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THE SEARCH FOR BELONGING IN THE FILMS OF CLAIRE DENISaR
dvd collection
chocolat
overview
chocolat is a film directed by Claire Denis, about a French family
that lives in colonial Cameroon. A young French woman returns
to the vast silence of West Africa to contemplate her childhood
days in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Her strongest memories
are of the family’s houseboy, Protée—a man of great intelligence
nobility, and beauty—and the intricate nature of relationships in
a racist society.
The title chocolat comes from the 1950s slang meaning “to be
cheated”, and thus refers to the status in French Cameroon of
being black and being cheated. Towards the end, France’s father
reveals a central theme of the film as he explains to her what the
horizon line is. He tells her that it is a line that is there but not
there, a symbol for the racial boundary that exists in the country.
This line is not a physical one but is still one that people widely
recognize. The film was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
04/05 chocol at
06/07 chocol at
Cast (in Credits order)
isaach de Bankolé: Protée
Giulia Boschi: Aimée Dalens
François cluzet: Marc Dalens
Jean-claude adelin: Luc
laurent arnal: Machinard
Jean BedieBe: Prosper
Jean-Quentin: Courbassol
emmanuelle chaulet: Mireille
kenneth cranham: Boothby
JacQues denis: Joseph Delpich
cécile ducasse: France, as a girl
clementine essono: Marie-Jeanne
didier Flamand: Capt. Védrine
essindi mindJa: Blaise
mireille Perrier: France
emmet J. williamson: Mungo Park
deta ils
country: France, Cameroon
lanGuaGe: French, English
release date: May 1989 (USA)
FilminG locations: Cameroon
Film neGative Format: 35 mm
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
asPect ratio: 1.66:1 (intended ratio)
Gross: $2,317,091 (USA)
awa rds a nd nominations
cannes Film Festival
Year: 1988
Result: Nominated
Award: Palme d’Or
Recipient: Claire Denis
césar awards, France
Year: 1989
Result: Nominated
Award: César
Category: Best First Work
Recipient: Claire Denis
extra inFormation
i don’t know what keePsyou here. look to your
wiFe, she is loosinG hermind. it’s time to leave!
Aimée to the Religious mAn nAnsen, AFteR A hyenA AttACk.
i don’t know what keePsyou here. look to your
wiFe, she is loosinG hermind. it’s time to leave!
Aimée to the Religious mAn nAnsen, AFteR A hyenA AttACk.
man no run
10/11 m a n no ru n
While filming chocolat Denis met les têtes Bruleès, a group of
Cameroonian musicians who were very popular in their home
country. When they embarked on their first tour of France in
1987, Denis was there to document their moving encounters
and reactions to French culture.
les têtes Bruleès play Bikutsi music, an ancient rhythm from the
rain-forest region of western Cameroon. Bikutsi is the music of
the Beti tribe, traditionally played on a “balafon” and danced by
the women of the clan in a jerky, hypnotic fashion. But les têtes
Bruleès do not play traditional music. Even though their sound is
based on the Bikutsi rhythm with swirling balafon style guitars
and rough-edged vocals, the music is electric. The Bikutsi Rock,
carefully nurtured at the Chacal Bar, the band’s headquarters in
Yaounde, is unique to les têtes Bruleès.
overview
Crew
director: Claire Denis
Producer: Jean-François Casamayou
cinematoGraPhy By: Pascal Marti
and Jean-Bernard Menoud
Film editinG By: Dominique Auvray
Production manaGer: Michel Siksik
sound dePartment: Daniel Ollivier
and Georges Prat
deta ils
country: France
lanGuaGe: French
release date: October 1989
FilminG locations: Paris
runtime: 90 min
sound mix: Stereo
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
asPect ratio: 1.66:1
extra inFormation
12/13 m a n no ru n
ah, this is it, this is not my dream.
jeAn-mARie AhAndA At the AiRpoRt.
ah, this is it, this is not my dream.
jeAn-mARie AhAndA At the AiRpoRt.
i can’t sleeP
Daïga has emigrated from Lithuania to Paris and is looking for
a place to stay and work. Theo is a struggling musician, and his
brother Camille—a transvestite dancer. One of these three people
might be connected to the serial “granny killer” who has been
terrorizing Paris for a while.
