Claire Denis | |
|---|---|
 Denis in 2022 | |
| Born | (1946-04-21)21 April 1946 (age 78) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | IDHEC |
| Occupation(s) | Director, writer, professor |
Claire Denis (/dəˈniː/;French:[dəni]; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature filmBeau Travail (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s and of all time.[1][2][3] Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonialWest Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity.[4][5][6]
Other acclaimed works includeTrouble Every Day (2001),35 Shots of Rum (2008),White Material (2009),High Life (2018) andBoth Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which won her theSilver Bear for Best Director at the72nd Berlin International Film Festival.[7] ForStars at Noon (2022), Denis won theGrand Prix at the2022 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the award withLukas Dhont'sClose.[8]
Denis was born on 21 April 1946[9] in Paris,[10][11] but raised in colonial French Africa, where her father was a civil servant, living inBurkina Faso,Cameroon,French Somaliland, andSenegal.[12] Her childhood was spent living in West Africa with her parents and her younger sister coloured her perspective on certain political issues. Their father told them that independence from France would be a good thing for these colonies.[13] Her upbringing was a strong influence on her films, which have dealt with colonialism and post-colonialism in Africa.[14] Her father moved with the family every two years because he wanted the children to learn about geography.
Growing up in West Africa, Denis used to watch old and damaged copies of war films sent from the United States. As an adolescent, she loved to read. Completing the required material while in school, at night she would sneak her mother's detective stories to read.[15] At age 12, Denis was diagnosed withpolio and returned to France for treatment. She lived inSceaux, a suburb of Paris, for the rest of her teenage years.[16] During her time in France, she felt unfit for living in France. She was educated for a life in Africa, and felt completely different from everyone around her.[17]
In 1969, Denis married a photographer she met at the age of 15, after being hired as his assistant. Due to the complex nature of having him in her private life but also as her teacher, they divorced soon after.[18]
Denis initially studied economics, but, she has said, "It was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off."[15] She then briefly studied Oriental languages and married a photographer who encouraged her to quit. In 1969 Denis studied atIDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques – now La Fémis) with her husband's encouragement. He told her she needed to figure out what she wanted to do.[15] She graduated from the IDHEC and since 2002 has been a professor of film at theEuropean Graduate School inSaas-Fee, Switzerland.[19]
Before applying and being accepted into IDHEC, she worked as an intern at Télé Niger. After telling everyone that she wanted to apply to IDHEC, they told her, "no, don't waste your time studying, all you need to do is make films here with us".[15]
After graduating in 1971 and by this time divorced, Denis began working as an assistant director for many acclaimed filmmakers. Such films include Jacques Rivette'sOut 1 (1971), Denis Dusan Makavejev'sSweet Movie (1974), Robert Enrico'sThe Old Gun (1974), Eduardo de Gregorio'sSérail (1976) and Costa-Gavras'sHanna K. (1983). After meetingWim Wenders, Denis travelled to the U.S. to be the assistant director onParis, Texas (1984) andWings of Desire (1987). Wenders has said, "Claire was more than ready to make her own films. It would have been a waste to let her continue working as an assistant director". By working with so many directors Denis realized she wanted to make her own films to have more independence and ownership of her work.[20]
Denis's feature film debut,Chocolat (1988), is a semi-autobiographical meditation about a French woman reflecting on her childhood in Cameroon and her relationship with her family's African servant. While making it, Denis began collaborating with Jean-Pol Fargeau as a co-writer. They still work together.Chocolat was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and praised by critics and audiences as a remarkable first film.
Denis's second film,Man No Run (1989), is a documentary that follows a group of Cameroonian musicians,Les Têtes Brulées, touring France. It was considered an unusual second choice. Her next two narrative films wereNo Fear, No Die (S'en fout la mort, 1990) andI Can't Sleep (J'ai pas sommeil, 1994). The former is about illegal cockfighting, and the latter is about a serial killer who murders elderly women, inspired by a real case. Her next film,Nénette et Boni (1996), dives into the relationship between an alienated brother and his unhappily pregnant sister.
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Denis's fifth and arguably most renowned film isBeau Travail (1999). It is about soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti and loosely based on Herman Melville'sBilly Budd (1888).Beau Travail explores the themes of masculinity and obsession. Her next film,Trouble Every Day (2001), was a surprise, a horror film about a newlywed couple in Paris while the husband succumbs to sexually fueled cannibalism.
