Claire Denis

Directing

Claire Denis

Born

1946-04-21 (80)

Place of birth

Paris, France

Known for

Directing

Credits

67 titles

Claire Denis (/dəˈniː/; French: [dəni]; born 21 April 1946) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her feature film Beau Travail (1999) has been called one of the greatest films of the 1990s and of all time. Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity. Other acclaimed works include Trouble Every Day (2001), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), White Material (2009), High Life (2018) and Both Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which won her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. For Stars at Noon (2022), Denis won the Grand Prix at th…

Known for

Quotidien poster
4.9

Quotidien (nicknamed "The French Show with the Good Lighting" abroad) is a French daily infotainment television program broadcast in the early evening on TMC since September 12, 2016. The show is hosted by Yann Barthès and produced by Bangumi. It consists of segments and reports produced by the team of commentators and journalists surrounding Yann Barthès and features daily guests including newsmakers, intellectuals, politicians, and French and international celebrities.

Quotidien

2016

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Through the Night with... poster
7.9

Durch die Nacht mit … is a German documentary film television series produced by ZDF for Franco-German television channel ARTE. Locations are mainly in France or Germany. The title of the French version is Au cœur de la nuit. Two Celebrities spend an filmed evening together. One of them is the host who sets the location and the program. There is no moderator.

Through the Night with...

2002

Stars at Noon poster
5.8

In present-day Nicaragua, a headstrong American journalist and a mysterious English businessman strike up a romance as they become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country.

Stars at Noon

2022

Leçon de Cinéma poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Leçon de Cinéma

2004

High Life poster
5.7

Monte and his daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to deep space. The crew—death-row inmates led by a doctor with sinister motives—has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is unraveled, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.

High Life

2018

Film credits

2020s · 3 titles

Room 999 poster
5.8

In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”

Room 999

2023

Wim Wenders, Desperado poster
7.7

"Wings Of Desire" and "Buena Vista Social Club", "Paris, Texas" and "The State Of Things": Wim Wenders is considered one of the pioneers of New German Cinema and one of the most important and influential representatives of contemporary cinema. With never-before-shown archive material and extraordinary encounters with companions and contemporary witnesses such as Francis Ford Coppola, Willem Dafoe, Andie MacDowell, Hanns Zischler, Patti Smith, and Werner Herzog, this documentary provides unique insights into the life and work of one of the most multifaceted artists of our times. Renowned documentary filmmaker Eric Friedler ("It Must Schwing. The Blue Note Story") and his co-director Andreas Frege were given the exclusive opportunity to portray Wenders for this film. From Düsseldorf to Paris, and all the way to the desert of Texas, the film traces iconic locations and decisive moments in Wenders' work as director, producer, photographer, and author.

Wim Wenders, Desperado

2020

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Claire Denis, les chemins de traverse

2021

2010s · 9 titles

Trespassing Bergman poster
6.6

In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)

Trespassing Bergman

2013

Granny's Funeral poster
5.6

A provincial chemist in the throes of a mid-life crisis must choose between burying his dearly departed grandmother and cremating her in this quirky comedy of manners starring Valerie Lemercier, Denis Podalydes, and Isabelle Candelier.

Granny's Funeral

2012

Truffaut / Godard, scénario d'une rupture poster
7.5

An inquiry into two of the most influencial French filmakers friendship and feud.

Truffaut / Godard, scénario d'une rupture

2016

No artwork available
NR

Claire Denis visits Bergman's home, browses his collection, and discusses his impact on her work. Part of Trespassing Bergman.

Silence

2012

Claire Denis : Leçon de cinéma poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Claire Denis : Leçon de cinéma

2017

Les réalisatrices contemporaines:  l'état des choses poster
NR

Right at the heart of the debates on the discrimination of women in the film industry, this documentary raises questions, while offering a voice to women and their cinema. Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, Mira Nair, Margarethe Von Trotta, Ulrike Ottinger, Micheline Lanctot, Rakshnan Bani-Etemad, María Novaro but also the names of the less visible directors of the general public. Joining the filmmakers are the voices and comments of producers, film specialists and archivists through whom our images are meticulously preserved.

Les réalisatrices contemporaines: l'état des choses

2016

The Breidjing Camp poster
NR

Claire Denis goes to Eastern Chad to the Breidjing camp, the home of 40,000 refugees from Darfur. With great humility, she tells the stories of these men and women, victims of one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes that this century has seen so far.

