this final instalment finds safe pair of hands Bill Condon (who provides a commentary track) having more campy fun than he did in Part 1, with Kristen Stewart's long-suffering heroine finally growing a set of vampire teeth and taking command of centre stage.
Having...
- 3/10/2013
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
This collection of four films, directed by the phenomenally talented French director Claire Denis, serves as a showcase of her decade-spanning, award-winning career, beginning with her 1988 international breakthrough Chocolat and carrying through to her most recent work, White Material (2009). To celebrate the DVD release of this superb arthouse box set on Monday 25 February, we have a copy of The Claire Denis Collection to offer out to our treasured readers, courtesy of the good people at UK distributor Artificial Eye. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
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- 2/22/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Cinema, like most arts, exists beyond time and space. They are a medium of transportation, and for most of us, our only opportunity to fulfil our deepest desires and confront our darkest fears. That’s why it seems unfair to look back on a year in film and focus only on new releases. Our year end obsession with best of lists extends far beyond our desire to compartmentalize cinema into qualitative categories, but reflects an innate desire to understand and communicate with the world. We look at the list of our favourite critics to better understand who they are, and make our own lists in the hopes of finding hidden meaning in our own lives. We use these lists as emblems of who we are and what we are thinking. These desires may not lie quite on the surface, but there is no denying they fuel – at least in part – our compulsion for list making.
- 12/31/2012
- by Justine
- SoundOnSight
Parkas, mittens and earmuffs can only do so much to starve off the imposing weight of winter. Many of us suffer, in some form or another, from seasonable depression and it’s easy to stay in bed all day instead of facing the dark and cold that comes during the winter months. Not all of us can afford vacations to warmer places, so all we can do is live vicariously through movies. So, without any further ado, here is a list of five films that will transport you to warmer lands and let you forget for a second the awful conditions of winter. What are your favourite films to help you forget the cold?
Tabu – A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, 1931)
Location: Bora Bora, Tahiti
Perhaps Murnau’s most poetic work, Tabu – A Story of the South Seas blends documentary style, Tahiti and a story of forbidden love in this late silent film.
Tabu – A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, 1931)
Location: Bora Bora, Tahiti
Perhaps Murnau’s most poetic work, Tabu – A Story of the South Seas blends documentary style, Tahiti and a story of forbidden love in this late silent film.
- 12/16/2012
- by Justine
- SoundOnSight
Maria Sødahl has made an assured feature debut with Limbo (2010) at the Cinema City film festival, Novi Sad, Serbia. The film was previously screened at Montreal and Thessaloniki. Set in the 1970s, Limbo centres on a Norwegian woman named Sonia who, with her two children, goes to Trinidad to join her husband Joe who is working for an oil company. She receives a warm welcome from the expatriate community, especially the Swedish wife of one of Joe’s colleagues who is happy to find someone who speaks her language.
But Sonia is ill at ease with their new lifestyle, from the uncomfortable décor of their house, with its formal, overbearing housekeeper Mrs. George, to the superficiality of the wives who follow their husbands wherever their temporary contracts lead them. Although her children seem to enjoy the novelty of living on a tropical island, Sonia worries about the strict discipline and...
But Sonia is ill at ease with their new lifestyle, from the uncomfortable décor of their house, with its formal, overbearing housekeeper Mrs. George, to the superficiality of the wives who follow their husbands wherever their temporary contracts lead them. Although her children seem to enjoy the novelty of living on a tropical island, Sonia worries about the strict discipline and...
- 6/20/2011
- by Alison Frank
- The Moving Arts Journal
Chicago – Africa has routinely played a major role in the work of Claire Denis, a French writer/director deservedly hailed as one of the greatest living filmmakers. Her upbringing in colonial Africa certainly proved to be an influence on her 1988 directorial debut, “Chocolat,” as well as 1999’s equally evocative “Beau travail.” Both films centered on protagonists re-connecting with their deep-seated memories of life on the continent.
“White Material” could easily be seen as the completion of a thematic trilogy, though it also stands on its own as a singularly haunting and disturbing work of art. The death of European colonialism is reluctantly witnessed through the eyes of Maria (Isabelle Huppert), a white plantation owner in Africa whose love of the land and devotion to her coffee crop causes her to deny the civil war gradually consuming her country. Even with a gun pointed at her head, Maria’s determination remains unflinching.
