French director Claire Denis is set to return to West Africa for her next feature film, an adaptation of late French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès’s 1980 work Black Battles With Dogs (Combat de nègre et de chiens).
“It’s a play written by a friend of mine a long time ago and directed by Patrice Chéreau on stage in the 80s. He was dying from AIDS and he wanted me to make a film out of it,” Denis told Deadline on the fringes of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting in Qatar.
She is planning to film in either Senegal or Cameroon.
Denis grew up in West Africa and set a number of her early films in the region, such as Chocolat (1988) and Beau Travail (1989). This will be her first major fiction feature shot on the African continent since the 2009 drama White Material, starring Isabelle Huppert as a coffee plantation...
“It’s a play written by a friend of mine a long time ago and directed by Patrice Chéreau on stage in the 80s. He was dying from AIDS and he wanted me to make a film out of it,” Denis told Deadline on the fringes of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting in Qatar.
She is planning to film in either Senegal or Cameroon.
Denis grew up in West Africa and set a number of her early films in the region, such as Chocolat (1988) and Beau Travail (1989). This will be her first major fiction feature shot on the African continent since the 2009 drama White Material, starring Isabelle Huppert as a coffee plantation...
- 3/5/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s less the question if Claire Denis and Tindersticks are modern cinema’s greatest director-musician collaboration; it’s more a matter of how far above the competition they stand. But many of their soundtracks––as rich as any of the studio albums that make Tindersticks one of our greatest working bands––haven’t streamed, instead relegated to a (treasured) collection released in 2011. Completists sometimes have to rely on the films themselves: frontman Stuart A. Staples’ solo score for Let the Sunshine In and the band’s full assembly on Both Sides of the Blade have remained unreleased.
To promote forthcoming shows that juxtapose their soundtracks with Denis’ images––tickets are online if you’re in Paris or Lyon––Tindersticks have released a handful of soundtracks once only in the collection and the aforementioned scores for Sunshine and Blade. (The former veers between ethereal and jazzy; the latter sounds like a through-and-through horror film.
To promote forthcoming shows that juxtapose their soundtracks with Denis’ images––tickets are online if you’re in Paris or Lyon––Tindersticks have released a handful of soundtracks once only in the collection and the aforementioned scores for Sunshine and Blade. (The former veers between ethereal and jazzy; the latter sounds like a through-and-through horror film.
- 10/10/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
I opened Twitter on a beautiful Friday evening because I’ve long struggled to treat myself well and ultimately don’t believe I deserve happiness. But after 14 years it’s paid off: much chatter led me to The Guardian‘s recent piece on Claire Denis, a fascinating (and accurate) window into the experience of interviewing a not-always-patient genius. More than a good read it’s a brief look ahead, with notice Denis has just––as in: last week––finished writing a new feature for which she’ll begin scouting this month in Cameroon.
Cameroon, of course, bearing profound significance: experiences growing up in the country were basis for Denis’ debut feature Chocolat, as autobiographical as the corpus gets, and more than two decades hence she’d return to film the majority of White Material, about which she’s long spoken in extremely intimate terms. Zero further word on what the film is,...
Cameroon, of course, bearing profound significance: experiences growing up in the country were basis for Denis’ debut feature Chocolat, as autobiographical as the corpus gets, and more than two decades hence she’d return to film the majority of White Material, about which she’s long spoken in extremely intimate terms. Zero further word on what the film is,...
- 6/9/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Slowly but surely the earlier work of Claire Denis is getting restorations and re-releases, from Beau Travail to L’intrus to No Fear No Die. While we hope Friday Night and US Go Home are in the cards, next up is her 1988 debut Chocolat. Made soon after she worked under Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders, the semi-autobiographical feature is based on her childhood in colonial French Africa as the daughter of a civil servant. Set for a theatrical release starting February 24 from Janus Films, the new 4K digital restoration was supervised and approved by director Claire Denis, made by the laboratory Eclair Classics from the original feature negative. Ahead of the release, a new trailer has now arrived.
Check out the trailer and synopsis below.
France (Mireille Perrier) reminisces about her childhood in Cameroon as her father (François Cluzet) comes and goes on call, which leads to the strengthening of her...
Check out the trailer and synopsis below.
France (Mireille Perrier) reminisces about her childhood in Cameroon as her father (François Cluzet) comes and goes on call, which leads to the strengthening of her...
- 2/8/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Notebook is covering the Cannes Film Festival with an ongoing correspondence between critics Leonardo Goi and Lawrence Garcia, and editor Daniel Kasman.Son of Ramses.Dear Lawrence and Leo, I’m glad to read you, Lawrence, on Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon. Reactions to the film here seem to be muted, but I loved it: Leave behind any idea that this is a robust production of an English-language thriller, and instead embrace way the great French impressionist and master elliptician skims the bare surface of the genres that provide the film’s framework, in order to evoke the tenuous limbos—national, mortal, romantic—of its sweaty, horny imperialist couple. The film feels like it was a fly-by-night, catch-as-catch-can shoot, with images and drama caught quickly and on the go. Yes, this means that many opportunities, particularly of the Nicaraguan context from Denis Johnson’s source novel, are lost, which...
- 5/31/2022
- MUBI
Early in “Stars at Noon,” Yank journalist Trish gazes wistfully at a yellowed black-and-white photo of Nicaraguan resistance fighters, framed and tacked to the wall of the grim Managua hotel room where she’s having businesslike intercourse. “Young rebels used to be so sexy,” she sighs. It’s a direct jab at the unformidable army lieutenant on top of her in that moment, but also a callback to what could be perceived from afar as a more romantic, mysterious age of global political unrest — the kind that fueled the novels of Graham Greene and films like “The Year of Living Dangerously,” an alluring realm of fiction that perhaps propeled Trish so far from home in the first place. Claire Denis revives that sort of grimy glamor in this humid, intoxicating American-abroad thriller, but she’s not nearly so naive or nostalgic as her young protagonist.
Updating the late Denis Johnson...
Updating the late Denis Johnson...
- 5/25/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Summer release planned for Juliette Binoche love triangle drama.
IFC Films is reuniting with Claire Denis and Juliette Binoche and has acquired US rights to her imminent Berlin world premiere Fire (aka Both Sides Of The Blade) starring Juliette Binoche, Vincent London and Grégoire Colin.
The distributor plans a summer release on the story about a love triangle. Binoche plays Sara, who lives happily in Paris with Jean (London). When Sara spots her old flame and Jean’s former best friend Francois (Colin) in the street she is overcome with the notion her life could suddenly change.
Francois and Jean...
IFC Films is reuniting with Claire Denis and Juliette Binoche and has acquired US rights to her imminent Berlin world premiere Fire (aka Both Sides Of The Blade) starring Juliette Binoche, Vincent London and Grégoire Colin.
The distributor plans a summer release on the story about a love triangle. Binoche plays Sara, who lives happily in Paris with Jean (London). When Sara spots her old flame and Jean’s former best friend Francois (Colin) in the street she is overcome with the notion her life could suddenly change.
Francois and Jean...
- 2/3/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
IFC Films has nabbed U.S. rights to “Fire,” the new drama from celebrated French director Claire Denis. The pact marks the first major domestic deal of the Berlinale 2022 competition.
World premiering next week at the Berlin Film Festival, “Fire” is headlined by two of France’s biggest stars, Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Vincent Lindon (“Titane”). The pair have never been in a film together.
IFC Films has a long history with both Denis and Binoche. The director-driven distribution company previously handled Denis’ “Let The Sunshine In,” which starred Binoche, and “White Material.” Binoche also appeared in such as IFC releases as Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Non-Fiction,” as well as Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy.”