The Breidjing Camp

2015

No artwork available
NR

In this short film, director Claire Denis documents her return to Cameroon for the 2010 premiere of White Material at the Écrans Noirs Film Festival. Included on the Criterion Collection's edition of White Material.

Écrans Noirs Film Festival, 2010

2011

No artwork available
NR

He is an Aluku man, one of the five tribes of Maroons who survives in the forest during 400 years after escaping from the Dutch sugarcane plantations. All the Maroons are issued originally from the West coast of Africa. They were taken as slaves.

Aller au diable

2011

1990s · 6 titles

Venus Beauty Institute poster
5.9

Aging beautician Angèle, already wounded by a long-ago romance, gets awkwardly dumped at a train station. Witnessing how she turns around a humiliating situation, younger sculptor Antoine becomes so smitten that he breaks up with his fiancée and sets out to win Angèle's heart. Meanwhile, Angèle attempts to quash the budding romance of her young co-worker, Marie, and a much older widowed client, despite their obvious rapport.

Venus Beauty Institute

1999

Le Jour de Noël poster
7.0

Twenty-four hours in the life of a young musician, Noël Akchoté, in his dealings with improvisation, technique, money, concerts, studios, guitars, history, independents, majors. Between fiction and documentary, between laughter and seriousness, a "jazz" portrait.

Le Jour de Noël

1998

Jacques Rivette, the Watchman poster
6.6

This film of interviews with the film director Jacques Rivette was produced in collaboration with Serge Daney, film critic from “Cahiers du cinéma”, then of “Liberation”. In the course of their conversations, the two speakers discuss Rivette’s career, his relationships with the other film makers of the new wave, his use of “mise en scene” and his working with actors.

Jacques Rivette, the Watchman

1990

Claire Denis, The Vagabond poster
NR

In an arrestingly filmed interview (with the questions omitted), Denis offers a spirited and insightful discussion of her films and career. She talks about her films, her career, the directors she admires - such as Renoir and Ozu - the writing of Frantz Fanon, and her convictions in regard to light, sound, montage, tracking shots, and the role of dialogue, which is subordinate to image in her films.

Claire Denis, The Vagabond

1996

Talking with Ozu poster
6.5

A tribute to the legendary Japanese film director featuring the reflections of filmmakers Lindsay Anderson, Claire Denis, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Aki Kaurismäki, Stanley Kwan, Paul Schrader, and Wim Wenders

Talking with Ozu

1993

To Have (Or Not) poster
5.3

Alice, fired from her job on an assembly line, leaves her boyfriend and provincial home for an uncertain new life in Lyon. There she encounters Bruno, a construction worker who's just been dumped and is severely depressed. Romantic possibilities ensue.

To Have (Or Not)

1995

Series credits

Quotidien poster
4.9

Quotidien (nicknamed "The French Show with the Good Lighting" abroad) is a French daily infotainment television program broadcast in the early evening on TMC since September 12, 2016. The show is hosted by Yann Barthès and produced by Bangumi. It consists of segments and reports produced by the team of commentators and journalists surrounding Yann Barthès and features daily guests including newsmakers, intellectuals, politicians, and French and international celebrities.

Quotidien

2016

Spécial cinéma poster
9.5

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Spécial cinéma

1974

Through the Night with... poster
7.9

Durch die Nacht mit … is a German documentary film television series produced by ZDF for Franco-German television channel ARTE. Locations are mainly in France or Germany. The title of the French version is Au cœur de la nuit. Two Celebrities spend an filmed evening together. One of them is the host who sets the location and the program. There is no moderator.

Through the Night with...

2002

Leçon de Cinéma poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Leçon de Cinéma

2004

Bergman's Video poster
NR

In the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (Released in 2013, edited and abridged, as Trespassing Bergman.)

Bergman's Video

2012

Behind the camera

Stars at Noon poster
5.8

In present-day Nicaragua, a headstrong American journalist and a mysterious English businessman strike up a romance as they become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country.

Stars at Noon

2022

Stars at Noon poster
5.8

In present-day Nicaragua, a headstrong American journalist and a mysterious English businessman strike up a romance as they become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country.

