This is a review of the work of one of the greatest cinema directors of our time. The idea is to discover/rediscover, on the big screen, the work of an essential female author, assistant to Jacques Rivette, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch in her early years, later acquiring her own, unique voice in cinema.
“This is the rhythm of the night / The night, oh, yeah / The rhythm of the night.
This is the rhythm of my life / My life, oh, yeah / The rhythm of my life”.
Corona, 1993.
This is a review of the work of one of the greatest cinema directors of our time. The idea is to discover/rediscover, on the big screen, the work of an essential female author, assistant to Jacques Rivette, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch in her early years, later acquiring her own, unique voice in the film world. We can try to summarise her career by remembering the 20 feature-length films she has made, her more than 20 years working in the profession and her constant presence at the most important film festivals of the world: from her debut at the Cannes competition in 1988 with her first film, Chocolat, to her presence at Toronto and San Sebastián with her latest film, High Life (2018) – one of the greatest films of the Canadian Festival and a star title at the San Sebastián competition.
The spotlight with which we are beginning the quarter starts precisely with the film that made its debut at the SSIFF and proposes a very comprehensive review –like a countdown– of her fiction, non-fiction and short film pieces.
But, how can we put into words what this review is for our cinema hall – a review of the work of a filmmaker that is so beloved and admired, such a pillar, so essential to our sentimental and cinemagoer sides?
We can do so as if we were about to enter into an underground concert hall where a wild group was about to go onstage: Claire Denis at the head, Agnès Godard on the camera, Jean-Pol Fargeau as the scriptwriter and Stuart Staples –lead singer of the Tindersticks band and author of many of the soundtracks for her films– as the second voice and adding a little twist.
Body, skin, blood, legacy, race, post-colonialism, the seas, the south, dance, foreignness, intrusiveness, blackness, the night, otherness, dispossessedness, desire, limits, momentum, blueness, intimacy, animalness, attraction, lovers, echo, evil, community, borders, exchange, the sea, one's gaze, distance, power, the invisible, wandering, intensity, dreams, the text, the fragment, the ellipsis, the sensory, destruction, touch, memory, loneliness, deepness, sex, denial, hunches, ambiguity, seduction, rhythm, sweat, pain, emotion, heartbeats, risk, exploration, touch, concealment, the other, union, rituals, ghosts, travel, the hotel, floating, memories, love, cut, blood, red, bodily contact, skin.
October 2018 to May 2019.
Saturday, 27 October, 20:00
Vers Nancy, Claire Denis, Germany, Great Britain, 2001, 10'
L'Intrus (The Intruder), Claire Denis, France, 2003, 129'
Saturday, 10 November, 20:00
Un beau soleil intérieur (Let the Sunshine In), Claire Denis, France-Belgium, 2017, 94'
Sunday, 11 November, 19:00
Les Salauds (Bastards), Claire Denis, France, 2012, 120'
Sunday, December 2, 19:00
Aller au diable (To the Devil), Claire Denis, France, 2010, 45'
Saturday, 15 December, 20:00
White Material, Claire Denis, France, 2007, 102'
Wednesday, 26 December, 20:00
35 rhums (35 Shots of Rum), Claire Denis, France-Germany, 2007, 100'
Saturday, 29 December, 20:00
Vers Mathilde (Towards Mathilde), Claire Denis & Mathilde Monnier, France, 2004, 84'