Claire Denis presents a haunting and understatedly compelling
meditation on estrangement and disconnection in i can’t sleep.
Using fragmented, unresolved episodes, narrative ellipses, and
tangential encounters, Denis creates a melancholic and sensual
tapestry on cultural division and marginalization. By tracing the
aimless, desperate, and isolated lives of social outsiders, i can’t
sleep becomes an evocative, richly textured, and deeply disturbing
contemporary ballad on the pervasive nature of violence and the
difficulty of assimilation in an increasingly alienating society.
overview
17/18 chocol at
extra inFormation
Cast (in Credits order)
yekaterina GoluBeva: Daïga
richard courcet: Camille
vincent duPont: Raphaël
laurent Grévill: Le Docteur
alex descas: Théo
irina GrJeBina: Mina
tolsty: Vassili
line renaud: Ninon
Béatrice dalle: Mona
ira mandella-Paul: Lit tle Harry
soPhie simon: Alice, Mona’s sister
danielle van Bercheycke: Fleur
Patrick GrandPerret: Abel
ealice hurtaux: 2nd victim
FaBienne mai: 3rd victim
deta ils
country: France, Germany,
Switzerland
lanGuaGe: French, Russian, English
release date: May 1994 (France)
FilminG locations: Paris
runtime: 110 min
sound mix: Dolby
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
Gross: $111,015 (USA)
awa rds a nd nominations
camerimaGe
Year: 1994
Result: Nominated
Award: Golden Frog
Recipient: Agnès Godard
césar awards, France
Year: 1995
Result: Nominated
Award: César
Category: Best Supporting Actress
Recipient: Line Renaud
my Brother, it’s like you.i don’t know him.
théo At the poliCe oFFiCe AFteR his BRotheR wAs put undeR ARRest.
my Brother, it’s like you.i don’t know him.
théo At the poliCe oFFiCe AFteR his BRotheR wAs put undeR ARRest.
Beau travail
22/23 be au t r ava il
overview
beau travail focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls
his once glorious life, leading troops in Africa. Back in France,
master sergeant Galoup remembers the time in the desert, where
he led his men under the command of Bruno Forestier. His life
there consisted mostly of routine duties like supervising the
physical exercise of his men.
One day, his troop is joined by Gilles Sentain whose physical
beauty, social skills, and fortitude make Galoup envious. When
Gilles Sentain helps another soldier, violating previous orders by
Galoup, he sees a chance to destroy Sentain. As a punishment, he
drives soldier Sentain out into the desert to make him walk back
to the base. But the soldier does not return because the sergeant
has tampered with his compass, and Sentain cannot make his way
out without it. Even though Sentain is later found and rescued by
a group of Djiboutis, the sergeant Galoup is sent back to France
by his commander for a court martial, ending his time in the
Foreign Legion.
extra inFormation
24/25 be au t r ava il
deta ils
country: France
lanGuaGe: French, Russian, Italian
release date: May 2000 (France)
FilminG locations: Djibouti, Paris
runtime: 92 min
sound mix: Dolby SR
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
asPect ratio: 1.66:1
Gross: $247,606 (USA)
Cast (in Credits order)
denis lavant: Galoup
michel suBor: Bruno Forestier
GréGoire colin: Gilles Sentain
richard courcet: Legionnaire
nicolas duvauchelle: Legionnaire
adiatou massudi: Legionnaire
mickael ravovski: Legionnaire
dan herzBerG: Legionnaire
GiusePPe molino: Legionnaire
GianFranco PodiGhe: Legionnaire
marc veh: Legionnaire
thonG duy nGuyen: Legionnaire
Jean-yves vivet: Legionnaire
Bernardo montet: Legionnaire
awa rds & nominations
Berlin international
Film Festival
Year: 2000
Result: Won
Award: Reader Jury of the “Berliner
Zeitung”—Special Mention
Recipient: Claire Denis
British indePendent
Film awards
Year: 2001
Result: Nominated
Award: British Independent Film Award
Category: Best Foreign Film
chicaGo Film critics
association awards
Year: 2001
Result: Nominated
Award: CFCA Award
Category: Best Foreign Language Film
Recipient: Claire Denis
chlotrudis awards
Year: 2001
Result: Won
Award: Chlotrudis Award
Category: Best Cinematography
Recipient: Agnès Godard
chlotrudis awards
Year: 2001
Result: Nominated
Award: Chlotrudis Award
Category: Best Actor, Best Director,
Best Movie, Best Screenplay
Recipient: Denis Lavant, Claire Denis,
Jean-Pol Fargeau
césar awards, France
Year: 2001
Result: Won
Award: César
Category: Best Cinematography
Recipient: Agnès Godard
euroPean Film awards
Year: 2000
Result: Nominted
Award: European Film Award
Category: Best Cinematographer
Recipient: Agnès Godard
london critics circle
Film awards
Year: 2001
Result: Nominated
Award: ALFS Award
Category: Foreign Language Film
of the Year
national society oF Film
awards, usa
Year: 2001
Result: Won
Award: NSFC Award
Category: Best Cinematography
Recipient: Agnès Godard
rotterdam international
Film Festival
Year: 2001
Result: Won
Award: KNF Award—Special Mention
Recipient: Claire Denis
iF it weren’t For Fornication and Blood, we wouldn’t Be here.