Set in the winter in Paris, the film tells the tale of a fiery love triangle involving Jean (Lindon) and Sara (Binoche) who have been living together for 10 years. When they first met,...
World premiering next week at the Berlin Film Festival, “Fire” is headlined by two of France’s biggest stars, Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Vincent Lindon (“Titane”). The pair have never been in a film together.
IFC Films has a long history with both Denis and Binoche. The director-driven distribution company previously handled Denis’ “Let The Sunshine In,” which starred Binoche, and “White Material.” Binoche also appeared in such as IFC releases as Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Non-Fiction,” as well as Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy.”
Set in the winter in Paris, the film tells the tale of a fiery love triangle involving Jean (Lindon) and Sara (Binoche) who have been living together for 10 years. When they first met,...
- 2/3/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy and Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film (2022)The competition slate has been announced for this year's Berlinale, featuring the latest by Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Rithy Panh, Phyllis Nagy, Ulrich Seidl, and more. Find the rest of the lineup here. In an interview with Variety, executive Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian discuss their plans for the festival to be an in-person event. Actor Michel Subor has died at the age of 86. Subor captivated audiences with his performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard's Le petit soldat (1960)—he also was the narrator for François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962)—and a number of films by Claire Denis, from Beau travail (1999) and L'intrus (2004) to White Material (2009) and Bastards (2013). We recommend reading Yasmina Price's excellent essay on L'intrus and Subor's distinct historiography as an actor. Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 1/19/2022
- MUBI
Michel Subor, a French actor who rose to international acclaim for his lead performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 feature “Le Petit Soldat” and his narration for François Truffaut’s 1962 romance “Jules et Jim,” died on Monday in a French hospital following a car accident. He was 86 years old.
News of Subor’s death was shared by director Claire Denis on her Instagram and reported by the daily French newspaper Libération. Subor and Denis had collaborated numerous times over the past decades, with their partnership beginning with Subor’s performance in Denis’ 1999 feature “Beau Travail.”
“Michel Subor, the big little soldier is dead,” Denis wrote. Her words have been translated from French. “Our Bruno, the commander.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Claire Denis (@clairedenis6)
Born Mischa Subotzki in Paris, France on Feb. 2, 1935, Subor was raised by parents who had immigrated from the Soviet Union a few years earlier.
News of Subor’s death was shared by director Claire Denis on her Instagram and reported by the daily French newspaper Libération. Subor and Denis had collaborated numerous times over the past decades, with their partnership beginning with Subor’s performance in Denis’ 1999 feature “Beau Travail.”
“Michel Subor, the big little soldier is dead,” Denis wrote. Her words have been translated from French. “Our Bruno, the commander.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Claire Denis (@clairedenis6)
Born Mischa Subotzki in Paris, France on Feb. 2, 1935, Subor was raised by parents who had immigrated from the Soviet Union a few years earlier.
- 1/18/2022
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most fruitful collaborations in cinema history has been between Claire Denis and Stuart Staples’ band Tindersticks. After working together on a number of films––Nénette et Boni, Trouble Every Day, The Intruder, 35 Shots of Rum, White Material, Bastards, and High Life––their latest team-up comes with Fire.
Led by Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Mati Diop, Grégoire Colin, Bulle Ogier, Issa Perica, and Binoche’s daughter Hana Magimel, the love-triangle romance is one of 2022’s most-anticipated. As our first real preview, Tindersticks have unveiled the closing song as well as revealing it’ll premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 12.
Titled Both Sides of the Blade, it’s part of their new greatest-hits collection Past imperfect : the best of tindersticks ’92 – ‘21, which is set for release on March 25. The music video for this rather beautifully somber track, depicting a woman shaving in front of a mirror,...
Led by Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon, Mati Diop, Grégoire Colin, Bulle Ogier, Issa Perica, and Binoche’s daughter Hana Magimel, the love-triangle romance is one of 2022’s most-anticipated. As our first real preview, Tindersticks have unveiled the closing song as well as revealing it’ll premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 12.
Titled Both Sides of the Blade, it’s part of their new greatest-hits collection Past imperfect : the best of tindersticks ’92 – ‘21, which is set for release on March 25. The music video for this rather beautifully somber track, depicting a woman shaving in front of a mirror,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
While they are giants in the world of French filmmaking and recognized as international talents, it seems strange to think that the first time Juliette Binoche and filmmaker Claire Denis worked together was only in 2017 on “Let The Sunshine In.” They quickly followed that up with “High Life” in 2018 starring Robert Pattinson and perhaps they’re now making up for lost time as Binoche will now star in a third upcoming film from the filmmaker known for “White Material” with Isabelle Huppert, and “Trouble Every Day” with Vincent Gallo among others.
Continue reading Juliette Binoche Reunites With Claire Denis Again For ‘Radioscopie’ With Vincent Lindon at The Playlist.
Continue reading Juliette Binoche Reunites With Claire Denis Again For ‘Radioscopie’ With Vincent Lindon at The Playlist.
- 11/26/2020
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
The November 2020 lineup for The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, toplined by a Claire Denis retrospective, including the brand-new restoration of Beau travail, along with Chocolat, No Fear, No Die, Nenette and Boni, Towards Mathilde, 35 Shots of Rum, and White Material.
There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.
There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.
See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.
There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.
There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.
See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.
- 10/27/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Venice Film Festival has revealed the rosters of its main juries — a move that indicates organizers expect a robust contingent of top international talent and industry executives to make the trek to the Lido for the fest’s planned physical edition in September.
The U.K.’s Joanna Hogg (“The Souvenir”), Germany’s Christian Petzold (“Undine”) and Romania’s Cristi Puiu (“Sieranevada”) are among the directors who will join the fest’s main jury, over which Cate Blanchett will preside, as previously announced.
Austrian auteur Veronika Franz (“The Lodge”), Italian writer Nicola Lagioia and French actor Ludivine Sagnier round out the Europe-centric main competition jury.
Meanwhile, French director, screenwriter and actor Claire Denis, whose “White Material” premiered in Venice in 2018, will oversee the jury for Venice’s more cutting-edge Horizons section.
Joining Denis on the Horizons jury are U.S. producer Christine Vachon, best known for shepherding Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven,...
The U.K.’s Joanna Hogg (“The Souvenir”), Germany’s Christian Petzold (“Undine”) and Romania’s Cristi Puiu (“Sieranevada”) are among the directors who will join the fest’s main jury, over which Cate Blanchett will preside, as previously announced.
Austrian auteur Veronika Franz (“The Lodge”), Italian writer Nicola Lagioia and French actor Ludivine Sagnier round out the Europe-centric main competition jury.
Meanwhile, French director, screenwriter and actor Claire Denis, whose “White Material” premiered in Venice in 2018, will oversee the jury for Venice’s more cutting-edge Horizons section.
Joining Denis on the Horizons jury are U.S. producer Christine Vachon, best known for shepherding Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven,...
- 7/26/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: In a competitive situation on the eve of the European Film Market, A24 has swooped on North American rights to one of the hot indie pics that has just dropped at the market.
In a low-seven-figure deal, the blue-chip buyer has swooped on Claire Denis’ next movie, love story/thriller The Stars at Noon, which has her High-Life collaborator Robert Pattinson and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood breakout Margaret Qualley attached.
Set in 1984 during the Nicaraguan Revolution, the film follows a mysterious English businessman and headstrong American journalist who strike up a passionate romance. They soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country, with only each other to trust and rely on.
The project is based on the 1986 novel by acclaimed U.S. writer Denis Johnson. Filmmaker Denis is adapting the novel with Lea Mysius and Andrew Litvack.
In a low-seven-figure deal, the blue-chip buyer has swooped on Claire Denis’ next movie, love story/thriller The Stars at Noon, which has her High-Life collaborator Robert Pattinson and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood breakout Margaret Qualley attached.
