Claire Denis

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Claire Denis (French: [dni]; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and writer. Beau Travail (1999), her 1999 film, has been dubbed one of the 1990s' best films. Trouble Every Day (2001), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), White Material (2009), High Life (2018), and Both Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which earned her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival. Denis received the Palme d'Or Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival for her film Stars at Noon (2022). She won the Grand Prix, and she shared the award with Lukas Dhont's film Close.

Her writing has explored topics from colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as contemporary France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity.

Early life

Denis was born in Paris but raised in colonial French Africa, where her father, who was a public servant, was based in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, French Somaliland, and Senegal. Her experience growing up in West Africa with her parents and her younger sister influenced her outlook on certain social topics. These colonies' independence from France would be a good thing for them, according to their father. Her upbringing had a major influence on her films, which have delved into colonialism and postcolonialism in Africa. Since she wanted the children to learn about geography, her father moved with the family every two years.

Denis used to watch old and damaged war films sent from the US. She loved to read as an adolescent. Although completing the required coursework during school, at night, she will read her mother's detective stories at night. Denis was diagnosed with polio and brought to France for treatment at the age of 12. For the remainder of her teenage years, she lived in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris. During her stay in France, she became unfit for life in France. She was raised in Africa and looked completely different from everyone around her.

Denis married a photographer she met at the age of 15, shortly after being hired as his assistant. The couple divorced soon after, due to the fact that she was involved in her personal life as well as as her tutor.

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Career

Denis began investigating economics but, she later admitted, "It was utterly suicidal." "All pissed me off." She then studied Oriental languages briefly and married a photographer who advised her not to resign. Denis started studying at IDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques – now La Fémis) in 1969, with her husband's encouragement. He told her she needed to find out what she wanted to do. She earned her degree from the IDHEC and has been a film lecturer at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, since 2002.

She worked as an intern at Télé Niger before applying and being accepted into IDHEC. After telling everyone that she wanted to apply to IDHEC, they told her, "no, don't waste your time studying." All you need to do is make films here with us."

Denis began working as an assistant director for several well-known filmmakers after graduating in 1971 and then divorced by this time. Jacques Rivette's Out 1 (1971), Denis Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie (1974), Robert Enrico's The Old Gun (1974), Eduardo de Gregorio's Sérail (1976) and Costa-Gavras' Hanna K. (1983) are among those films. Denis went to the United States to be the assistant director on Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987). "Claire was more than willing to make her own films," Wenders said. It would have been waste to have her continue working as an assistant director. Denis realized that she wanted to make her own films to have more autonomy and ownership of her work after being in a crew with so many different producers.

Chocolat (1988), Denis' debut film, is a semi-autobiographical tribute to a French woman's experience in Cameroon and her relationship with her family's African servant. Denis, who was writing it, began working with Jean-Pol Fargeau as a co-writer. They also work together. Chocolat was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes and lauded by critics and viewers as a memorable first film.

Man No Run (1989), Denis' second film, is a film about a group of Cameroonian musicians, Les Têtes Brulées, who are touring France. It was regarded as an unusual second choice by the authorities. No Fear, No Diete (1990) and I Can't Sleep (1990) were her two next narrative films, as well as No Fear, No Diete (S'en fout la mort, 1990) and I Can't Sleep (J'ai pas sommeil, 1994). The former is about unlawful cockfighting, the latter about a serial killer who murders elderly people who was inspired by a true story. Nénette et Boni (1996), the actress's next film, delves into the chemistry of an alienated brother and his unhappily pregnant sister.

Beau Travail (1999), Denis' fifth and perhaps most well-known film, is his fifth and arguably most famous film. It's about soldiers in the French Foreign Legion in Djibouti and is loosely based on Herman Melville's Billy Budd (1888). Beau Travail explores the intersections of masculinity and obsession. Trouble Every Day (2001), her second film, was a surprise, a horror film about a newlywed couple in Paris, although the husband succumbs to sexually fuelled cannibalism.

Five of Denis' next six films come from pre-existing texts and films. The woman is expected to move in with her new husband on Friday Night (Vendredi soiree, 2002) is about two strangers who spend the night together the night. It was based on Emmanuèle Bernheim's book of the same name. The Intruder (L'Intrus, 2004) is based on Jean Luc Nancy's short memoir about a man who underwent heart transplant and reconnecting with his son. 35 Shots of Rum (35 rhums, 2008) is another of Denis' most well-known films about a father's and daughter's growing marriage. It was influenced by Yasujir Ozu's film Late Spring (1949). Bastards (Les Salauds, 2013) was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well (Warui yoku nemuru, 1960). Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2017) is a romantic comedy influenced by Roland Barthes' book "Because of Fragments (1977). White Material (2009), Marie N'Diaye's co-written film of which was not based on preexisting text, was the only one not based on preexisting text of these films. It's about a white French woman in post-colonial Africa who lives during a burgeoning civil war. High Life (2018), Denis' most recent film, which takes place on a prison ship, is the sequel to High Life (2018).