“White Material” could easily be seen as the completion of a thematic trilogy, though it also stands on its own as a singularly haunting and disturbing work of art. The death of European colonialism is reluctantly witnessed through the eyes of Maria (Isabelle Huppert), a white plantation owner in Africa whose love of the land and devotion to her coffee crop causes her to deny the civil war gradually consuming her country. Even with a gun pointed at her head, Maria’s determination remains unflinching.
- 4/26/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"African cinema is generally woefully overlooked by the West, and the filmmaking being done in Republic of Chad has been particularly invisible," begins Farihah Zaman in Reverse Shot. "The oversight is not entirely unreasonable; decades of civil war have left the local film industry all but nonexistent — for thirty years there was not even a single movie theater in the entire country. That changed in 2010 when Mahamet-Saleh Haroun won the Cannes Jury Prize for A Screaming Man. His film, the first from his country to screen in competition at the prestigious French festival, now has another distinction, having convinced a government in the midst of war the importance of investing a million dollars in building a movie theater specifically so that it could be shown."
In this "ingenious and moving take on Fw Murnau's classic The Last Laugh," writes the New Yorker's Richard Brody, "Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), a former swimming...
In this "ingenious and moving take on Fw Murnau's classic The Last Laugh," writes the New Yorker's Richard Brody, "Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), a former swimming...
- 4/18/2011
- MUBI
A look at what's new on DVD this week:
"A Summer in Genoa"
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Released by Entertainment One
Of the many films Michael Winterbottom ("A Mighty Heart," "9 Songs") has directed in recent years, you wouldn't guess the one starring recent Oscar winner Colin Firth as a father who must take care of his two daughters in the wake of a car accident involving their mother (Hope Davis) would be the one to have trouble making it to the U.S. But here we are three years after "Genova," as it's known in much of the rest of the world, was shot and it's finally arrived on DVD, a mix of supernatural thriller and human drama that's actually getting reasonably good reviews upon its delayed release. Catherine Keener co-stars.
"Belladonna"
Directed by Annika Glac
Released by Osiris
Glac's debut as a writer/director centers on a man whose...
"A Summer in Genoa"
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Released by Entertainment One
Of the many films Michael Winterbottom ("A Mighty Heart," "9 Songs") has directed in recent years, you wouldn't guess the one starring recent Oscar winner Colin Firth as a father who must take care of his two daughters in the wake of a car accident involving their mother (Hope Davis) would be the one to have trouble making it to the U.S. But here we are three years after "Genova," as it's known in much of the rest of the world, was shot and it's finally arrived on DVD, a mix of supernatural thriller and human drama that's actually getting reasonably good reviews upon its delayed release. Catherine Keener co-stars.
"Belladonna"
Directed by Annika Glac
Released by Osiris
Glac's debut as a writer/director centers on a man whose...
- 4/12/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
indieWIRE's Small Screen is now Small Screens, revamped to include new VOD releases. Have suggestions? Email us at editors@indiewire.com. DVD/Blu-ray Top Pick: Title: "White Material" Director: Claire Denis The Deal: Anything French screen icon Isabelle Huppert does is always worth a look. "White Material" marks her first collaboration with Claire Denis, the celebrated French auteur of such films as "Chocolat," "Beau Travail" and "35 Shots of Rum." In Denis' latest, ...
- 4/12/2011
- Indiewire
White Material
DVD & Blu-ray, Artificial Eye
Director Claire Denis was raised in colonial Africa, a location she seems driven to revisit in film every decade – previously with Chocolat (1988) and Beau Travail (1999). The continent made such a formative impression on her that it informs most of her work: her films about the lives of the displaced, expats and immigrants are drawn directly and indirectly from this history. Denis always has something different to say about the place, taking advantage of personal changes, as well as those that alter Africa, for her inspiration. Pale and frail-looking Isabelle Huppert, looking slightly out of place in the beautiful, baking scenery, plays a woman trying to run a coffee plantation she doesn't even properly own, while around her the unnamed African country she lives in undergoes a bloody revolution. The whites are fleeing, the workers are deserting, the colonial party is over – and the guests are being forcibly ejected.