Of Denis's next six films, five draw from preexisting texts and films.Friday Night (Vendredi soir, 2002) is about two strangers who spend the night together the night before the woman is supposed to move in with her current lover. It was adapted from Emmanuèle Bernheim's novel of the same name.The Intruder (L'Intrus, 2004) is based on Jean Luc Nancy's short memoir about a man receiving a heart transplant and reconnecting with his son.35 Shots of Rum (35 rhums, 2008) is another of Denis's most acclaimed films, about a father's and daughter's changing relationship. It was inspired byYasujirō Ozu's filmLate Spring (1949). Her filmBastards (Les Salauds, 2013) was inspired byAkira Kurosawa'sThe Bad Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru, 1960).Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2017) is a romantic comedy inspired byRoland Barthes'sA Lover's Discourse: Fragments (1977). Of these, the only film not based on preexisting text isWhite Material (2009), which was co-written with Marie N'Diaye. It is about a white French woman in post-colonial Africa who stays during a rising civil conflict.[20]
With films such asUS Go Home (1994),Nénette et Boni,Beau Travail,[21]Trouble Every Day, andVendredi soir, Denis established a reputation as a filmmaker who "has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France."[21] She returned to Africa withWhite Material, set in an unidentified country during a civil war.
Denis has also made many short films spanning a multitude of subjects, such asLe 15 Mai (1969) while studying at IDHEC,Keep It for Yourself (1991) andVoilà l'enchaînement (2014). Her anthologies includePour Ushari Ahmed Mahmoud,Soudan in Lest We Forget (Contre l'oubli, (1991).US Go Home (1994) is a segment in a series of hour-long films commissioned by Arte.Nice, Very Nice is a segment inÀ propos de Nice, la suite (1995) andTowards Nancy (Vers Nancy) inTen Minutes Older:The Cello (2002). Her documentaries includeJacques Rivette, le veilleur (Jacques Rivette,the Watchman, 1990),Towards Mathilde (Vers Mathilde, 2005) andVenezia 70 – Future Reloaded (2013). She also made the short filmContact (2014) for a light installation byOlafur Eliasson, who helped on the production design forHigh Life.
Common themes in Denis's work include obsession, desire, violence, sex, and the body. It also focuses on the feelings of being an outsider and belonging. Denis has said, "For me, the monster is invisible. If there is a small thread running through all my work, it is that evil is never the other, everything is inside and never outside."[20]
Denis is a highly collaborative filmmaker, saying in an interview, "the film becomes a relationship...and that is what's important, the relationship".[22] The importance of collaboration can be seen throughout her work. She often recasts actors in multiple films, most notablyAlex Descas, who has worked with Denis 11 times from 1990 to 2017, andIsaach de Bankolé, who appeared in three of her films from 1988 to 2009.Vincent Gallo,Béatrice Dalle,Nicolas Duvauchelle,Juliette Binoche andGrégoire Colin have also appeared in multiple Denis films. She most often collaborates with screenwriterJean-Pol Fargeau, composerStuart Staples of the bandTindersticks, and cinematographerAgnès Godard, whom she met in the 1970s at theInstitut des hautes études cinématographiques.[22] Asked about her screenwriting process, Denis said, "I often realize I haveIsaach orGrégoire or someone else in mind" when writing scenes. She has also said that usually she "hold[s] no auditions" for her films.[22]
Fargeau has co-written ten of Denis's screenplays. Staples has composed eight of her films and Denis has said that he "has a rapport with the body, with flesh, with desire which is very close to mine". Nelly Quettier editedI Can't Sleep,Beau Travail,Vendredi soir andThe Intruder. Judy Shrewsbury has worked on every one of Denis's features for the last 20 years.[20]
Agnès Godard is one of Denis's most important collaborators, having worked on 11 of her films as a camera operator to the cinematographer in every film exceptWhite Material andHigh Life.