Denis established a reputation as a filmmaker whose films include films like "America Go Home (1994), Lenette et Boni, When Every Day), and Vendredi soirée, "has been able to reconcile French cinema's numbness with the desire to capture contemporary France's often harsh image." With White fabric, she returned to Africa, establishing in an unidentified world during a civil war.

While studying at IDHEC, Keep It for Yourself (1991) and Voilà l'encha (2006), Denis has made many short films spanning a variety of topics, including Le 15 Mai (1969) and Voilà l'enchaînement (2014). Pour Ushari Ahmed Mahmoud, Soudan's Lest We Forget (1991), is one of her anthologies. Go Home (1994) is the fourth in a series of hourlong films directed by Arte. Nice, Very Nice is a segment in Propos de Nice, la suite (1995) and Towards Nancy (Vers Nancy) in Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002). Jacques Rivette, le veilleur (Jacques Rivette, the Watchman, 1990), Towards Mathilde (Vers Mathilde, 2005) and Venezia 70 – Future Reloaded (2013). Olafur Eliasson, who was also involved in the production design of High Life, made Contact (2014) for a light installation.

Obsession, lust, violence, misogyny, sex, and the body are all common themes in Denis' work. It also examines the sensations of being an outsider and belonging. "For me, the spider is invisible," Denis said. If there is a tiny thread running through all of my art, it is that evil is never the other: everything is inside and never outside.

"The film becomes a family," Denis says in an interview, "and that is what's important, the friendship." Collaboration is evident throughout her career. Alex Descas, who has worked with Denis 11 times from 1990 to 2017, and Isaach de Bankolé, who appeared in three of her films from 1988 to 2009. Vincent Gallo, Béatrice Dalle, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Juliette Binoche, Juliette Binoche, and Grégoire Colin have all appeared in various Denis films. She most often collaborates with screenwriter Jean-Pol Fargeau, composer Stuart Staples of the band Tindersticks, and cinematographer Agnès Godard, who appeared at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in the 1970s. When asked about her screenwriting process, Denis said, "I often have Isaach or Grégoire or someone else in mind" when writing scenes. She also said that she "holds" no auditions" for her films.

Fargeau has co-authored ten of Denis' screenplays. Staples has produced eight of her films, and Denis has said he has a "natural connection with the body, in flesh, with a passion that is very close to mine." I Can't Sleep, Beau Travail, Vendredi soir, and The Intruder, Nelly Quettier. Judy Shrewsbury has been covering every one of Denis' features for the past 20 years.

Agnès Godard, one of Denis' most prominent collaborators, has appeared in 11 of her films as a camera operator to the cinematographer in every film other than White Material and High Life.

Denis has said that after working with so many artists she has learned to trust the filmmaking process. "What I gained from Jacques Rivette was a complete confidence in filmmaking, in actors, and in designing a film not with an aesthetic view but with a symphony of a location," she told Damon Smith. Actors are also given a lot of autonomy. Gallo and Dalle were allowed to do what they wanted after the first scripted bite in Trouble Every Day.

Denis' collaborations go beyond her own films, as she has appeared in other directors' films, including Laetitia Masson's Encounter (1995) and Tonie Marshall's Vénus beauté (1999). She gives her screenwriting credit on El Medina, a film from Yousry Nasrallah (1999). She served as an assistant director with Wim Wenders on Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987), as well as Jim Jarmusch on Down by Law (1986).

Denis appeared on the jury of the 27th Moscow International Film Festival in 2005. She appeared on the jury at the Deauville American Film Festival in 2011.

Denis directed the video for Sonic Youth's album "Incinerate" in 2006.

Bastards was featured in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival's Uncertain Regard section. Denis was also honoured with the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stockholm Film Festival earlier this year.

Denis revealed in 2015 that she was working with Zadie Smith on her first film, High Life, in the English language. Smith eventually left the project, causing a postponement of filming. Denis continued to work on Let the Sunshine In, which starred Juliette Binoche and was released in 2017.

Denis produced High Life, her first English-language feature film starring Robert Pattinson, was completed and released in 2018. At the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, the film premiered. A24, an American indie distributors, had limited availability in the United States. Many respected commentators praised the book.

Denis has been active on numerous film festival boards, beginning with the Venice Film Festival board in 2005. In 2019, she was the president of the Cinéfondation and short films at the Cannes Film Festival. She was the president of the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2020.

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