Claire Denis (right) on the 66th Venice International Film Festival's photocall for White Material, which starred Isabelle Huppert (left) and Christopher Lambert (middle). The film was their first and hitherto only collaboration.

Claire Denis (born 21 April 1946) is a French filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional actress. Born in Paris, but raised in various parts of Africa, she made a career assisting other directors—primarily Costa–Gavras, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch—before debuting with her own film, Chocolat, in 1988. She has since then made twelve feature films, three documentary films, in addition to several short films for anthology film series.[1]

Known for their elliptical and sensual style, her films are often analysed in terms of tactility, corporeality and otherness. Several of her films, including Chocolat, are set in former French colonies in Africa, and examine the tension between native Africans and French authority figures.[1]

Denis often works with the same actors and technicians, her artistic collaboration having been called a "keystone throughout her career".[1] The director of photography Agnès Godard has shot almost every feature by Denis, and has said of the director that "[s]he has the faith and the belief that an association of ideas that's concise and that is based on pure cinematography — the choice of a frame, a focal point, the climate of the light — says something, and the idea that gluing those images together is going to create a sense."[2]

Denis has cast Vincent Gallo (left), Béatrice Dalle (center) and Isaach de Bankolé (right) in several of her films. Both Dalle and Gallo had worked with her in the 1990s, and appeared together in the horror film Trouble Every Day (2001). Bankolé played a supporting role in her début film, Chocolat (1988), and had a minor role in White Material (2009); both films were set in Africa.
Key Title Year
CH Chocolat 1988
MN Man No Run 1989
NF No Fear, No Die 1990
JR Jacques Rivette, le veilleur 1990
CS I Can't Sleep 1994
US US Go Home 1994
NB Nénette and Boni 1996
BT Beau Travail 1999
ED Trouble Every Day 2001
FN Friday Night 2002
TI The Intruder 2004
35 35 Shots of Rum 2008
WM White Material 2009
BS Bastards 2013
LS Let the Sunshine In 2017

References

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  1. ^ a b c Samantha Dinning, "Claire Denis," Senses of Cinema 50 (April 2009), accessed 1 September 2017.
  2. ^ Kristin Hohenadel, "The Image as Obsession, No Matter the Method," The New York Times, 28 September 2012.

{{Claire Denis}}

Collaborators Category:Lists of entertainers