CommAndeR BRuno FoRestieR to gAloup.
iF it weren’t For Fornication and Blood, we wouldn’t Be here.
CommAndeR BRuno FoRestieR to gAloup.
white material
Denis revisits Africa, this time exploring a place rife with civil
and racial conflict. A white French family outlawed in its home
and attempting to save its coffee plantation connects with a black
hero also embroiled in the tumult. All try to survive as their
world rapidly crumbles around them.
white material is an visceral, potent and very personal rumination
on a society turned upside down. In an African country in the
throes of a unpredictable regime change, Maria Vial is trying
to sustain the coffee plantation she runs with her ex-husband
André, but unknown to her, he has other plans. The country is
tenuously under the control of a rebel militia whose leader is
on the run. With the regular army preparing to regain control,
French forces have moved out, warning the remaining white
residents that they’re on their own if they stay behind. Never-
theless, Maria refuses to be driven off the land, continuing to
run the farm as the specter of impending tragedy looms.
overview
28/29w hi t e
m at er i a l
extra inFormation
deta ils
country: France, Cameroon
lanGuaGe: French
release date: May 2010 (France)
FilminG locations: Paris
runtime: 106 min
sound mix: Dolby Digital
Printed Film Format: 35 mm
asPect ratio: 2.35:1
Gross: $302,819 (USA)
Cast (in Credits order)
isaBelle huPPert: Maria Vial
christoPher lamBert: André Vial
nicolas duvauchelle: Manuel Vial
isaach de Bankolé: Le Boxeur
william nadylam: Chérif, the mayor
adèle ado: Lucie, André’s wife
ali Barkai: Jeep, chief ’s rebellious
daniel tchanGanG: José
michel suBor: Henri Vial
awa rds a nd nominations
national society oF Film critics
awards, usa
Year: 2011
Result: 3rd place
Award: NSFC Award
Category: Best Foreign Language Film
Recipient: Claire Denis
satellite awards
Year: 2010
Result: Nominated
Award: Satellite Award
Category: Best Motion Picture, Foreign
Language Film
venice Film Festival
Year: 2009
Result: Nominated
Award: Golden Lion
Recipient: Claire Denis
washinGton dc area Film
critics association awards
Year: 2010
Result: Nominated
Award: WAFCA Award
Category: Best Foreign Language Film
it is saFe. i have had no trouBle.
mARiA tRying to ConvinCe people to woRk FoR heR.
it is saFe. i have had no trouBle.
mARiA tRying to ConvinCe people to woRk FoR heR.
© 2011 Cecilia Bissoli
All rights reserved. No par t of this book may be
reproduced or used in any form or by any means—
graphic, eletronic or mechanical, including photocopy-
ing, recording, taping, or information storage and
retrieval systems—without prior writ ten permission.
Designer: Cecilia Bissoli
Instructors: Hunter Wimmer & Christopher Morlan
Typefaces: Avenir & Mrs. Eaves
Paper: Nina Paper Environment
Printer: Epson Styllus Photo R2880