Directed by Claire Denis • 1988 • France, West Germany, Cameroon
Starring Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet
Claire Denis drew on her own childhood experiences growing up in colonial French Africa for her multilayered, languorously absorbing feature debut, which explores many of the themes that would recur throughout her work. Returning to the town where she grew up in Cameroon after many years living in France, a white woman (Mireille Perrier) reflects on her relationship with Protée (Isaach De Bankolé), a Black servant with whom she formed a friendship while not fully grasping the racial divides that governed their worlds.
Directed by Claire Denis • 1990 • France, West Germany
Starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Solveig Dommartin
Inspired by the writings of anticolonialist philosopher Frantz Fanon, Claire Denis’s second feature is a dark, moody exploration of immigrant alienation. Two young men living in Fran...
Directed by Claire Denis • 1996 • France
Starring Grégoire Colin, Alice Houri, Jacques Nolot
One of Claire Denis’s most poignant films centers on the relationship between estranged teenage siblings Boni (Denis regular Grégoire Colin), a starry-eyed pizza maker, and his troubled younger sister, N...
Directed by Claire Denis • 1999 • France
Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin
With her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd, Sailor,” Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual tone poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked ...
