3 X CLAIRE DENIS
Modern cinema’s greatest poet of sound and image, Claire Denis makes films that take the form of reveries. Working closely with a team of trusted collaborators—the cinematographer Agnes Godard and the band Tindersticks foremost among them—Denis crafts mood pieces that are at once deeply subjective and gloriously physical. She has called this uniquely sensuous and beguiling body of work “open cinema,” a term reflective of films that are as aesthetically entrancing as they are politically complex. Our series includes her astonishing debut Chocolat, in which the Paris-born, African raised director tackles colonialism head-on, the hypnotic masterpiece Beau Travail, and its visceral followup, Trouble Every Day. As Sight and Sound recently declared, “there’s no better filmmaker working in the world right now,” and there is no better way to experience her singular visions than on the big screen, on 35mm. (MK). Trouble Every Day and Chocolat will screen in new 35mm prints courtesy of The Film Desk.
- Sat., Mar. 8 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
One of the most original, sensuous, and beautiful films of the 90s, this loose version of Melville’s Billy Budd transposes the sea-bound story to a group of French Foreign Legionnaires in the East African outpost of Djibouti. Here, Denis renders the almost wordless drama of sexual jealousy that arises between two soldiers and their commander with an exquisite subtlety. As it moves along, the film gains the power and rhythm of a wonderful tone poem, using an eclectic soundtrack featuring Britten’s Billy Budd opera, Neil Young, and techno dance.
- Sat., Mar. 15 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Denis’ semi-autobiographical debut feature explores themes of racism and colonialism. A young woman named France returns to her West African homeland of Cameroon to confront the haunting memories of life in a brutally segregated society. There, she remembers her childhood friendship with her family’s servant (De Bankolé).
- Sat., Mar. 29 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Gallo stars in this disturbing and shocking allegory about two diseased individuals driven to cannibalize their sexual partners. The horrifying violence in Denis’ variation on the vampire genre underscores the director’s ideas about the often-devouring nature of contemporary relationships. At its Cannes Film Festival premiere, Trouble Every Day notoriously caused several members to faint in the aisles!