Set in 1984 during the Nicaraguan Revolution, the film follows a mysterious English businessman and headstrong American journalist who strike up a passionate romance. They soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country, with only each other to trust and rely on.
The project is based on the 1986 novel by acclaimed U.S. writer Denis Johnson. Filmmaker Denis is adapting the novel with Lea Mysius and Andrew Litvack.
- 2/18/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Art imitates life until the line between them blurs in “Europa, ‘Based on a True Story,’” Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza’s provocative portrayal of a love affair gone bad that mirrors the growing social and racial tensions in Great Britain and Europe. Produced by Anthony Rui Ribeiro for Moon Road Films and co-produced by Cocoon Production, with MaryEllen Higgins executive producing, the film world premieres in competition at Idfa on Nov. 27.
After his first two fiction features earned critical plaudits and A-list festival premieres, Ruhorahoza took up residence in the U.K. to shoot his new movie, “A Tree Has Fallen,” which was intended to be a drama about a mysterious Nigerian man who returns to London to settle the fallout from a messy love triangle.
Little did the director know that British politics and life in the U.K. were about to get even messier. “My initial plan was...
After his first two fiction features earned critical plaudits and A-list festival premieres, Ruhorahoza took up residence in the U.K. to shoot his new movie, “A Tree Has Fallen,” which was intended to be a drama about a mysterious Nigerian man who returns to London to settle the fallout from a messy love triangle.
Little did the director know that British politics and life in the U.K. were about to get even messier. “My initial plan was...
- 11/27/2019
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
French actress Isabelle Huppert will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival, in recognition of her “exceptional contribution to the art of film.”
Huppert will receive the award on Aug. 18, at the Raiffeisen Open Air Cinema, ahead of the screening of “Les Misérables.” Huppert will hold a masterclass on Aug. 18 her latest film “Frankie,” directed by Ira Sachs, will screen on Aug. 17.
During her career Huppert has worked with celebrated directors such as Michael Haneke, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Otto Preminger, Bertrand Tavernier, Bertrand Blier and Claire Denis. Among her memorable roles were those in “The Piano Teacher,” “White Material,” “Elle” and “Greta.”
Awards that Huppert won include a BAFTA for most promising newcomer for “The Lacemaker,” two Venice Film Festival best actress awards for “Story of Women” and “The Ceremony,” Venice’s special jury Lion d’Or for “Gabrielle” and for her entire...
Huppert will receive the award on Aug. 18, at the Raiffeisen Open Air Cinema, ahead of the screening of “Les Misérables.” Huppert will hold a masterclass on Aug. 18 her latest film “Frankie,” directed by Ira Sachs, will screen on Aug. 17.
During her career Huppert has worked with celebrated directors such as Michael Haneke, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Otto Preminger, Bertrand Tavernier, Bertrand Blier and Claire Denis. Among her memorable roles were those in “The Piano Teacher,” “White Material,” “Elle” and “Greta.”
Awards that Huppert won include a BAFTA for most promising newcomer for “The Lacemaker,” two Venice Film Festival best actress awards for “Story of Women” and “The Ceremony,” Venice’s special jury Lion d’Or for “Gabrielle” and for her entire...
- 8/15/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Claire Denis had one of her most prominent showings in over a decade with her 2017 title Let the Sunshine In, a melancholy rom com of sorts featuring a lovely Juliette Binoche. The film opened the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival and Us distributor IFC released it to the tune of nearly $900,000 at the domestic box office. A complex portrait of what amounts to our own self-sabotage when it comes to the pursuit of love, Denis won the Sacd Prize out of the Fortnight while Binoche nabbed a Cesar nomination.…...
- 6/6/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
An astronaut on an odyssey to a distant black hole faces the challenges of parenting – and existential panic – in Claire Denis’ superbly eerie, mysterious space drama
Claire Denis’s deep-space trauma High Life is an Old Testament parable catapulted forward into the 23rd century, a primal scene in a pressurised cabin of sci-fi pessimism, suppressed horror and denied panic. As if in a recurring dream, Denis brings us repeatedly to the image of a cream-panelled spaceship corridor that curves sharply around to the right; the area is at first pristine and then, as the years go by, shabby and derelict, stained with what may be body fluids. And what is around that corner?
This is a bizarre new creationist myth for those of us who ever wondered in childhood, and then forgot to wonder, about the taboo-breaking involved in propagating a race from just two people in the Garden of Eden,...
Claire Denis’s deep-space trauma High Life is an Old Testament parable catapulted forward into the 23rd century, a primal scene in a pressurised cabin of sci-fi pessimism, suppressed horror and denied panic. As if in a recurring dream, Denis brings us repeatedly to the image of a cream-panelled spaceship corridor that curves sharply around to the right; the area is at first pristine and then, as the years go by, shabby and derelict, stained with what may be body fluids. And what is around that corner?
This is a bizarre new creationist myth for those of us who ever wondered in childhood, and then forgot to wonder, about the taboo-breaking involved in propagating a race from just two people in the Garden of Eden,...
- 5/8/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Don Kaye Apr 17, 2019
Actor Robert Pattinson and director Claire Denis expound on their cerebral new sci-fi movie High Life.
Robert Pattinson has pursued an eclectic career since becoming a pop culture icon as Edward in the Twilight movies. Instead of cashing in on his fame via one blockbuster role after another, he has pursued a largely off-beat path, working with directors outside the Hollywood system such as David Cronenberg on Maps to the Stars and Cosmopolis, David Michod on The Rover and James Gray on The Lost City of Z. So it makes sense that he has now teamed with French filmmaker Claire Denis, the iconoclastic artist behind movies like Beau Travail (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), and White Material (2009).
In High Life, Denis’ first foray into science fiction--although she hesitates to call it that--Pattinson plays Monte, one of a group of criminals who exchange their sentences for an experimental voyage to a black hole.
Actor Robert Pattinson and director Claire Denis expound on their cerebral new sci-fi movie High Life.
Robert Pattinson has pursued an eclectic career since becoming a pop culture icon as Edward in the Twilight movies. Instead of cashing in on his fame via one blockbuster role after another, he has pursued a largely off-beat path, working with directors outside the Hollywood system such as David Cronenberg on Maps to the Stars and Cosmopolis, David Michod on The Rover and James Gray on The Lost City of Z. So it makes sense that he has now teamed with French filmmaker Claire Denis, the iconoclastic artist behind movies like Beau Travail (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), and White Material (2009).
In High Life, Denis’ first foray into science fiction--although she hesitates to call it that--Pattinson plays Monte, one of a group of criminals who exchange their sentences for an experimental voyage to a black hole.
- 4/17/2019
- Den of Geek
French director Claire Denis, who recently made her English-language debut with “High Life” starring Robert Pattinson, is to preside over the Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.
Denis will succeed Abderrahmane Sissako, Naomi Kawase, Cristian Mungiu and Bertrand Bonello. Denis and her jury will name the three prize winners of the Cinéfondation on May 23; and two days later the Short Film Palme d’or will be announced during the festival’s closing ceremony.
“Claire Denis has occupied a unique place in contemporary cinema for more than 30 years. She has directed a compelling body of work, including 13 feature films, four of which were screened in the Festival de Cannes’s Official Selection,” said the festival, which described the director as a “true adventurer.”
“She has established her taste for observation and experimentation throughout her artistic journeys, navigating between introspection and openness to the world (…). “Always daring,...
Denis will succeed Abderrahmane Sissako, Naomi Kawase, Cristian Mungiu and Bertrand Bonello. Denis and her jury will name the three prize winners of the Cinéfondation on May 23; and two days later the Short Film Palme d’or will be announced during the festival’s closing ceremony.
