White Material (15.)
Directed by Claire Denis.
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Christophe Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William Nadylam, Isaach De Bankole. French with subtitles. 106 mins
This haunting and disquieting drama plays out in that strange gap between knowledge and acceptance; that eerie period of still between the forecast of extreme weather conditions and its arrival, when your head can’t quite accept what you know to be inevitable.
In a nameless former French colony in Africa a fierce civil war is blowing up. Marie Vial (Huppert) is running a coffee plantation. Early on a helicopter swoops over her and a soldier yells out at her that the French Army are pulling out and that she should get her family out while she can.
All around her people are looking to evacuate or to protect themselves or for the right moment to show their support for one side or another. But to the exasperation of her family and colleagues, all Marie is concerned about is getting the crop harvested.
Maria’s lofty bloody mindedness feels oddly British. It’s almost as if she views this conflict as just another example of the silly stuff and nonsense that the native are prone to. In the English equivalent it would be a perfect Helen Mirren role.
Whenever you see news stories about innocent people who get caught up in wartime atrocities, the question you always ask is why they didn’t run. Survival instincts are all about speed of reaction; most people can never quite adjust to a change of circumstance in time. Some people can’t hear the sound of the oncoming train until it is on top of you; Maria can hear the train but refuses to accept that she is standing on the tracks; or maybe that the train would have the effrontery to run her over.
I have to confess that before I started reviewing I had never seen a Denis film. She always struck me as one of those foreign directors that reviewers at Time Out would rave about for whatever obscure reason Time Out reviewers rave about things. My loss. Following on from last year’s 35 Shots of Rum I must concede that she is exceptional.
The film’s elliptical approach captures Marie’s denial, the distance between her sense of security and the terrifying vulnerability the audience sees. The film has marvellously understated, almost airy, sense of menace and foreboding. There are scenes with soldiers and guns and shooting and machete wielding thugs, but violence is largely held in check. Like its central character the film can’t quite face up to the inevitable bloodshed.
Directed by Claire Denis.
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Christophe Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, William Nadylam, Isaach De Bankole. French with subtitles. 106 mins
This haunting and disquieting drama plays out in that strange gap between knowledge and acceptance; that eerie period of still between the forecast of extreme weather conditions and its arrival, when your head can’t quite accept what you know to be inevitable.
In a nameless former French colony in Africa a fierce civil war is blowing up. Marie Vial (Huppert) is running a coffee plantation. Early on a helicopter swoops over her and a soldier yells out at her that the French Army are pulling out and that she should get her family out while she can.
All around her people are looking to evacuate or to protect themselves or for the right moment to show their support for one side or another. But to the exasperation of her family and colleagues, all Marie is concerned about is getting the crop harvested.
Maria’s lofty bloody mindedness feels oddly British. It’s almost as if she views this conflict as just another example of the silly stuff and nonsense that the native are prone to. In the English equivalent it would be a perfect Helen Mirren role.
Whenever you see news stories about innocent people who get caught up in wartime atrocities, the question you always ask is why they didn’t run. Survival instincts are all about speed of reaction; most people can never quite adjust to a change of circumstance in time. Some people can’t hear the sound of the oncoming train until it is on top of you; Maria can hear the train but refuses to accept that she is standing on the tracks; or maybe that the train would have the effrontery to run her over.
I have to confess that before I started reviewing I had never seen a Denis film. She always struck me as one of those foreign directors that reviewers at Time Out would rave about for whatever obscure reason Time Out reviewers rave about things. My loss. Following on from last year’s 35 Shots of Rum I must concede that she is exceptional.
The film’s elliptical approach captures Marie’s denial, the distance between her sense of security and the terrifying vulnerability the audience sees. The film has marvellously understated, almost airy, sense of menace and foreboding. There are scenes with soldiers and guns and shooting and machete wielding thugs, but violence is largely held in check. Like its central character the film can’t quite face up to the inevitable bloodshed.
