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. April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... The human condition encompasses the totality of the experience of being human and living human lives. ...

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.^[1]

Denis initially studied economics, but, she has said, "It was completely suicidal. Everything pissed me off."^[2] 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.^[3] 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. LInstitut des hautes études cinématographiques (the Institute for the Advanced Cinematographic Studies) is a French film school, founded during World War II. Categories: | ... LInstitut des hautes études cinématographiques (the Institute for the Advanced Cinematographic Studies) is a French film school, founded during World War II. Categories: | ... Jacques Rivette (born March 1, 1928) is a French film director. ... Constantinos Gavras (born February 12, 1933, Loutra-Iraias, Greece), better known as Costa-Gavras, is a Greek-French filmmaker best known for films with overt political themes. ... Jim Jarmusch Jim Jarmusch (born January 22, 1953 in Akron, Ohio) is a noted American independent film director. ... Ernst Wilhelm (Wim) Wenders (born August 14, 1945) is a German film director, photographer, and producer. ...

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."^[4] Giulia Boschi as Aimée and Isaach De Bankolé as Protée in Chocolat. ... It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... Beau travail is a 1999 French movie directed by Claire Denis that is loosely based on Herman Melvilles novel Billy Budd. ... Trouble Every Day is a 2001 film by French film director Claire Denis. ... Friday Night is a song written by Dennis Wilson and Gregg Jakobson. ... France has been influential in the development of film as a mass medium and as an art form. ...

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. Venus Beauty Institute (French title: Vénus beauté (institut)) is a 1999 French movie, directed by Tonie Marshall. ... LIntrus is a film by director Claire Denis, based on Jean-Luc Nancys book The Intruder, released in 2004. ... Jean-Luc Nancy. ...

Filmography

Feature films

• Chocolat (1988)
  • Chocolate
• S'en fout la mort (1990)
  • No Fear, No Die
• J'ai pas sommeil (1994)
  • I Can't Sleep
• Nénette et Boni (1996)
  • Nenette and Boni
• Beau travail (1998)
  • Good Work
• Trouble Every Day (2001)
  • Gargoyle
• Vendredi soir (2002)
  • Friday Night
• L'Intrus (2004)
  • The Intruder
• Matériel blanc (2007)
  • White Material
• 35 Rhums (2008)

Giulia Boschi as Aimée and Isaach De Bankolé as Protée in Chocolat. ... Beau travail is a 1999 French movie directed by Claire Denis that is loosely based on Herman Melvilles novel Billy Budd. ... Trouble Every Day is a 2001 film by French film director Claire Denis. ... LIntrus is a film by director Claire Denis, based on Jean-Luc Nancys book The Intruder, released in 2004. ...

Short films

• Keep It for Yourself (1991)
• Contre l'oubli (1991) (segment; "Pour Ushari Ahmed Mahmoud, Soudan")
  • Against Oblivion
• Boom-Boom (1994)
• Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge (1994) (segment; "US Go Home")
  • All the Boys and the Girls of Their Age
• À propos de Nice, la suite (1995) (segment "Nice, Very Nice")
  • Speaking of Nice, cont.
• Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002) (segment; "Vers Nancy")

Documentary films

• Man No Run (1989)
• Jacques Rivette, le veilleur (1990)
  • Jacques Rivette, the Watchman
• Vers Mathilde (2005)
  • Towards Mathilde

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.

Notes

1. ^  Taylor, Charles. ""Beau Travail"", Salon.com, March 31, 2000. 
2. ^  Ancian, Aimé. ""Claire Denis: An Interview"", Senses of Cinema, 2002. 

Screenshot of Salon. ...

External links

• Claire Denis at the Internet Movie Database