“Claire Denis has occupied a unique place in contemporary cinema for more than 30 years. She has directed a compelling body of work, including 13 feature films, four of which were screened in the Festival de Cannes’s Official Selection,” said the festival, which described the director as a “true adventurer.”
“She has established her taste for observation and experimentation throughout her artistic journeys, navigating between introspection and openness to the world (…). “Always daring,...
- 4/5/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Revered French director Claire Denis is to lead the short films and Cinéfondation (student films) jury at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
Denis and her jury will award the three prizes of the Cinéfondation selected from 17 film students’ works as well as the Short Film Palme d’Or. Previous jury heads for this section include Abderrahmane Sissako, Naomi Kawase, Cristian Mungiu and Bertrand Bonello.
Last year, the jury chaired by Bonello awarded the Short Film Palme d’Or to All These Creatures, by Charles Williams. Filmmakers to start out in the Cannes short film strand include Lynne Ramsay, Xavier Giannoli, Alice Winocour, Pascale Ferran, João Salaviza, Jim Jarmusch, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jane Campion (who remains the only director to have received both the Short Film Palme d’Or and the Palme d’Or for a feature).
The 2018 Cinéfondation Prizes were awarded to first works by Diego Céspedes, Igor Poplauhin,...
Denis and her jury will award the three prizes of the Cinéfondation selected from 17 film students’ works as well as the Short Film Palme d’Or. Previous jury heads for this section include Abderrahmane Sissako, Naomi Kawase, Cristian Mungiu and Bertrand Bonello.
Last year, the jury chaired by Bonello awarded the Short Film Palme d’Or to All These Creatures, by Charles Williams. Filmmakers to start out in the Cannes short film strand include Lynne Ramsay, Xavier Giannoli, Alice Winocour, Pascale Ferran, João Salaviza, Jim Jarmusch, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jane Campion (who remains the only director to have received both the Short Film Palme d’Or and the Palme d’Or for a feature).
The 2018 Cinéfondation Prizes were awarded to first works by Diego Céspedes, Igor Poplauhin,...
- 4/5/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
“Acting is very easy for me,” Isabelle Huppert said, not bragging so much as stating a fact. Sitting in a small Manhattan conference room, she leaned back and shrugged her shoulders. The famously understated French star, whose “Greta” opens this month, is as honest and direct as she appears on screen — if also warmer than you might expect from her many film roles. “Everything I do as an actress is really the story of the scorpion who can’t avoid stinging the frog,” she said. “It’s just my nature, you know?”
That casual admission was alarming to hear. Huppert’s five-decade filmography — a peerless body of work that’s crossed paths with everyone from Otto Preminger and Jean-Luc Godard to Claire Denis and Mia Hansen-Løve — is littered with sociopaths, self-mutilators, and murderers. Huppert only objected to the last type: “What killers have I played before?” she asked. Well, there...
That casual admission was alarming to hear. Huppert’s five-decade filmography — a peerless body of work that’s crossed paths with everyone from Otto Preminger and Jean-Luc Godard to Claire Denis and Mia Hansen-Løve — is littered with sociopaths, self-mutilators, and murderers. Huppert only objected to the last type: “What killers have I played before?” she asked. Well, there...
- 2/28/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
In the ranks of international arthouse auteurs, the status of Claire Denis is curiously ambiguous: depending on which lens you look through, she’s either among the most venerated or the most undervalued filmmakers working today. Ask the critical community, and you’ll leave very much with the former impression. Many writers, this one included, will heap her with lofty superlatives, “greatest working filmmaker” among them; in the last edition of Sight & Sound magazine’s famous decennial critics’ poll of the greatest films of all time, her hypnotic 1998 masterwork “Beau Travail” was one of just four films from the last 20 years to place in the top 100.
And yet, 30 years and 13 features into a career at once dauntingly consistent and thrillingly unpredictable, the diminutive 72-year-old Frenchwoman is held in curiously circumspect regard by her own industry. She has never won an award at Cannes, Venice or Berlin, with a Locarno Golden...
And yet, 30 years and 13 features into a career at once dauntingly consistent and thrillingly unpredictable, the diminutive 72-year-old Frenchwoman is held in curiously circumspect regard by her own industry. She has never won an award at Cannes, Venice or Berlin, with a Locarno Golden...
- 10/17/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Robert Pattinson has been thrilling audiences and critics alike with his unpredictable film choices. His last film, the Safdie Brothers’ excellent “Good Time,” was a hit with critics and really cemented Pattinson as an indie film staple and an actor who is a force to be reckoned with. Claire Denis, who really needs no introduction, is a fiery, impossibly-talented filmmaking genius, with her projects consistently seen as modern cinematic masterpieces, namely her pivotal films “Beau Travail” and “White Material.” This new partnership between Pattinson and Denis has yielded ripe fruit with their project, space jail odyssey “High Life.”
Read More: ‘High Life’: Claire Denis Makes Strange, Scary, Kinky Sci-Fi With Robert Pattinson [Tiff Review]
With “High Life,” Denis embarks on two firsts in her long career, the first being the Robert Pattinson film is her first English language work to date, and the second being this is her first interstellar drama — one that,...
Read More: ‘High Life’: Claire Denis Makes Strange, Scary, Kinky Sci-Fi With Robert Pattinson [Tiff Review]
With “High Life,” Denis embarks on two firsts in her long career, the first being the Robert Pattinson film is her first English language work to date, and the second being this is her first interstellar drama — one that,...
- 10/4/2018
- by Martine Olivier
- The Playlist
Claire Denis’ loopy, tongue-in-cheek romantic comedy “Let the Sunshine In” stars Juliette Binoche as Isabelle, a contemporary French artist who becomes nearly obsessed with her search for love. Or lust. Whichever is within reach.
Isabelle jumps from one lover’s arms to another’s like there’s hot lava on the floor, and they are her safehaven of dry land. And dry so many of them are. The first is Vincent (actor-filmmaker Xavier Beauvois), a married banker with a jealous streak who negs Isabelle like he took a weekend course from The Pickup Artist. In one scene at a bar, he fills her up with backhanded compliments about how great it is that she feels comfortable doing such frivolous things like making art, while he tasks the bartender with completing arbitrary requests, like setting down a bottle of Perrier in exactly the right way.
Luckily, Isabelle ditches this guy, but she’s not single for long. Another lover — also married — quickly gets under her skin when what begins as an artists’ work meeting turns very personal very quickly. The guy (Nicolas Duvauchelle, Denis’ “White Material”) is an actor and is consistently referred to as simply “L’acteur.” Over the course of a single beer, he delivers an unprompted and seemingly endless monologue about all of his violent fugue states and “bad-boy” tendencies as Isabelle just waits for her turn to talk.
Also Read: Majority of Cannes Critics' Week Competition Films Were Directed by Women
This multi-scene courtship is painful to watch, because both characters neurotically dance around their attraction to one another in a manner that manifests itself into hostility and anger, and so both won’t shut up, even though they’re not really saying anything at all, until they finally ravage one another, and Isabelle says what I was feeling myself: “God, I thought the talking would never end.”
But L’acteur is no good, either. Isabelle longs for something real but continually seeks out the fiction, the relationship that’s bound to blow up in her face. She’s got a perfectly good choice of a man in Francois (Laurent Grévill, Denis’ “Bastards”), with whom she has a child, but this is a woman whose enemy is perfection; she’s addicted to the beginning of a relationship but instinctively runs at the first sign of trouble, even if the trouble is something she’s manufactured herself. Isabelle is the friend you must convince that every happy couple endures hard times.
