Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Isaach De Bankole, Giulia Boschi, Francois Cluzet, Gregoire Colin, Alice Houri, Jacques Nolot, Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William Nadylam,
Running Time: 407 minutes
Certificate: 15
Extras: Trailers, Interview with Claire Denis
Claire Denis is a director I’ve never explored this in spite of the praise her films often receive via the festival circuit, they have never looked or seemed that appealing. So a boxset such as this, which is comprised of four of her work – CHOCOLAT (1988), NENETTE ET BONI (1996), BEAU TRAVAIL (1999), and WHITE MATERIAL (2009) – is ideal for someone like me to just sit down and become immersed in her work. Or at least, that was the plan.
Each film is very similar in tone, but unfortunately that tone is ‘distant’. All four of these movies is filled with characters that I just couldn’t relate to nor care about, and considering they are dealing with emotionally charged events I wouldn’t have thought it that difficult to build that bridge to the audience. It’s subtlety, certainly, but subtlety that had been taken to such a degree it is boring, akin to a teacher discussing a fascinating topic in a monotone voice.
I’ll gladly admit that part of the problem lies in my lack of exposure to settings and situations presented. The films are clearly very personal to Denis, but rather than feel welcomed and asked to explore, I felt pushed away. When films have such important events to transcribe they should be a little more inclusive.
CHOCOLAT, BEAU TRAVAIL, and WHITE MATERIAL, deal with violence, war, and French colonialism in Africa. Hardhitting subjects that Denis often captures perfectly for brief shots or individual scenes. WHITE MATERIAL has a beautiful moment where young children march through trees and thick bushes carrying weapons. The image alone is enough to evoke anger and pity all at once, and the film rightly justifies the hatred of the black natives but condemns their actions too. BEAU TRAVAIL on the other hand, details the boredom and strict routine of the French Foreign Legion, where hardcore training is intercut with scenes of ironing. This imagery is just not present enough, and does nothing but to point out the glaring hole of where a captivating story should be.
On the plus side, each film is overloaded with fantastic performances and the music is well thought out and delicately placed. Also, if you like just one of these films, then you’ll probably like them all as the pacing, editing, and themes could easily cross over into one another. Unfortunately though, even fans may wish to look elsewhere as the set is a mix and match in terms of transfers. For example the oldest film in the set, CHOCOLAT, looks infinitely superior to NENETTE ET BONI, which seems to have been transferred from an old VHS.
THE CLAIRE DENIS COLLECTION is released on DVD 25th February.
