“If there are theories about me, I'd rather not know. Astrophysics - now that's fascinating. String theory, worm holes, the expanding universe, the Big Bang versus the Big Bounce - those are the kind of theories that make you feel like living and understanding the mystery of the world. Film theory is just a pain in the ass.” - Claire Denis
Amid the azure waters and sunbaked desert landscapes of Djibouti, a French Foreign Legion sergeant sows the seeds of his own ruin as his obsession with a striking young recruit grows. Denis and cinematographer Agnès Godard fold masculine honor, colonialism’s legacy, destructive jealousy, and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most unforgettable endings in all of modern cinema.
Sunday, Nov 8 - 4:00
Thursday, Nov 12 - 7:00
Claire Denis drew on her own childhood experiences growing up in colonial French Africa for her multilayered, languorously absorbing feature debut, which explores many of the themes that would recur throughout her work. Returning to the town where she grew up in Cameroon after many years living in France, a white woman (Mireille Perrier) reflects on her relationship with Protée (Isaach De Bankolé), a Black servant with whom she formed a friendship while not fully grasping the racial divides that governed their worlds.
Sunday, Nov 15 - 2:00
Wednesday, Nov 18 - 7:00
Played by a ferocious Isabelle Huppert, Maria is an entitled white woman living in Africa, desperately unwilling to give up her family’s crumbling coffee plantation despite the civil war closing in on her. Created with Denis’ signature full-throttle visual style, which places the viewer at the center of the maelstrom, White Material is a gripping evocation of the death throes of European colonialism and a fascinating look at a woman lost in her own mind.