Also Read: Netflix Bails on Cannes Over Theatrical Release Mandate
The cracks begin to show in Isabelle’s pleasant façade when she accepts an invitation for a trip into the country. In one pivotal moment, she loses it on an hours-long property tour, screaming and howling for the inane conversation to stop, but nobody seems to care, as they all have a great time later at the bar. She’s mercurial, and this film is as much a statement about the temperament of artists as it is about love. An artist can fly off the handle in rage, and yet her friends think nothing of this emotion, which is sure to be as fleeting as her romances.
The only cardinal sin an artist can commit, according to Isabelle’s artist friends, is being with someone who is not also an artist, who would never understand this impetuous lifestyle. When Isabelle sleeps with a man who sweeps her off her feet at a bar and then has him move in with her, the artist community is in a panic: Has this guy even painted anything before?
See Photos: 17 Highest-Grossing Movies Directed by Women, From 'Mamma Mia!' to 'Wonder Woman'
And though Gérard Dépardieu only shows up for the finale of the film, as a psychic truth-teller, he’s the perfect tag to this story, this personal quest of Isabelle’s that shows absolutely no signs of ending anytime soon. Of course she goes to the psychic. Of course she wants him to give her an easy answer (one she will inevitably ignore or contradict after a while anyway), a way to predict the future and cut out the hard parts of learning and growing.
Binoche being in her 50s also brings more meaning to this film, which showcases the fact that the manic search for connection one feels in their 20s doesn’t just disappear with age. There’s no magical time when a person suddenly feels satisfied and does not wonder if possibly there is more to life and love than the day-in, day-out doldrums.
When films are made about straight men in this predicament, they’re often considered explorations of a “midlife crisis,” but Denis’ film poses the questions: What if crises aren’t limited to a certain age, and what if love itself is the crisis?
Read original story ‘Let the Sunshine In’ Film Review: Juliette Binoche Looks for Love With All the Wrong Men At TheWrap...
Isabelle jumps from one lover’s arms to another’s like there’s hot lava on the floor, and they are her safehaven of dry land. And dry so many of them are. The first is Vincent (actor-filmmaker Xavier Beauvois), a married banker with a jealous streak who negs Isabelle like he took a weekend course from The Pickup Artist. In one scene at a bar, he fills her up with backhanded compliments about how great it is that she feels comfortable doing such frivolous things like making art, while he tasks the bartender with completing arbitrary requests, like setting down a bottle of Perrier in exactly the right way.
Luckily, Isabelle ditches this guy, but she’s not single for long. Another lover — also married — quickly gets under her skin when what begins as an artists’ work meeting turns very personal very quickly. The guy (Nicolas Duvauchelle, Denis’ “White Material”) is an actor and is consistently referred to as simply “L’acteur.” Over the course of a single beer, he delivers an unprompted and seemingly endless monologue about all of his violent fugue states and “bad-boy” tendencies as Isabelle just waits for her turn to talk.
Also Read: Majority of Cannes Critics' Week Competition Films Were Directed by Women
This multi-scene courtship is painful to watch, because both characters neurotically dance around their attraction to one another in a manner that manifests itself into hostility and anger, and so both won’t shut up, even though they’re not really saying anything at all, until they finally ravage one another, and Isabelle says what I was feeling myself: “God, I thought the talking would never end.”
But L’acteur is no good, either. Isabelle longs for something real but continually seeks out the fiction, the relationship that’s bound to blow up in her face. She’s got a perfectly good choice of a man in Francois (Laurent Grévill, Denis’ “Bastards”), with whom she has a child, but this is a woman whose enemy is perfection; she’s addicted to the beginning of a relationship but instinctively runs at the first sign of trouble, even if the trouble is something she’s manufactured herself. Isabelle is the friend you must convince that every happy couple endures hard times.
Also Read: Netflix Bails on Cannes Over Theatrical Release Mandate
The cracks begin to show in Isabelle’s pleasant façade when she accepts an invitation for a trip into the country. In one pivotal moment, she loses it on an hours-long property tour, screaming and howling for the inane conversation to stop, but nobody seems to care, as they all have a great time later at the bar. She’s mercurial, and this film is as much a statement about the temperament of artists as it is about love. An artist can fly off the handle in rage, and yet her friends think nothing of this emotion, which is sure to be as fleeting as her romances.
The only cardinal sin an artist can commit, according to Isabelle’s artist friends, is being with someone who is not also an artist, who would never understand this impetuous lifestyle. When Isabelle sleeps with a man who sweeps her off her feet at a bar and then has him move in with her, the artist community is in a panic: Has this guy even painted anything before?
See Photos: 17 Highest-Grossing Movies Directed by Women, From 'Mamma Mia!' to 'Wonder Woman'
And though Gérard Dépardieu only shows up for the finale of the film, as a psychic truth-teller, he’s the perfect tag to this story, this personal quest of Isabelle’s that shows absolutely no signs of ending anytime soon. Of course she goes to the psychic. Of course she wants him to give her an easy answer (one she will inevitably ignore or contradict after a while anyway), a way to predict the future and cut out the hard parts of learning and growing.
Binoche being in her 50s also brings more meaning to this film, which showcases the fact that the manic search for connection one feels in their 20s doesn’t just disappear with age. There’s no magical time when a person suddenly feels satisfied and does not wonder if possibly there is more to life and love than the day-in, day-out doldrums.
When films are made about straight men in this predicament, they’re often considered explorations of a “midlife crisis,” but Denis’ film poses the questions: What if crises aren’t limited to a certain age, and what if love itself is the crisis?
Read original story ‘Let the Sunshine In’ Film Review: Juliette Binoche Looks for Love With All the Wrong Men At TheWrap...
- 4/27/2018
- by April Wolfe
- The Wrap
Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio is wasting no time getting his next project into theaters — or at least distributor Bleecker Street isn’t. Just over a month after his last film, A Fantastic Woman, took the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, his latest, Disobedience with Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz rolls into theaters, only days after its Tribeca Film Festival bow. The film joins a pretty packed lineup of new Specialties that will go head to head with Disney’s sure-fire Avengers installment. Sundance Selects is rolling out French filmmaker Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In with Juliette Binoche, one of a few foreign-language offerings this weekend including Grasshopper Films’ drama Ava by Sadaf Foroughi. Shout! Studios is opening The House of Tomorrow by Peter Livolsi with Asa Butterfield, Nick Offerman and Ellen Burstyn in several markets, while Cleopatra Films is opening Daniel Jerome Gill’s music-romance, Modern Life is Rubbish.
- 4/26/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Back in 2009, one of the most notable names to appear on the world film scene was Samuel Maoz. The then-47-year-old filmmaker, a former documentarian, made his feature debut with “Lebanon,” a gripping war drama set entirely within a tank during the 1982 conflict between Israel and Lebanon, a conflict which Maoz himself had fought in, in a similar role. Despite Maoz’s first-timer status, it landed in competition at the 2009 Venice Film Festival and, furthermore, took the top prize, the Golden Lion, beating out films including “White Material,” “A Single Man” and “The Road.”
Maoz seemed likely to break out to a much wider audience, and yet, in the last eight years, he has been largely absent.
Continue reading Venice Prize Winner ‘Foxtrot’ Is One Of The Year’s Best [BFI London Film Fest Review] at The Playlist.
Maoz seemed likely to break out to a much wider audience, and yet, in the last eight years, he has been largely absent.
Continue reading Venice Prize Winner ‘Foxtrot’ Is One Of The Year’s Best [BFI London Film Fest Review] at The Playlist.
- 10/12/2017
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
After the Storm (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Can our children pick and choose the personality traits they inherit, or are they doomed to obtain our lesser qualities? These are the hard questions being meditated on in After the Storm, a sobering, transcendent tale of a divorced man’s efforts to nudge back into his son’s life. Beautifully shot by regular cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki, it marks a welcome and quite brilliant...
