Claire Denis
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Claire Denis (born April 21, 1948) is a French filmmaker internationally known for her investigation of the human condition with its cross-cultural tensions and family troubles.
Denis was born in Paris, France, and raised in colonial Africa, where her father was a French official. She moved houses every two years because her father wanted them to know about geography. She used to watch the old damaged copies of war films that America would send when she was growing up in Africa. As an adolescent she loved to read. She would read all the required material in school, but would then sneak her mothers detective stories at night.
Denis initially studied economics, but, she has said, "It was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off." She then went to the IDHEC, the French film school, at the encouragement of her husband. He told her she needed to figure out what she wanted to do. She graduated from the IDHEC, and served as assistant to Jacques Rivette, Costa-Gavras, Jim Jarmusch, and Wim Wenders. You can see that her own style is strongly influenced by them.
She prefers location work over studio work. She sometimes places her actors as if they were positioned for still photography. She uses longer takes with a stationary camera and frames things in long shot, resulting in fewer close ups. This is most likely from the influence of Wenders and Jarmusch.
Her debut feature film Chocolat (1988), a semi-autobiographical meditation on African colonialism, won her critical acclaim. With films such as US Go Home (1994), Nenette and Boni (1997), Good Work (Beau Travail) (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), and Friday Night (2003) she established a reputation as a filmmaker who "has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France."
Denis was a band leader, worked as an actress, notably in Venus Beauty Institute (2000), and directed for French TV. Two of her movies (L'Intrus and her contribution to Ten Minutes Older: The Cello) were inspired by the French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy.
Denis teaches cinema as cultural anthropology at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where she examines contemporary filmmaking as an exploration into multi-ethnic and cross-cultural environments.
Contents |
[edit] Filmography
- Vers Mathilde (2005)
- L'Intrus (2004)
- Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002) (segment "Vers Nancy")
- Vendredi soir (2002)
- Trouble Every Day (2001)
- Beau travail (1999)
- Nénette et Boni (1996)
- À propos de Nice, la suite (1995) (segment "Nice, Very Nice")
- J'ai pas sommeil (1994)
- Boom-Boom (1994)
- Contre l'oubli (1991) (segment "Pour Ushari Ahmed Mahmoud, Soudan")
- Keep It for Yourself (1991)
- S'en fout la mort (1990)
- Man No Run (1989)
- Chocolat (1988)
[edit] Additional reading
- "L'intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis" by Damon Smith (Senses of Cinema).
- Martine Beugnet, Claire Denis, 2004, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York.
- Judith Mayne, Claire Denis, 2005, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Taylor, Charles. ""Beau Travail"", Salon.com, March 31, 2000. Retrieved on June 13, 2006.
- ↑ Ancian, Aimé. ""Claire Denis: An Interview"", Senses of Cinema, 2002. Retrieved on November 26, 2006.