DVD & Blu-ray, Artificial Eye
Director Claire Denis was raised in colonial Africa, a location she seems driven to revisit in film every decade – previously with Chocolat (1988) and Beau Travail (1999). The continent made such a formative impression on her that it informs most of her work: her films about the lives of the displaced, expats and immigrants are drawn directly and indirectly from this history. Denis always has something different to say about the place, taking advantage of personal changes, as well as those that alter Africa, for her inspiration. Pale and frail-looking Isabelle Huppert, looking slightly out of place in the beautiful, baking scenery, plays a woman trying to run a coffee plantation she doesn't even properly own, while around her the unnamed African country she lives in undergoes a bloody revolution. The whites are fleeing, the workers are deserting, the colonial party is over – and the guests are being forcibly ejected.
- 12/4/2010
- by Phelim O'Neill, Richard Vine
- The Guardian - Film News
Along with Olivier Assayas and Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis is one of the best directors among the generation of French filmmakers who began working in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. After stints as an assistant director with Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders and others, she made her debut with Chocolat (1988), an autobiographical examination of her childhood in Cameroon. Although ethnically French, Denis grew up in Africa, and this background has affected her work deeply. She seems to have an instinctive compassion for displaced people, especially immigrants. Indeed, her work displays a casual multiculturalism that belies American cinema's many misfired attempts at anti-racism. Her ease with actors of all races doesn't lead to politically correct posturing; her I Can't Sleep (1994) depicts a gay serial killer, only a few years after the controversy over similar characters in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Basic Instinct (1992). With White Material (2009), ...
- 11/11/2010
- TribecaFilm.com
Whether it's about a disco dancing French legionnaire, underworld organ trafficking or vampires, Claire Denis's enigmatic films have been enrapturing cinephiles around the world since her debut feature Chocolat (1988). With her thrilling new film White Material opening statewide on November 19th, and the retrospective- No Fear: The Films of Claire Denis at IFC starting this week, I sat down with Denis for a brief interview. She was very personable and gracious, offering long and thoughtful responses.
It's been 22 years since Chocolat and more than 10 years since Beau Travail, what prompted you to shoot a film in Africa again?
A while ago, Isabelle (Huppert) mentioned if I would be interested in adapting Doris Lessing's book The Grass is Singing. The book is set in South Africa right after the WWII. It's about Lessing's British ex-pat parents trying their hands in farming which they were terrible at. But even though it's a great book,...
It's been 22 years since Chocolat and more than 10 years since Beau Travail, what prompted you to shoot a film in Africa again?
A while ago, Isabelle (Huppert) mentioned if I would be interested in adapting Doris Lessing's book The Grass is Singing. The book is set in South Africa right after the WWII. It's about Lessing's British ex-pat parents trying their hands in farming which they were terrible at. But even though it's a great book,...
- 11/11/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Given the choice of people-watching on the Champs Élysées sipping a tall cappuccino or sweating in one-hundred degrees heat in an one-horse, dirt-road wasteland under fire from a well-armed rebellion, which would you choose? This is not a trick question, as you.ll discover if you see "White Material." Of course if you are among those who choose the former, you may not have much of a movie to make around your life. You may be that one individual among thousands who is so anti-bourgeois, so appalled by the thought of comfort and ease, shopping at Alléosse and lunching at Repaire de Cartouche, that you.d rather risk death by a thousand cuts of a machete. Then you.d be the proper subject of a movie, especially if you.re France.s greatest actress, Isabelle Huppert, and you.re directed by Claire Denis who has twenty other films on her résumé.
- 10/29/2010
- Arizona Reporter
Isabelle Huppert is superb as a colonial farmer ignoring the mounting tensions around her in Claire Denis's fine return to Africa
From one of the very first shots of Maria Vial, it's clear she is clinging on for dear life. She's played with sinewy determination by Isabelle Huppert, an actress at her formidable best when making her audience sympathise with a morally conflicted character, and at the start of White Material, she hitches a ride on one of those overloaded African taxi vans by hanging on to the ladder at the back, the veins in her arms throbbing, her face set boldly against the onrushing wind.
