Nenette and Boni (1996)
"Nénette et Boni" (original title)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

Claire Denis

Writers:

Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau

Stars:

Grégoire Colin, Alice Houri, Jacques Nolot

5 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Grégoire Colin	...	Boni
Alice Houri	...	Nénette
Jacques Nolot	...	Monsieur Luminaire
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi	...	La boulangère / Baker's wife (as Valéria Bruni-Tedeschi)
Vincent Gallo	...	Vincenzo Brown
Malek Brahimi	...	Malek, le prof de boxe (as Malek Sultan)
Gérard Meylan	...	L'oncle / Uncle
Sébastien Pons	...	Un ami de Boni
Mounir Aïssa	...	Un ami de Boni
Christophe Carmona	...	Un ami de Boni
Djellali El'Ouzeri	...	Un ami de Boni
Alex Descas	...	Le gynécologue / Gynaecologist
Jamila Farah	...	La sage femme / Midwife
Agnès Regolo	...	La radiologue
Pépette	...	L'assistante sociale

Storyline

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

baker | pizza | school | flowers | trust | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

19 September 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nenette and Boni

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), Dacia Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Four Lovers (2010)

User Reviews

Claire's way

TFO is putting on a Claire Denis retrospective, which comprises Chocolat, 35 rhums, L'intrus and four others. This is therefore a rare opportunity to survey her work over her career. While I admire Beau travail enormously, and found Vendredi soir very appealing, I must say that her films frustrate me more than they enlighten or entertain. Her stripping away of the things she considers inessential always struck me as arbitrary and untrue to the spirit of cinema. I always want more when I watch, say, Chocolat--more dialog, more examination of the characters's back stories.

Nenette et Boni is about average for Denis: lots of extreme close-ups (I really didn't need so many of Colin's back and shoulders), cursory development of characters (we never get a really good grasp of why the kids hate their father), and poor use of dialog. There is a scene between Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi as the friendly baker's wife and Colin who is infatuated with her that goes nowhere at all. Nenette et Boni has much more dialog than usual for Denis, and it's not productive.

Happily, there are the actors. Gregoire Colin, Alex Descas and Alice Houri are part of Denis's repertory players and they do fine. Jacques Nolot as the hapless father is sometimes very touching.