After the Storm (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Can our children pick and choose the personality traits they inherit, or are they doomed to obtain our lesser qualities? These are the hard questions being meditated on in After the Storm, a sobering, transcendent tale of a divorced man’s efforts to nudge back into his son’s life. Beautifully shot by regular cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki, it marks a welcome and quite brilliant...
- 8/11/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This August will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Tuesday, August 1
Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train
Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Tuesday, August 1
Tuesday’s Short + Feature: These Boots and Mystery Train
Music is at the heart of this program, which pairs a zany music video by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki with a tune-filled career highlight from American independent-film pioneer Jim Jarmusch. In the 1993 These Boots, Kaurismäki’s band of pompadoured “Finnish Elvis” rockers, the Leningrad Cowboys, cover a Nancy Sinatra classic in their signature deadpan style. It’s the perfect prelude to Jarmusch’s 1989 Mystery Train, a homage to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the musical legacy of Memphis, featuring appearances by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Joe Strummer.
- 7/24/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Exclusive: Claire Denis comedy and Léonor Serraille’s Camera d’Or winner also among haul.
UK art-house kingpin Curzon Artificial Eye has locked up a further four Cannes titles bringing its current haul from the festival to a mighty 10 movies.
New to the slate are Claire Denis’ Let The Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Interieur), joint winner of the Sacd award in Directors’ Fortnight, Laurent Cantet’s well-received The Workshop (L’Atelier), Léonor Serraille’s Camera d’Or winner Young Woman (Jeune Femme) and Rungano Nyoni’s striking Directors’ Fortnight entry I Am Not A Witch.
As previously announced the distributor has acquired Palme d’Or winner The Square, Grand Prix winner 120 Beats Per Minute, best screenplay winner The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, Fatih Akin’s Competition drama In The Fade (Aus Dem Nichts), for which Diane Kruger won the best actress prize, Michael Haneke’s Happy End and Francois Ozon’s L’Amant Double.
Directors...
UK art-house kingpin Curzon Artificial Eye has locked up a further four Cannes titles bringing its current haul from the festival to a mighty 10 movies.
New to the slate are Claire Denis’ Let The Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Interieur), joint winner of the Sacd award in Directors’ Fortnight, Laurent Cantet’s well-received The Workshop (L’Atelier), Léonor Serraille’s Camera d’Or winner Young Woman (Jeune Femme) and Rungano Nyoni’s striking Directors’ Fortnight entry I Am Not A Witch.
As previously announced the distributor has acquired Palme d’Or winner The Square, Grand Prix winner 120 Beats Per Minute, best screenplay winner The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, Fatih Akin’s Competition drama In The Fade (Aus Dem Nichts), for which Diane Kruger won the best actress prize, Michael Haneke’s Happy End and Francois Ozon’s L’Amant Double.
Directors...
- 5/31/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Claire Denis may not be the first Francophone auteur expected to turn in a romantic comedy, and her latest will disappoint those expecting Nancy Meyers a Paris. However, Let the Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Interieur) is a sophisticated, idiosyncratic, thoroughly modern interpretation of a French romantic farce, perceptive if not laugh-out-loud funny, featuring a top-form Juliette Binoche as a middle-aged divorcée wading through a series of exasperatingly self-centered men in search not just for love, but a partner with whom she can be herself.
Inspired by French critic and philosopher Roland Barthes’ A Lovers Discourse: Fragments, a work of agonizing self-reflexion on the nature of romantic relationships, Denis and novelist co-writer Christine Angot concoct a deadpan, occasionally very funny affair with touches of the self-examination of Woody Allen. Binoche plays Isabelle, an artist who lives in hope that she’ll find love again but continues, in her words, “running into a wall.
Inspired by French critic and philosopher Roland Barthes’ A Lovers Discourse: Fragments, a work of agonizing self-reflexion on the nature of romantic relationships, Denis and novelist co-writer Christine Angot concoct a deadpan, occasionally very funny affair with touches of the self-examination of Woody Allen. Binoche plays Isabelle, an artist who lives in hope that she’ll find love again but continues, in her words, “running into a wall.
- 5/20/2017
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
Like a Judd Apatow thriller or a Michael Haneke kids flick, the concept of a Claire Denis comedy at first sounds like a contradiction in terms. After all, the 71-year-old French auteur, whose film Beau Travail remains one of the great works of the last few decades, has taken an especially grim turn as of late, with movies like Bastards, White Material and The Intruder exploring some of the darker sides of contemporary humanity.
So it comes as quite a surprise that Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil interieur), which stars a moody and moving Juliette Binoche as a...
So it comes as quite a surprise that Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil interieur), which stars a moody and moving Juliette Binoche as a...
- 5/18/2017
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What does it say about the current appeal of Werner Herzog's fiction films when his star-studded 2015 period adventure, Queen of the Desert, hasn't been released until now? Between its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and its appearance in U.S. cinemas, the German director has released two documentaries—both stellar—and shown yet another fiction drama on the festival circuit, the truly bizarre Salt and Fire. Now in theatres, Herzog's first fictional feature film since his two-shot salvo of The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and My Son, My Son, What Have You Done? in 2009 is certainly his most expansive drama for decades. With a cast of James Franco, Robert Pattinson, and Damian Lewis, all led by Nicole Kidman, Queen of the Desert adapts the true saga of Gertrude Bell, an utterly unique woman who at the turn of the last century plunged into the...
- 4/11/2017
- MUBI
by Robert Balkovich
Today is International Women's Day. To honor this day, a look back at a great female directed film that was critically lauded at the time but tends to not get the legacy attention it deserves: Claire Denis' "White Material."
Set in an unnamed former French colony in Africa on the brink of violent civil war, White Material is not new territory for Denis – a French national who grew up in Cameroon, Burinka Faso, Somalia and Senegal – but it does represent a more searing look at the ways in which colonialism has completely uprooted the continent.
Our hero of the story is no hero at all...
Today is International Women's Day. To honor this day, a look back at a great female directed film that was critically lauded at the time but tends to not get the legacy attention it deserves: Claire Denis' "White Material."
Set in an unnamed former French colony in Africa on the brink of violent civil war, White Material is not new territory for Denis – a French national who grew up in Cameroon, Burinka Faso, Somalia and Senegal – but it does represent a more searing look at the ways in which colonialism has completely uprooted the continent.
Our hero of the story is no hero at all...
- 3/8/2017
- by Robert Balkovich
- FilmExperience
With final Academy Award voting coming to an end on Tuesday February 21st, it seems like a good time to champion what has been the most honored performance of the year, and which, if voters are looking in the right place, should be crowned on Oscar Sunday. The race for the Best Actress statuette has been fierce this awards season, but the one actress that has come out on top in more occasions than any other is Isabelle Huppert. For her role in Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle,” the revered French icon has earned her first-ever Oscar nomination, and there is no one that deserves to win more than she does. In case there is any doubt that Huppert is at the top of her craft and should be recognized, here are five reasons why “the greatest actress working today” should take home the coveted statuette.
She Gave the Best Performance...
She Gave the Best Performance...
- 2/18/2017
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
2017 just got a whole lot better. The last few years we’ve heard a handful of updates on what was thought to be Claire Denis‘ next film, High Life, an ambitious sci-fi drama starring Robert Pattinson. With shooting expecting to begin sometime this year, it looks like the project has been pushed back to make room for a smaller-scale feature from the White Material director, and one that’s just as enticing.
Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, and Xavier Beauvois will be leading the cast of Denis’ Les lunettes noir (translated to Dark Glasses), which kicks off a seven-week shoot in Paris and Guéret this month. Adapted from Roland Barthes‘ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, which deconstructs the language of love, the drama is expected to be completed in time for a fall premiere. [France 3/JulietteBinoche.net]
It’s still unclear in what form exactly Denis will adapt the material, which has already been...