Denis has said that by collaborating with so many artists she has learned to trust the filmmaking process. She told Damon Smith: "What I got from Jacques Rivette was a complete trust in filmmaking, in actors, in acting...and a taste for endangering myself a little bit...From Wim [Wenders], I got another kind of trust, a trust in feeling very free with the camera and in designing a film not with an aesthetic, but with a complete trust of a location, in the light of the day." She also gives actors considerable freedom. InTrouble Every Day there are two onscreen murders where she let Gallo and Dalle do what they wished after the first scripted bite.[20]
Denis's collaborations go beyond her own films, as she has appeared in other directors' films, such asLaetitia Masson'sEn avoir (1995) andTonie Marshall'sVénus beauté (1999). She shares screenwriting credit onYousry Nasrallah'sEl Medina (2000).[23] She also worked as an assistant director withWim Wenders onParis, Texas (1984) andWings of Desire (1987), and withJim Jarmusch onDown by Law (1986).
In 2005, Denis was a member of the jury at the27th Moscow International Film Festival.[24] In 2011, she was a member of the jury at theDeauville American Film Festival.
In 2006, Denis directed the video for the song "Incinerate" bySonic Youth, from their albumRather Ripped.
Bastards was screened in theUn Certain Regard section at the2013 Cannes Film Festival.[25] Also that year, Denis was awarded the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award at theStockholm Film Festival.
Denis announced in 2015 that she was partnering withZadie Smith for her English-language debut film,High Life. Smith eventually left the project, causing a delay in filming. Denis went on to work onLet the Sunshine In, which starredJuliette Binoche and was released in 2017.
In 2018 Denis completed and releasedHigh Life, her first English-language feature film, withRobert Pattinson cast as the lead.[26] The film premiered at the2018 Toronto International Film Festival. It later had a limited U.S. release by American indie distributorsA24. It was positively reviewed by many notable critics.[27][28]
Denis has been a member of multiple film festival boards, starting with theVenice Film Festival board in 2005. In 2019, she was the president of the board of theCinéfondation and short films at theCannes Film Festival. In 2020, she was the president of the board of the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival.
In 2025, production began on the filmThe Cry of the Guards with Denis as director.[29]
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Most of Denis's œuvre uses location work rather than studio work. She sometimes places her actors as if they were positioned for still photography. She uses longer takes with a stationary camera and frames things in long shots, resulting in fewer close-ups. But Denis's cinematic and topical focus always remains relentlessly on her protagonists' faces and bodies. The subject's body in space, and how the particular terrain, weather, and colour of the landscape influence and interact with the human subjects of her films maintain cinematic dominance.
Tim Palmer explores Denis's work as a self-declared formalist and brilliant film stylist per se, an approach Denis has declared many times in interviews to be as much about sounds, textures, colours and compositions as broader thematic concerns or social commitments.[30]
According to the Australian James Phillips, Denis rejects the marketable conventions of Hollywood cinema and frees the viewers of her films from the expectations of clichés.[31]
Denis combines history with personal history, giving her films an autobiographical element.[32] This superimposition of the personal with the historical allows her films to be described asauteur cinema.[33] She has worked in many genres, from horror (Trouble Every Day) to romance and drama (Friday Night).[34] Critics have noted recurring themes in her films, but Denis says she has no coherent vision of her career "trajectory".[35]
Denis has said that she is not concerned with film theory: "I am not at all interested in theories about cinema. I am only interested in images and people and sound... Film theory is just a pain in the ass."[36] She focuses on "human" stories, no matter the setting of the film. Denis has said she does not aim to bring about radical social change or make the viewer feel better: "I'm not so sure films should be made to soothe people's pain. I don't want to be a social worker. I want to share something that is a vision, or a feeling." Her films' main focus is on the characters, often in moments of intense violence and emotion. "Anger is part of my relation to the world," she has said. "I'm filled with anger, I'm filled with regret, I'm filled with great memories, also poetic memories."[37]
Denis has said that the body is "central" to her work and often uses skin, blood, and other bodily fluids to symbolize characters' feelings and highlight relationships between them. InChocolat, skin is photographed prominently to accentuate the difference between the subservient and degrading nature of the dark-skinned Proteè's forced outdoor bathing and the shameless confidence of pale, white Luc, who chooses to do so. InTrouble Every Day andHigh Life, bodily fluids are central to the stories, creating visceral disturbing images, and highlighting the films' "sexuality".
Denis has directed a wide variety of films that span most known genres in her 30-year career, but is known for bending a genre's rules, often not obeying traditional rules of pacing or cinematography for established genres like horror, science fiction, and fantasy, focusing instead on the characters, their psyches, emotions and relationships. Though she has made horror movies and romantic comedies and dramas, Denis has never been concerned with making the scariest, funniest, or most heartbreaking films; she is only interested in telling the human story.