We discover later that this scene actually comes near the end of the film's narrative. Maria goes into a flashback, one that fills us in on the chaos of the opening which has seen her, in a pink summer dress, crouching in burnt fields,...
From one of the very first shots of Maria Vial, it's clear she is clinging on for dear life. She's played with sinewy determination by Isabelle Huppert, an actress at her formidable best when making her audience sympathise with a morally conflicted character, and at the start of White Material, she hitches a ride on one of those overloaded African taxi vans by hanging on to the ladder at the back, the veins in her arms throbbing, her face set boldly against the onrushing wind.
We discover later that this scene actually comes near the end of the film's narrative. Maria goes into a flashback, one that fills us in on the chaos of the opening which has seen her, in a pink summer dress, crouching in burnt fields,...
- 7/3/2010
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Since her 1988 debut Chocolat, Claire Denis has established herself as one of France's most respected film directors, with a wide-ranging body of work and a taste for danger. Her latest film, White Material, which stars Isabelle Huppert, draws again upon her colonial African childhood, and its violence has sparked
controversy in the French press. Not that she cares…
One of the lingering charms of the Left Bank of Paris in the 21st century is that, although much of the area has long since surrendered to chain stores and fast-food joints, the streets between Boulevard Saint-Michel and rue Mouffetard are still dotted with fleapit cinemas with names such as L'Accattone, Studio Galande and Le Champo. On any given afternoon – to take a random sample from the programmes on offer in these places last week – you can take in Battleship Potemkin, a Buñuel retrospective, a lesser-known Fellini, or Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar...
controversy in the French press. Not that she cares…
One of the lingering charms of the Left Bank of Paris in the 21st century is that, although much of the area has long since surrendered to chain stores and fast-food joints, the streets between Boulevard Saint-Michel and rue Mouffetard are still dotted with fleapit cinemas with names such as L'Accattone, Studio Galande and Le Champo. On any given afternoon – to take a random sample from the programmes on offer in these places last week – you can take in Battleship Potemkin, a Buñuel retrospective, a lesser-known Fellini, or Nicholas Ray's Johnny Guitar...
- 7/3/2010
- by Andrew Hussey
- The Guardian - Film News
Her first project back in 1988, Chocolat, was nominated for the Golden Palm Award at Cannes and marks the beginning of her long running working relationship with Isaach De Bankolé. Here she follows up the success of the highly praised 35 Shots of Rum, by reuniting with De Bankolé and teaming up for the first time with stalwart actress Isabelle Huppert for the socio-political drama, White Material.
LOVEFiLM: Can you give us a brief overview of the film?
Claire Denis: The film is about a French woman who stands alone in Africa and she owns a coffee plantation. During the Civil War, the French army try to tell her to leave because the political situation means it is not safe for her and her family to stay. She decides to stay and take the risk, because she does not want to surrender.
Lf: Where did you and Marie N’Diaye get your ideas from?...
LOVEFiLM: Can you give us a brief overview of the film?
Claire Denis: The film is about a French woman who stands alone in Africa and she owns a coffee plantation. During the Civil War, the French army try to tell her to leave because the political situation means it is not safe for her and her family to stay. She decides to stay and take the risk, because she does not want to surrender.
Lf: Where did you and Marie N’Diaye get your ideas from?...
- 6/28/2010
- by jennifer.trevorrow@lovefilm.com (Jennifer Trevorrow)
- LOVEFiLM
Akira Kurosawa And His Influence, London
If you've never seen a Kurosawa film, then a) you've doubtless seen a film made by someone who's seen a Kurosawa film, and b) shame on you. The Japanese master devoured western film and literature (John Ford and Ed McBain were favourites), and translated them into samurai epics and domestic films noirs, which westerners devoured right back. Here you get both sides of the coin. Compare Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars with Toshirô Mifune's wily samurai in Yojimbo, catch the Hamlet influences in Kurosawa's 1960s corporate thriller The Bad Sleep Well, spot the original C3PO and R2D2 in The Hidden Fortress, or see how the multi-angle flashback structure of Rashômon (on extended release) has lent itself to medieval Sweden (Bergman's Virgin Spring), the Wild West (Outrage) and ancient China (Zhang Yimou's Hero).
BFI Southbank,...
