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Cannes 2013: Surprises & Notable Absence ...

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Interviews

Cannes Review: Claire Denis Destined To Divide With Disturbing, Salacious 'The Bastards'

By Jessica Kiang
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May 21, 2013 11:59 AM
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2 Comments

Festivals

If all art is only ever about sex and death, Claire Denis’ Un Certain Regard film “The Bastards” may be the most "artistic" one we’ve seen in Cannes to date, as it rolls around positively shamelessly in the musk of both. Or it may be a grubby little exercise in exploitation, depending on who you talk to. Whichever magnetic pole your opinion is drawn to (and it seems likely even this early on that very few of the responses to the film will share our relative middle ground -- it's a film that has so far not so much divided as cleaved), what’s for certain is that while in its elliptical, fragmentary, non-linear storytelling it bears the hallmarks of a Claire Denis film, in it the filmmaker strays into territory we’d never normally have associated her with, with peculiar and deeply unsettling effect. Fans of her dreamier, long-take, composed photography will be shocked by the choppy, disorienting close-ups we get here (slow opening scene aside), while those expecting any hint of her recurring post-colonialist themes and extraordinary sense of place will be disappointed by a film that eschews all wider politics and geography in favor of an almost generic psycho-sexual thriller plot, which of course ends up anything but generic in Denis’ hands.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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April 18, 2013 5:56 AM
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26 Comments

News

As usual, sifting the actual fact from the speculation when it comes to the line-up of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival has been a little tricky. We know the opener -- Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," the closer -- "Zulu," with Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom, and as of yesterday, the Un Certain Regard headliner, in the shape of Sofia Coppola's "Bling Ring."

By Edward Davis
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February 16, 2011 5:02 AM
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0 Comments

Band Will Perform Live To Claire Denis Films At The SF Film Festival In MayIt's unquestionable: if you're a discerning connoisseur of artful music, movies and their soundtracks, Christmas is arriving eight months early this year.

By Drew Taylor
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January 15, 2011 5:26 AM
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2 Comments

'Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas,' 'Le Cercle Rouge' & 'Sweetie' Go BluYesterday, Criterion announced their stellar April line-up of DVDs and high-definition Blu-rays. We can't say there were too many surprises in the announcement, but they are all really, really great.

By Christopher Bell
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November 20, 2010 3:06 AM
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1 Comment

If there ever were a body of work that not only begged but necessitated repeated viewings, it would be the oeuvre of Claire Denis. With an output that is often thematically dense and structurally fragmented, Denis is one of the few directors going today whose films will guarantee a best-of slot in any given year. Her latest releases, "35 Shots of Rum" and "White Material," have been some of her strongest works yet with the latter nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and opening this week through IFC Films. 'Material' marks the first collaboration between her and the brilliant thespian Isabelle Huppert, and we had the chance to speak to the actor and director about the film.

By The Playlist Staff
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November 19, 2010 5:56 AM
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3 Comments

Features

The IFC Center in New York City recently ran a retrospective of French director Claire Denis’s laudable films—the most expansive retrospective of her work that NYC has ever seen—to commemorate the theatrical release of “White Material” this Friday. On the occasion, we have also decided to look back at some of her most noteworthy features.

By Christopher Bell
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November 19, 2010 3:03 AM
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0 Comments

They don't come along as often as they should, but Claire Denis's "White Material" is exactly the kind of film that not only doesn't belittle the role of a woman, but empowers it. Externalized effortlessly by the great Isabelle Huppert, the two prove to be a force to be reckoned with in this atmospheric film focusing on feminism, colonialism, family, and politics.