Denis chooses the titles of her films carefully. Noëlle Rouxel-Cubberly argues that titles are intended to force the viewer to rethink a film's imagery and that Denis uses them to describe the raw reality of her films. For example, the title ofChocolat simultaneously refers to a racist term used during the period of the film, the cocoa exportation from Africa to Europe through a slave system, and the 1950s French expression "être chocolat", meaning "to be cheated".[38]
Denis is also known for "shooting fast, editing slowly". In general, she does a few takes on set and spends most of her time in the editing room, creating the film there. This post-production process often involves rearranging scenes out of the order in the script. For example, she placed the dance inBeau Travail at the end of the film though it was not at the end of the script. Of this process, Denis has said, "I'm always insecure when I'm making a film. I have doubts about myself but rarely about the actors."[39]
In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Denis signed an open letter published inLibération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.[40][41][42]
| Year | Title | Original Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Chocolat | [43][44] | |
| 1990 | No Fear, No Die | S'en fout la mort | [45] |
| 1994 | US Go Home | TV, from the collectionTous les garçons etles filles de leur âge /All the Boys and theGirls of Their Age | |
| I Can't Sleep | J'ai pas sommeil | [46] | |
| 1996 | Nenette and Boni | Nénette et Boni | [47][48] |
| 1999 | Beau Travail | [49][50][51][52] | |
| The City | La ville | [53] | |
| 2001 | Trouble Every Day | [54] | |
| 2002 | Friday Night | Vendredi soir | [55][56] |
| 2004 | The Intruder | L'intrus | [57][58][59] |
| 2008 | 35 Shots of Rum | 35 rhums | [60][61][62] |
| 2009 | White Material | [63][64][65][66] | |
| 2013 | Bastards | Les Salauds | [67][68][69] |
| 2017 | Let the Sunshine In | Un beau soleil intérieur | [70][71][72] |
| 2018 | High Life | [73][74][75] | |
| 2022 | Both Sides of the Blade | Avec amour et acharnement | [76][77][78] |
| Stars at Noon | [79][80][81] | ||
| TBA | The Cry of the Guards | [82] | |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Le 15 Mai | IDHEC film, based onFrederik Pohl'sThe Tunnel under the World |
| 1991 | Contre l'oubli / Against Oblivion | |
| Keep It for Yourself | ||
| 1993 | La robe à cerceau / Monologues | TV series |
| 1994 | Boom-Boom | |
| 1995 | À propos de Nice, la suite | Segment:Nice, Very Nice |
| 1997 | We, France's Undocumented Immigrants | |
| 2002 | Ten Minutes Older: The Cello | Segment:Vers Nancy /Towards Nancy |
| 2010 | On bosse ici! On vit ici! On reste ici! | co-director |
| 2011 | To the Devil | |
| 2013 | Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded | Segment:Claire Denis |
| 2014 | Contact | |
| Voilà l'enchaînement |
| Year | Title | Original Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | New Reports from France | Chroniques de France N° 77 | Segment "Magic Circus, burlesque" |
| 1973 | New Reports from France | Chroniques de France N° 87 | Segment "Bibliothèque modèle pour enfants, Clamart" |
| 1989 | Man No Run | ||
| 1990 | Jacques Rivette, the Watchman | Jacques Rivette, le veilleur | |
| 2005 | The Breidjing Camp | TV documentary | |
| Towards Mathilde | Vers Mathilde | ||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | The Secret | second assistant director | |
| Sweet Movie | |||
| 1975 | The Old Gun | ||
| The Golden Mass | |||
| 1976 | Surreal Estate | first assistant director | |
| 1979 | Mais où et doncOrnicar | ||
| Zoo zéro | |||
| Return to the Beloved | assistant director | ||
| 1980 | Pile ou face | ||
| The Imprint of Giants | |||
| 1981 | We're Not Angels... Neither Are They | ||
| 1982 | The Passerby | first assistant director | |
| 1983 | Hanna K. | ||
| Le bâtard | |||
| 1984 | To Catch a King | TV movie | |
| Paris, Texas | assistant director | ||
| 1986 | Down by Law | ||
| 1987 | Wings of Desire | first assistant director |
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