Juliette Binoche, Gérard Depardieu, and Xavier Beauvois will be leading the cast of Denis’ Les lunettes noir (translated to Dark Glasses), which kicks off a seven-week shoot in Paris and Guéret this month. Adapted from Roland Barthes‘ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, which deconstructs the language of love, the drama is expected to be completed in time for a fall premiere. [France 3/JulietteBinoche.net]
It’s still unclear in what form exactly Denis will adapt the material, which has already been...
- 1/3/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Isabelle Huppert on Elle: "I never worked with a trained cat before." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Guillaume Nicloux's Valley Of Love, Mia Hansen-Løve's Things To Come (L’Avenir), and Paul Verhoeven's Elle have one thing in common - Isabelle Huppert. Metrograph in New York honoured Huppert by programming Catherine Breillat's Abuse Of Weakness (Abus De faiblesse); Claire Denis' White Material; Ursula Meier's Home; Hal Hartley's Amateur; Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher and Hong Sang-soo's In Another Country.
Isabelle Huppert with Metrograph's Aliza Ma Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Isabelle spoke with Aliza Ma at Metrograph, following the screening of In Another Country about what two of her latest films have in common:
Isabelle Huppert: In both films there is a cat. In Things To Come it's a very, very big cat. Very heavy like an elephant. In Elle [France's Foreign Language Oscar submission] is a very different cat.
Guillaume Nicloux's Valley Of Love, Mia Hansen-Løve's Things To Come (L’Avenir), and Paul Verhoeven's Elle have one thing in common - Isabelle Huppert. Metrograph in New York honoured Huppert by programming Catherine Breillat's Abuse Of Weakness (Abus De faiblesse); Claire Denis' White Material; Ursula Meier's Home; Hal Hartley's Amateur; Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher and Hong Sang-soo's In Another Country.
Isabelle Huppert with Metrograph's Aliza Ma Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Isabelle spoke with Aliza Ma at Metrograph, following the screening of In Another Country about what two of her latest films have in common:
Isabelle Huppert: In both films there is a cat. In Things To Come it's a very, very big cat. Very heavy like an elephant. In Elle [France's Foreign Language Oscar submission] is a very different cat.
- 12/4/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Huppert’s warm, wry performance as an academic facing a crisis at home powers Mia Hansen-Løve’s intimate, intellectual film
Is there a more commanding screen presence than Isabelle Huppert? From the spiralling American madness of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate to the diverse demands of Claire Denis’s African-set colonial parable White Material and Brillante Mendoza’s Philippines hostage drama Captive, Huppert has proved ready to rise to any challenge. Claude Chabrol famously cast her as a teenage murderer in 1978’s Violette Nozière and a covert poisoner in 2000’s Merci pour le chocolat, while Chris Honoré called upon her to tackle the taboo subject of incest in Ma mère. Most famously, in Michael Haneke’s unflinching The Piano Teacher, she took cinemagoers to the very edge of a masochistic abyss, with harrowing results.
Hansen-Løve serves up unapologetic discussions of Rousseau, radicalism and revolution
Continue reading...
Is there a more commanding screen presence than Isabelle Huppert? From the spiralling American madness of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate to the diverse demands of Claire Denis’s African-set colonial parable White Material and Brillante Mendoza’s Philippines hostage drama Captive, Huppert has proved ready to rise to any challenge. Claude Chabrol famously cast her as a teenage murderer in 1978’s Violette Nozière and a covert poisoner in 2000’s Merci pour le chocolat, while Chris Honoré called upon her to tackle the taboo subject of incest in Ma mère. Most famously, in Michael Haneke’s unflinching The Piano Teacher, she took cinemagoers to the very edge of a masochistic abyss, with harrowing results.
Hansen-Løve serves up unapologetic discussions of Rousseau, radicalism and revolution
Continue reading...
- 9/4/2016
- by Mark Kermode, Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
Last year, the BBC polled a bunch of critics to determine the 100 greatest American films of all time and only six films released after 2000 placed at all. This year, the BBC decided to determine the “new classics,” films from the past 16 years that will likely stand the test of time, so they polled critics from around the globe for their picks of the 100 greatest films of the 21st Century so far. David Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.” tops the list, Wong Kar-Wai’s “In The Mood For Love” places second, and Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen Brothers both have 2 films in the top 25. See the full results below.
Read More: The Best Movies of the 21st Century, According to IndieWire’s Film Critics
Though the list itself is fascinating, what’s also compelling are the statistics about the actual list. According to the the BBC, they polled 177 film critics from every continent except Antarctica.
Read More: The Best Movies of the 21st Century, According to IndieWire’s Film Critics
Though the list itself is fascinating, what’s also compelling are the statistics about the actual list. According to the the BBC, they polled 177 film critics from every continent except Antarctica.
- 8/23/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Ryan Lambie Aug 23, 2016
A critics' survey puts Mullholland Drive at the top of the list of the best films since 2000. Did yours make the cut?
Movie critics love Linklater, Studio Ghibli, the Coens and the surrealist stylings of David Lynch. At least, that's if a newly-published list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century is anything to go by.
BBC Culture commissioned the poll, which took in responses from 177 film critics from all over the world. As a result, the top 100 includes an eclectic mix of the mainstream to independent movies, from dramas to sci-fi and off-beat comedies. Feew would be surprised to see things like Paolo Sorrentino's handsome Italian confection The Great Beauty propping up the lower end of the list, or that such acclaimed directors as Wes Anderson or the aforementioned Coens feature heavily.
What is pleasing to see, though, is how much good genre stuff has made the cut,...
A critics' survey puts Mullholland Drive at the top of the list of the best films since 2000. Did yours make the cut?
Movie critics love Linklater, Studio Ghibli, the Coens and the surrealist stylings of David Lynch. At least, that's if a newly-published list of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century is anything to go by.
BBC Culture commissioned the poll, which took in responses from 177 film critics from all over the world. As a result, the top 100 includes an eclectic mix of the mainstream to independent movies, from dramas to sci-fi and off-beat comedies. Feew would be surprised to see things like Paolo Sorrentino's handsome Italian confection The Great Beauty propping up the lower end of the list, or that such acclaimed directors as Wes Anderson or the aforementioned Coens feature heavily.
What is pleasing to see, though, is how much good genre stuff has made the cut,...
- 8/23/2016
- Den of Geek
Although we’re only about 16% into the 21st century thus far, the thousands of films that have been released have provided a worthy selection to reflect on the cinematic offerings as they stand. We’ve chimed in with our favorite animations, comedies, sci-fi films, and have more to come, and now a new critics’ poll that we’ve taken part in has tallied up the 21st century’s 100 greatest films overall.
The BBC has polled 177 critics from around the world, resulting in a variety of selections, led by David Lynch‘s Mulholland Drive. Also in the top 10 was Wong Kar-wai‘s In the Mood For Love and Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life, which made my personal ballot (seen at the bottom of the page).
In terms of the years with the most selections, 2012 and 2013 each had 9, while Wes Anderson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Christopher Nolan, the Coens, Michael Haneke, and...
The BBC has polled 177 critics from around the world, resulting in a variety of selections, led by David Lynch‘s Mulholland Drive. Also in the top 10 was Wong Kar-wai‘s In the Mood For Love and Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life, which made my personal ballot (seen at the bottom of the page).
In terms of the years with the most selections, 2012 and 2013 each had 9, while Wes Anderson, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Christopher Nolan, the Coens, Michael Haneke, and...
