Claire Denis

Contemporary Film Directors

by Judith Mayne

Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and passionate filmmakers working in France today, Claire Denis has continued to make beautiful and challenging films since the 1988 release of her first feature,  Chocolat . Judith Mayne's comprehensive study traces Denis's career and discusses her major feature films in rich detail.  Born in Paris but raised in West Africa, Denis explores in her films the legacies of French colonialism and the complex relationships between sexuality, gender, and race. From the adult woman who observes her past as a child in Cameroon to the Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in Paris and watches a serial killer to the disgraced French Foreign Legionnaire attempting to make sense of his past, the subjects of Denis's films continually revisit themes of watching, bearing witness, and making contact, as well as displacement, masculinity, and the migratory subject.

Genres: Film

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mike E. Mancini · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Contemporary Film Directors series published by the University of Illinois Press has a substantial back-catalogue of directors to pick from. I chose Claire Denis as the first book in the series to read due to my unreserved admiration for her films. Of the six films covered in this slim volume I have only had the opportunity to see two. I was hesitant whether I should read an in-depth analysis on films I hoped to one day see. Her films are notoriously difficult to find, and revealing plot points from her films can cause no harm to the quality of the experience, so layered with subtext and themes as they are, multiple viewings are rewarded greatly. So, I went ahead with this thought in mind.

To the credit of author Judith Mayne, the discussion and analysis of four films, and quite a few of her short films (again, I’ve seen none of these), my enjoyment of this book was not diminished in any way. She describes scenes, plot points, camera perspectives, even the music with a natural, easy style that, besides encouraging me to seek out the films, allowed me to understand within my mind’s eye exactly what she was trying to relate.

There are not many books in the English language dedicated to Claire Denis. This favors the author's intentions, but it does not shoehorn a recommendation with a saying “beggar’s can’t be choosers”. There is substance to the analysis. The idea, to break the six films studied into three groups of two, and expose the artistic relations they have to one another, is a fine choice, allowing the author to hold the reader's attention with two films at a time, rather than bouncing from film to film like a pinball, ultimately losing the focus of the reader.

A useful and informative introduction; and an interview with Denis at the end with special attention paid to her short films are well appreciated and, I think, atypical. Judith Mayne showed her love and affection for Denis's films with respect and intellect. I would like to see an evaluation of the second part of Denis career, but this volume does nicely.

Mayne eloquently describes an ineffable part of Denis's artistic prowess “...memories seem to “float” in Denis’s films, like suspended questions...the characters of Denis’s films seem to carry certain pasts [histories] with them, the films refuse to make memories accessible, comforting, or even knowable for the spectators...only the effects of memory are visible, since what matters is the present tense of the films, how individuals move through memory.” I love this quotes because it summarizes a feeling I often have when I watch a Claire Denis film, but have never been able to properly verbalize. There are many instances of this in Mayne’s study, and I think fans of Denis films will find much to enjoy here.

[Yü · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are definitely some insightful information and well-conducted analysis about Claire Denis' work process and film artistry. But there are also a few major problems about this book.

1. More than ten years later, Claire Denis has made another six feature films, departed from some of the central themes of her previous films (e.g. male body) and explored new territories (e.g. long dialogues in Let the Sunshine In). A second edition seems nothing but necessary.

2. Some of Claire Denis' films are no where to watch (no distribution nor streaming). Yet the book gives equal emphasis on each of Denis' first eight films, if not more on obscure ones, ignoring the fact that films like Beau Travaux and Chocolat are universally regarded her better and more representative works.

3. The interview conducted by the author (Judith Mayne) was terrible. The questions are often longer than the answers. There was one part where Mayne and Denis seemed to have a genuine conversation and went back and forth a couple of times on one film, it turned out to be I Can't Sleep, one of Denis' most obscure works and unavailable to the general public. Overall, the interview leaves me the impression of Mayne flaunting her exclusive access to Denis' full filmography.

[Andrew Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still the best book on the films of Claire Denis. That Mayne is a fan of Trouble Every Day and speaks well on it only makes the book more essential. There's also a good interview with Denis where she reveals her love of Shohei Imamura films. A good introduction overall to her work.