Stars at Noon

2022

High Life poster
5.7

Monte and his daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to deep space. The crew—death-row inmates led by a doctor with sinister motives—has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is unraveled, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.

High Life

2018

High Life poster
5.7

Monte and his daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to deep space. The crew—death-row inmates led by a doctor with sinister motives—has vanished. As the mystery of what happened onboard the ship is unraveled, father and daughter must rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole.

High Life

2018

Trouble Every Day poster
5.7

Newlyweds Shane and June arrive in Paris for their honeymoon. In the process of trying to find a cure for his strange, bloodthirsty disease, Shane stumbles upon the story of a doctor and his flesh eating wife.

Trouble Every Day

2001

Trouble Every Day poster
5.7

Newlyweds Shane and June arrive in Paris for their honeymoon. In the process of trying to find a cure for his strange, bloodthirsty disease, Shane stumbles upon the story of a doctor and his flesh eating wife.

Trouble Every Day

2001

Beau Travail poster
7.1

Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.

Beau Travail

2000

Beau Travail poster
7.1

Foreign Legion officer Galoup recalls his once glorious life, training troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, until the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind.

Beau Travail

2000

Both Sides of the Blade poster
5.7

Jean and Sara have been living together for 10 years. When they first met, Sara was living with François, Jean’s best friend and an admirer from back when he played rugby. Jean and Sara love each other. One day, Sara sees François in the street. He does not notice her, but she is overtaken by the sensation that her life could suddenly change. François gets back in touch with Jean. For the first time in years. He suggests they start working together again. From here on, things spiral out of control.

Both Sides of the Blade

2022

Both Sides of the Blade poster
5.7

Jean and Sara have been living together for 10 years. When they first met, Sara was living with François, Jean’s best friend and an admirer from back when he played rugby. Jean and Sara love each other. One day, Sara sees François in the street. He does not notice her, but she is overtaken by the sensation that her life could suddenly change. François gets back in touch with Jean. For the first time in years. He suggests they start working together again. From here on, things spiral out of control.

Both Sides of the Blade

2022

The Fence poster
6.1

Horn is welcoming his partner Léone into the hut he shares with Cal, when a man called Alboury appears. He stays there until they return the body of his brother, who was killed on the site.

The Fence

2026

The Fence poster
6.1

Horn is welcoming his partner Léone into the hut he shares with Cal, when a man called Alboury appears. He stays there until they return the body of his brother, who was killed on the site.

The Fence

2026

White Material poster
6.7

In the midst of a volatile regime change in a Francophone African state, Maria Vial is fighting to sustain her family’s coffee plantation. With rebels and the army struggling for control, French peacekeeping forces move out, warning the remaining white residents that they’re on their own. But Maria refuses to be driven off the land, even as tragedy looms.

White Material

2010

White Material poster
6.7

In the midst of a volatile regime change in a Francophone African state, Maria Vial is fighting to sustain her family’s coffee plantation. With rebels and the army struggling for control, French peacekeeping forces move out, warning the remaining white residents that they’re on their own. But Maria refuses to be driven off the land, even as tragedy looms.

White Material

2010

Venice 70: Future Reloaded poster
5.0

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

2013

Let the Sunshine In poster
5.2

Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced mother, is looking for love, true love, at last.

Let the Sunshine In

2017

Let the Sunshine In poster
5.2

Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced mother, is looking for love, true love, at last.

Let the Sunshine In

2017

Friday Night poster
6.2

The night before she is to move in with her boyfriend, a young Parisian woman picks up a male hitchhiker, leading to a highly charged and impossibly erotic detour.

Friday Night

2002

Friday Night poster
6.2

The night before she is to move in with her boyfriend, a young Parisian woman picks up a male hitchhiker, leading to a highly charged and impossibly erotic detour.

Friday Night

2002

Chocolat poster
6.9

On her way to visit her childhood home in a colonial outpost in Northern Cameroon, a young French woman recalls her childhood, her memories concentrating on her family's houseboy.

Chocolat

1988

Chocolat poster
6.9

On her way to visit her childhood home in a colonial outpost in Northern Cameroon, a young French woman recalls her childhood, her memories concentrating on her family's houseboy.