- 8/23/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Ira Sach’s “Little Men” follows Jake Jardine (Theo Taplitz), a 13-year-old who lives with his parents (Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Ehle) in Manhattan. When Jake’s grandfather dies, the family moves into his Brooklyn apartment where they find dressmaker Leonor (Paulina Garcia) who owns a shop in the building with her son Tony (Michael Barbieri). Jake and Tony become quick friends but when Jake’s parents try to raise the rent on Leonor, tensions run high and the kids are brought into uncomfortable adult conflicts faster than they anticipated.
Read More: Ira Sachs: How a Daring Independent Filmmaker Went Family-Friendly With ‘Little Men’
The film has garnered widespread positive reviews for its humanistic approach, powerful performances, and emotionally resonant writing, but one of “Little Men’s” most striking elements is its score. Composed by Dickon Hinchliffe, a founding member of the English band the Tindersticks, the score’s...
Read More: Ira Sachs: How a Daring Independent Filmmaker Went Family-Friendly With ‘Little Men’
The film has garnered widespread positive reviews for its humanistic approach, powerful performances, and emotionally resonant writing, but one of “Little Men’s” most striking elements is its score. Composed by Dickon Hinchliffe, a founding member of the English band the Tindersticks, the score’s...
- 8/3/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Isabelle Huppert might as well be crowned queen of the 2016 festival circuit. Her first film of the year, Mia Hansen-Løve‘s Things to Come, premiered at Berlin, followed by Paul Verhoeven‘s Elle at Cannes; then, at Tiff, she’ll have those two films, as well as the premiere of Bravo Defurne‘s Souvenir. But before that, she’s starring alongside Louis Garrel in Luc Bondy‘s The False Secrets, which will screen at the Locarno Film Festival this weekend.
Today we have a pair of new trailers for two of the films — first from Things to Come, which is one of our favorites of the year. As we said in our review, “While Hansen-Løve certainly deserves credit for writing such a compelling character, it’s difficult to imagine anyone realizing Nathalie as consummately as Huppert, who, even by her exceptionally high standards, pulls off a superlative performance.”
Following that,...
Today we have a pair of new trailers for two of the films — first from Things to Come, which is one of our favorites of the year. As we said in our review, “While Hansen-Løve certainly deserves credit for writing such a compelling character, it’s difficult to imagine anyone realizing Nathalie as consummately as Huppert, who, even by her exceptionally high standards, pulls off a superlative performance.”
Following that,...
- 8/3/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- 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
Although relatively scarce, horror movies directed by women are out there. You may have to turn over a few rocks to know who they are and their material might be a little more difficult to get your hands on, but these directors deserve just as much attention and scrutiny as their male counterparts, who have long dominated the genre. The following discusses selections of female directors’ forays into the business of terror. (This post contains spoilers)
Antonia Bird
The late director Antonia Bird’s Ravenous is a bizarre amalgamation of humor and horror that explores cannibalism with warped nuance. The strangely cacophonous score builds up tension as craven outcasts face a glutinous and depraved attacker whose strength seems fortified by his consumption of human flesh. Set during America’s westward expansion, the metaphor of humanity’s insatiable appetite for power is plain to see, but its execution indulges in such...
Antonia Bird
The late director Antonia Bird’s Ravenous is a bizarre amalgamation of humor and horror that explores cannibalism with warped nuance. The strangely cacophonous score builds up tension as craven outcasts face a glutinous and depraved attacker whose strength seems fortified by his consumption of human flesh. Set during America’s westward expansion, the metaphor of humanity’s insatiable appetite for power is plain to see, but its execution indulges in such...
- 11/2/2015
- by Lane Scarberry
- SoundOnSight
Beat-Up Little Seagull
Michelle Pfeiffer will star opposite Kiefer Sutherland in "Mother of George" helmer Andrew Dosunmu's indie drama "Beat-Up Little Seagull" for Killer Films and Great Point Media. Christine Vachon is producing and shooting begins on Monday in New York.
Darci Picoult's script follows a sensitive and fragile woman (Pfeiffer) who struggles to find footing in a fast-paced world. When her mother dies, she faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover (Sutherland). [Source: THR]
Untitled Sci-Fi Project
Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") will join Robert Pattinson ("Twilight") and Mia Goth ("The Survivalist") in the cast of "White Material" and "Beau Travail" director Claire Denis' anticipated untitled sci-fi project which marks her English-language debut.
Nick Laird and UK novelist Zadie Smith penned the script which follows a group of skilled criminals who, in a bid to escape their long sentences,...
Michelle Pfeiffer will star opposite Kiefer Sutherland in "Mother of George" helmer Andrew Dosunmu's indie drama "Beat-Up Little Seagull" for Killer Films and Great Point Media. Christine Vachon is producing and shooting begins on Monday in New York.
Darci Picoult's script follows a sensitive and fragile woman (Pfeiffer) who struggles to find footing in a fast-paced world. When her mother dies, she faces a crisis in which she must find a means for survival, all the while hiding her struggles from her new lover (Sutherland). [Source: THR]
Untitled Sci-Fi Project
Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") will join Robert Pattinson ("Twilight") and Mia Goth ("The Survivalist") in the cast of "White Material" and "Beau Travail" director Claire Denis' anticipated untitled sci-fi project which marks her English-language debut.
Nick Laird and UK novelist Zadie Smith penned the script which follows a group of skilled criminals who, in a bid to escape their long sentences,...
- 10/27/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Exclusive: Oscar-winner joins sci-fi alongside Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth.
Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) has joined Robert Pattinson (Twilight) and Mia Goth (The Survivalist) in the cast of Claire Denis’ anticipated untitled sci-fi, written by UK novelist Zadie Smith (White Teeth) and Smith’s writer husband Nick Laird.
Denis’ English-language debut, due to shoot next year, is understood to follow a group of skilled criminals who, in a bid to escape their long sentences or capital punishment, accept a likely-fatal government space mission to find alternative energy sources.
The project, which ScreenDaily first reported in June, marks an intriguing change of direction for the White Material and Beau Travail writer-director.
The story is based on an original idea by Denis and her regular writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau, and is due to go into production early next year.
Producers are Oliver Dungey (Miss Julie), Laurence Clerc and Olivier Thery Lapiney from Paris-based Alcatraz Films, and [link=nm...
Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) has joined Robert Pattinson (Twilight) and Mia Goth (The Survivalist) in the cast of Claire Denis’ anticipated untitled sci-fi, written by UK novelist Zadie Smith (White Teeth) and Smith’s writer husband Nick Laird.
Denis’ English-language debut, due to shoot next year, is understood to follow a group of skilled criminals who, in a bid to escape their long sentences or capital punishment, accept a likely-fatal government space mission to find alternative energy sources.
The project, which ScreenDaily first reported in June, marks an intriguing change of direction for the White Material and Beau Travail writer-director.
The story is based on an original idea by Denis and her regular writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau, and is due to go into production early next year.
Producers are Oliver Dungey (Miss Julie), Laurence Clerc and Olivier Thery Lapiney from Paris-based Alcatraz Films, and [link=nm...
- 10/26/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
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
In June, word arrived that Beau Travail director Claire Denis was planning an ambitious film to mark her English-language debut: an untitled science fiction project. She’s now locked in a star, with Robert Pattinson confirmed for a lead role.The script comes from White Teeth author Zadie Smith and her husband Nick Laird, though the specifics of the idea (conceived by Denis and regular writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau) are being held back for now. We do know, however, that it will take place beyond the solar system in a future time that nevertheless feels like the present. Pattinson is attached to play the lead, an astronaut. There is an eclectic group collaborating on the design and development of the new film including artist Olafur Eliasson, astrophysicist Aurélien Barrau, a specialist in black holes and cosmology, and musician Stuart Staples, who wrote tracks for White Material and another Denis project,...
- 8/26/2015
- EmpireOnline
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