If you've never seen a Kurosawa film, then a) you've doubtless seen a film made by someone who's seen a Kurosawa film, and b) shame on you. The Japanese master devoured western film and literature (John Ford and Ed McBain were favourites), and translated them into samurai epics and domestic films noirs, which westerners devoured right back. Here you get both sides of the coin. Compare Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name in A Fistful Of Dollars with Toshirô Mifune's wily samurai in Yojimbo, catch the Hamlet influences in Kurosawa's 1960s corporate thriller The Bad Sleep Well, spot the original C3PO and R2D2 in The Hidden Fortress, or see how the multi-angle flashback structure of Rashômon (on extended release) has lent itself to medieval Sweden (Bergman's Virgin Spring), the Wild West (Outrage) and ancient China (Zhang Yimou's Hero).
BFI Southbank,...
- 6/4/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Just as most intelligent critics already said last year, the kind that know their Wong from their Bong and can find their Warhol with both hands, Claire Denis' "35 Shots of Rum" is a lovely, ruminative, impressionistic, elusive, sensitive beaut, rich in the director's signature brand of elliptical hodgepodge and brimming with the-state-of-us-now immediacy. The problem is, I'm not sure there's much to it.
What I'm coming up against is, I think, the gray zone in film criticism, between recognizing a film's intelligence and artfulness, and wanting it to correspond in some meaningful way with what we as individuals conceive to be substantial or original or resonant cinema. Every time you read a critic saying "it just doesn't work," or, equally, praising a film in evasive ways that don't fit with your idea of a good movie, then you're in the zone. Some filmmakers speak to our inner ear with a confidante's whisper,...
What I'm coming up against is, I think, the gray zone in film criticism, between recognizing a film's intelligence and artfulness, and wanting it to correspond in some meaningful way with what we as individuals conceive to be substantial or original or resonant cinema. Every time you read a critic saying "it just doesn't work," or, equally, praising a film in evasive ways that don't fit with your idea of a good movie, then you're in the zone. Some filmmakers speak to our inner ear with a confidante's whisper,...
- 4/20/2010
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
Last year it was Isabelle Huppert, the coffee plantation owner without a safety net in Claire Denis' drama White Material who was the head of the Cannes Jury, this year it is Denis who finds herself at the head of jury duty but in the parallel Un Certain Regard section, the same category where she once showed J'ai pas sommeil, back in 1994. - Last year it was Isabelle Huppert, the coffee plantation owner without a safety net in Claire Denis' drama White Material who was the head of the Cannes Jury, this year it is Denis who finds herself at the head of jury duty but in the parallel Un Certain Regard section, the same category where she once showed J'ai pas sommeil, back in 1994. I'm almost guaranteed to share a row seat with Denis, as last year I couldn't stop bumping into head...
- 4/7/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Kathryn Bigelow made history when she won the Academy Award for Best Director for "The Hurt Locker," as until that moment, not a single female filmmaker had ever received an Oscar in that category. While Bigelow absolutely deserves the Oscar, it's hard not to scratch your head and wonder — what took so long?
There is no shortage of incredibly talented female directors working both in and outside of Hollywood, so the fact that it took 82 Academy Award ceremonies for a woman to win Best Director is more than a little bit puzzling.
After the jump, we've listed five female filmmakers that absolutely deserved an Oscar for their work.
Amy Heckerling for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
Heckerling's "Fast Times" deserves a place in Oscar history not just because it's a terrific film — it absolutely is — but because of the insane amount of budding talent attached to the project. In many ways,...
There is no shortage of incredibly talented female directors working both in and outside of Hollywood, so the fact that it took 82 Academy Award ceremonies for a woman to win Best Director is more than a little bit puzzling.
After the jump, we've listed five female filmmakers that absolutely deserved an Oscar for their work.
Amy Heckerling for "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
Heckerling's "Fast Times" deserves a place in Oscar history not just because it's a terrific film — it absolutely is — but because of the insane amount of budding talent attached to the project. In many ways,...
- 3/9/2010
- by Josh Wigler
- MTV Movies Blog
When all we have is each other, what are we suppose to do when they leave?
Directed and co-written by French filmmaker Claire Denis, 35 Shots Of Rum is a study on human separation. Denis (Chocolat) delicately introduces the audience to a father and daughter. We first meet them physically separated by distance, each of them making their journey home for the day to settle together in their small apartment.
