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| Claire Denis |
“I suppose I am interested in the variety of human life—how people live. I am most interested in individuals and how they respond to challenges or to difficulties, or just to each other. I am curious about people. So that’s why I do a lot of different things. The cinema should be human and be part of people’s lives; it should focus on ordinary existences in sometimes extraordinary situations and places. That is what really motivates me.”
” The cinema gives pleasure, certainly. But most of all for me, film-making is a journey into the impossible. When I make a film I have to be like a military commander, in charge of every strategy and tactic. But I never really know where we are going”
Born in Paris in 1948, Claire Denis grew up in various African French colonies (the influence of which is strongly felt in her body of work). At the tender age of 12, a polio-ridden Denis moves back to France. There, she discovers a passion for cinema that would eventually led her to enroll in at IDHEC (France's prestigious film school currently known as La Fémis and sporting notable alumni such as Louis Malle and Alain Resnais). Graduating in 1972, she goes on to work as assistant director for the likes of Jacques Rivette and Jim Jarmusch. That is until 1988 when Denis finally helms her debut full length feature, Chocolat.
Those seeking linear narrative and the catharsis of moral conclusions/happy endings need not venture into her work. Often opting for sparse dialogue, Denis instead lets her languorously lingering camera capture the body's movements to reveal eloquently truths about the human psyche. Her interest in the lives of African immigrants in France has caused detractors to level at her accusations of exotification. But this is a very shallow reading of a filmmaker who allows for the full humanity of her characters to unfold like none other. Judging by her limited recognition, it's fair to say that Denis' films are somewhat esoteric in nature. Still, they are a journey worth taking.
Claire Denis : A Cinema Of The Body
- Chocolat / Chocolate (1988)
- S’en fout la mort / No Fear, No Die (1990)
- J’ai pas sommeil / I Can’t Sleep (1994)
- Nénette et Boni / Nenette and Boni (1996)
- Beau travail (1999)
- Trouble Every Day (2001)
- Vendredi soir / Friday Night (2002)
- L’intrus / The Intruder (2004)
- 35 rhums / 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
- White Material (2009)
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