White Material (2009)

Director:

Claire Denis

Writers:

Claire Denis (writer)
Marie N'Diaye (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 2010 (France)

Plot:

Denis revisits Africa, this time exploring a place rife with civil and racial conflict. A white French...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Isabelle Huppert	...	Maria
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Le boxeur, l'officier rebelle
Christopher Lambert	...	André Vial (as Christophe Lambert)
Nicolas Duvauchelle	...	Manuel Vial
William Nadylam	...	Chérif, le maire
Adèle Ado	...	Lucie, la femme d'André
Ali Barkai	...	Jeep, le chef des enfants rebelles
Daniel Tchangang	...	José
Michel Subor	...	Henri Vial, le propriétaire de la plantation
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Gozlan	...	Hamudi

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Company:

Why Not Productions

Tense and depressing but classy

White Material is a troubling film that reminded me of Francis Ford Coppola's reading of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, i.e. not as psychological allegory but as fable for pertinent updating. The story revolves around the central figure of Marie, a white European African farm owner, who blindly refuses to acknowledge the danger of increasingly volatile local social unrest. Claire Denis spins a grander web from this precarious situation, invoking the precarious relationships that Marie supports and connects: a one-woman lynch-pin of love, industry and care.

I have not seen the recent Home or Gabrielle, to name two well-received recent performances from Huppert, but for me this is a very significant, form performance from the celebrated French actress. It is her sort of role to be sure: realist, serious, preoccupied, veiled. In addition I enjoyed her free physicality and lack of self-consciousness, helped no doubt by Denis' free camera-work, which often involves chasing Huppert around (her character is driving the film so Denis allows her to literally pull the action along).

Space is created for Marie's son to become the terminally dysfunctional, un-rooted wreck that others allude to, although he inspires no pity. Christopher Lambert, the father, is a marginal but clearly a more urbane figure whose absence tells you all you need to know about his relationship to the work-centred Marie. The supporting cast of native Africans are, unusually, all very good (in location films, there are often a number of local 'actors' who don't live up to the description) notably William Nadylam's Chérif with his Ejiofor-like self-possession and stillness. This film also has the distinction of having the most nausea-inducing child-murder sequence I've ever seen - or, more to the point, heard. 7/10