SERIES
April at the Trylon
Raised across French colonial Africa, Denis made films that depicted the experience of a stranger in a foreign land while also relaying the bitter violence of colonialism. Featuring beautifully photographed landscapes and populated by complicated characters, her films weave human alienation with everyday beauty.
(1999, 92m, French w/English subtitles) dir Claire Denis w/Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin. Denis’s masterwork is a loose retelling of Herman Melville's Billy Budd. Galoup (Lavant) gazes on while putting his foreign legionnaires through their paces (and maybe committing murder?) in Djibouti. SUN 8:00 MON/TUE 7:00 9:00
Screenings: April 6 8:00, April 7 7:00, 9:00, April 8 7:00, 9:00
(1990, 90m, French w/English subtitles) dir Claire Denis w/Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Solveig Dommartin. Dah (De Bankolé) and Jocelyn (Descas) arrive in Paris from Benin, with dreams of coaching their rooster, "S'en fout la mort," to success in an illicit cockfighting ring. In this early, and largely unseen, film, Denis crafts an indelible picture…
Screenings: April 13 7:30, April 14 7:00, 9:00, April 15 7:00, 9:00
(2001, 101m, French and English w/English subtitles) dir Claire Denis w/Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle, Alex Descas. When an American couple honeymoons in Paris, the groom (Gallo) is troubled by a mysterious illness that lands him in a medical clinic. There he encounters a woman so dangerous that she is imprisoned in her home.…
Screenings: April 20 7:00, April 21 7:00, 9:00, April 22 7:00, 9:00
(1988, 105m, French w/English subtitles) dir Claire Denis w/Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet. A French woman returns to her childhood home of Cameroon and reflects on her relationship with her servant, Protée (De Bankolé). Denis’s debut is a subtle, elegant meditation on complicated relationships in a postcolonial world. SUN 8:00 MON/TUE 7:00 9:15
Screenings: April 27 8:00, April 28 7:00, 9:15, April 29 7:00, 9:15