dvd booklet

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


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.

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


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.

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


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)


runtime: 110 min

sound mix: Dolby


Gross: $111,015 (USA)


camerimaGe

Year: 1994

Result: Nominated

Award: Golden Frog

Recipient: Agnès Godard


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.

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


FilminG locations: Djibouti, Paris

runtime: 92 min

sound mix: Dolby SR



Gross: $247,606 (USA)


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


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


chlotrudis awards

Year: 2001

Result: Won

Award: Chlotrudis Award

Category: Best Cinematography


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


Year: 2001

Result: Won

Award: César



euroPean Film awards

Year: 2000

Result: Nominted

Award: European Film Award

Category: Best Cinematographer


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



rotterdam international

Film Festival

Year: 2001

Result: Won

Award: KNF Award—Special Mention


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



runtime: 106 min

sound mix: Dolby Digital



Gross: $302,819 (USA)


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


national society oF Film critics

awards, usa

Year: 2011

Result: 3rd place

Award: NSFC Award



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


washinGton dc area Film

critics association awards

Year: 2010

Result: Nominated

Award: WAFCA Award


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

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