#560: DENIS, Claire: White Material (2009)

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DENIS, Claire (France)
White Material [2009]
Spine #560
Blu-ray


In White Material, the great contemporary French filmmaker Claire Denis, known for her restless, intimate dramas, introduces an unforgettably crazed character. 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.

105 minutes
Color
Surround
in French
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2011
Director/Writers


Written by Claire Denis and Marie N’Diaye.
Denis was 63 when she directed White Material.

Other Denis films in the Collection:

#1042: Beau Travail (1999)
#976: Let The Sunshine In (2017)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-four page booklet featuring an essay by film writer Amy Taubin.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With Denis and actors Huppert and de Bankolé.
Short documentary

By Denis on the film’s premiere at the 2010 Écrans Noirs Film Festival in Cameroon.
Deleted scene

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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