Chocolat

1988

Bastards poster
5.7

Marco returns to Paris after his brother-in-law's suicide, where he targets the man his sister believes caused the tragedy – though he is ill-prepared for her secrets as they quickly muddy the waters.

Bastards

2013

Bastards poster
5.7

Marco returns to Paris after his brother-in-law's suicide, where he targets the man his sister believes caused the tragedy – though he is ill-prepared for her secrets as they quickly muddy the waters.

Bastards

2013

Avec Kim poster
5.3

After a typical day at the garage, a young mechanic swaps her stained overalls for a leather ensemble—as she shifts gears into a different kind of routine. Driving through bustling Paris, she helps a passerby cross the street, delivers plants to a hardware store, and picks up an enigmatic passenger.

Avec Kim

2026

Avec Kim poster
5.3

After a typical day at the garage, a young mechanic swaps her stained overalls for a leather ensemble—as she shifts gears into a different kind of routine. Driving through bustling Paris, she helps a passerby cross the street, delivers plants to a hardware store, and picks up an enigmatic passenger.

Avec Kim

2026

I Can't Sleep poster
6.4

Ninon is a spirited hotel-manager who teaches self-defense classes to her terrified eldery neighbors. Daiga, an aspiring Lithuanian actress newly arrived to Paris, becomes fascinated with the life of a mysteriously beautiful drag performer.

I Can't Sleep

1994

I Can't Sleep poster
6.4

Ninon is a spirited hotel-manager who teaches self-defense classes to her terrified eldery neighbors. Daiga, an aspiring Lithuanian actress newly arrived to Paris, becomes fascinated with the life of a mysteriously beautiful drag performer.

I Can't Sleep

1994

Keep It for Yourself poster
6.4

Sophie comes to New York from France with the intention of joining a man she met a few months before. She finds herself alone in the apartment of the guy, who left town because he was scared stiff at the idea of seeing her. Originally commissioned as one third of an omnibus feature showcasing the Figaro, a Japan-only retro throwback car.

Keep It for Yourself

1991

Nenette and Boni poster
6.5

Teenage siblings Nenette and Boni were raised apart as a result of their parents' divorce. Their mother, who doted on her son Boni, has died. He works for an interesting couple as a pizza baker, and is surprised and enraged when his younger sister, having run away from boarding school, suddenly turns up. There's a problem that they must confront.

Nenette and Boni

1997

Nenette and Boni poster
6.5

Teenage siblings Nenette and Boni were raised apart as a result of their parents' divorce. Their mother, who doted on her son Boni, has died. He works for an interesting couple as a pizza baker, and is surprised and enraged when his younger sister, having run away from boarding school, suddenly turns up. There's a problem that they must confront.

Nenette and Boni

1997

U.S. Go Home poster
6.7

In the sixties, in a suburb near Paris, Martine wants to lose her virginity.

U.S. Go Home

1995

U.S. Go Home poster
6.7

In the sixties, in a suburb near Paris, Martine wants to lose her virginity.

U.S. Go Home

1995

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello poster
6.6

Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and overall confusion; and an old man reminiscing over his youth.

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello

2002

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello poster
6.6

Collection of short films the summaries of which include; a foreign man moving to Italy, getting married and having a child; a four split scene short involving plot-less images of old people with television sets for heads, a beautiful woman having sex, and overall confusion; and an old man reminiscing over his youth.

Ten Minutes Older: The Cello

2002

Lest We Forget poster
7.0

A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.

Lest We Forget

1991

The Intruder poster
6.5

An emotionally cold man leaves the safety of his Alpine home to seek a heart transplant and an estranged son.

The Intruder

2005

The Intruder poster
6.5

An emotionally cold man leaves the safety of his Alpine home to seek a heart transplant and an estranged son.

The Intruder

2005

No Fear, No Die poster
6.1

Dah and Jocelyn come from former French colonies to coach their rooster, "S'en fout la mort", for an illicit cock-fight in the basement of a restaurant.

No Fear, No Die

1990

No Fear, No Die poster
6.1

Dah and Jocelyn come from former French colonies to coach their rooster, "S'en fout la mort", for an illicit cock-fight in the basement of a restaurant.

No Fear, No Die

1990

Duo poster
NR

One of a series of short films inspired by paintings. In this video, Jacques de Loustal's Le Contemplatif or "Duo".

Duo

1995