Lionel (Alex Descas) makes his living conducting a subway train through the city. Lionel is a quiet, reserved man, always with something on his mind. Lionel’s depth of thought, his emotional anguish about the life his daughter leads and the guilt he feels for her confining herself to his life, is apparent in the heavily non-verbal performance on Descas.
Lionel’s daughter Joséphine (Mati Diop) is a thin and beautiful young woman, pursues university study and works at a small local Virgin record store.
Directed and co-written by French filmmaker Claire Denis, 35 Shots Of Rum is a study on human separation. Denis (Chocolat) delicately introduces the audience to a father and daughter. We first meet them physically separated by distance, each of them making their journey home for the day to settle together in their small apartment.
Lionel (Alex Descas) makes his living conducting a subway train through the city. Lionel is a quiet, reserved man, always with something on his mind. Lionel’s depth of thought, his emotional anguish about the life his daughter leads and the guilt he feels for her confining herself to his life, is apparent in the heavily non-verbal performance on Descas.
Lionel’s daughter Joséphine (Mati Diop) is a thin and beautiful young woman, pursues university study and works at a small local Virgin record store.
- 2/12/2010
- by Travis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Robert here, continuing my series on great contemporary directors. This week I'm thrilled to highlight one of my personal favorites. Claire Denis' films can still be difficult to find. I've been putting off featuring her as a Modern Maestro until her most recent film made its way here to the Midwest. Finally it has and did not disappoint.
Maestro:Claire Denis
Known For: Poetically filmed ponderances on the human condition, connections, and the relationship between France and Africa.
Influences: Alain Resnais, F.W. Murnau, Jacques Rivette, Yasujiro Ozu, Wim Wenders, really it seems like she's learned from the whole of cinematic history.
Masterpieces:Beau Travail and 35 Shots of Rum
Disasters: none
Better than you remember: Trouble Every Day was a bit too negatively received by critics and The Intruder befuddedly received by the public (the few that saw it). Both are better than you'd be lead to believe.
Box Office:...
Maestro:Claire Denis
Known For: Poetically filmed ponderances on the human condition, connections, and the relationship between France and Africa.
Influences: Alain Resnais, F.W. Murnau, Jacques Rivette, Yasujiro Ozu, Wim Wenders, really it seems like she's learned from the whole of cinematic history.
Masterpieces:Beau Travail and 35 Shots of Rum
Disasters: none
Better than you remember: Trouble Every Day was a bit too negatively received by critics and The Intruder befuddedly received by the public (the few that saw it). Both are better than you'd be lead to believe.
Box Office:...
- 2/12/2010
- by Robert
- FilmExperience
- Most of you are already aware that Claire Denis’ films are not a common currency in movie theatres. I think back to her body of work with films that I've admired but not always had affection in Chocolat, I Can't Think, Beau Travail, Trouble Every Day (featuring Vincent Gallo) and L'intrus - and I think half of these never found a distributor. The Cinema Guild are thinking along the lines of those who gave 35 Shots of Rum tons of critical praise and have snapped up the rights to the drama. Expect a Fall release. The film, about a father and daughter whose relationship is strained by the arrival of a handsome young man. Lionel, widowed, has raised his daughter Josephine on his own. Now their life together begins to resemble that of a couple. They look after each other as if time were endless. Currently in post with White Material,
- 4/16/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- #94. White Material Director: Claire Denis Writer(s): Denis and Marie N'DiayeProducers: Pascal Caucheteux (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)Distributor: Rights Available. The Gist: This is a contemporary tale set on coffee plantations. Troubled by the rebellion, Maria refuses to abandon her business, which has been in the family for generations. Fact: Denis' last film, 35 Rhums (2008) was extremely well received by Venice and Tiff critics. Why is it on the list?: The director spent her entire childhood in Cameroon (see her excellent directing debut in the little seen 98' film Chocolat) - so she has an aptitude and understanding for the narrative's terrain.Release Date/Status?: Isabelle Huppert being named to be the president of the Cannes jury in 2009 - this means that in all likelihood, this would be showcased out of competition at Cannes. ...
- 1/6/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
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