Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Claire Denis(I)

  • Director
  • Writer
  • Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Claire Denis at an event for Friday Night (2002)
A drama set in an unnamed African country and centered on a French plantation owner caught in the midst of a civil war.
Play trailer1:45
White Material (2009)
1 Video
14 Photos
The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the gravity and gift of foreignness. Often revolving around reactions to the intrusion of the other, be it a stranger or foreigner, Denis' films insist on the vital necessity of the unusual to coexist within the "normal" world. In films such as I Can't Sleep (1994) and Nénette et Boni (1996), Denis captures the mercurial and instant shifts in tone, from the pleasurably sensual to the menacing or the simply unaccountable, caused by the intrusion of the strange into the fabric of the everyday. In Denis' films one often feels that all is well even as worlds collide and collapse or, conversely, that a grave challenge underlies the seemingly calm moments. While Denis' childhood in French colonial Africa is reflected most directly in the African setting shared by her debut feature Chocolat (1988) and best-known film, Beau travail (1999), this encounter with the intimacies and injustices of colonialism resounds throughout much of her work. Also shaping Denis' unique vision are the apprenticeships she served, just out of film school, under a variety of renowned directors, including Jacques Rivette, Wim Wenders, Dusan Makavejev and Jim Jarmusch - an eclectic company that is itself suggestive of the unique juxtaposition of careful craft and seeming casualness within Denis' work. Denis has often spoken of her shock as a young woman at discovering the novels of Faulkner that have exerted such a major influence over postwar French cinema. For Denis, Faulkner "was a plunge into the senses, into terror and the pain of his characters." These words describe Denis' films as well. But whatever terror and pain her characters may sometimes experience is outmeasured by the depths of Denis' deep affection for them and by her curiosity in their experiences of pleasure as well as fear. Even in the unsettling Trouble Every Day (2001), the not-infrequent catastrophes in Denis' films provoke a sense of wonder at, and even delight in, the sheer weight of existence.
BornApril 21, 1946
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornApril 21, 1946
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Awards
    • 15 wins & 49 nominations

Photos14

Claire Denis in Bastards (2013)
Claire Denis in 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
Claire Denis in 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
Claire Denis and Alex Descas in 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
Javier Bardem and Claire Denis at an event for Stars at Noon (2022)
Claire Denis at an event for Both Sides of the Blade (2022)
Claire Denis
Claire Denis, Robert Pattinson, and Mia Goth at an event for High Life (2018)
Claire Denis at an event for High Life (2018)
Agnieszka Holland, Claire Denis, and Zhangke Jia at an event for Land of Mine (2015)
Claire Denis at an event for Irrational Man (2015)
Claire Denis at an event for Friday Night (2002)

Known for:

High Life (2018)
High Life
5.8
  • Director
  • 2018
Beau travail (1999)
Beau travail
7.3
  • Director
  • 1999
Stars at Noon (2022)
Stars at Noon
5.6
  • Director
  • 2022
35 Shots of Rum (2008)
35 Shots of Rum
7.1
  • Director
  • 2008

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Director

  • Stars at Noon (2022)
    Stars at Noon
    • Director
    • 2022
  • Both Sides of the Blade (2022)
    Both Sides of the Blade
    • Director
    • 2022
  • High Life (2018)
    High Life
    • Director
    • 2018
  • Let the Sunshine In (2017)
    Let the Sunshine In
    • Director
    • 2017
  • The Breidjing Camp (2015)
    The Breidjing Camp
    • Director
    • TV Movie
    • 2015
  • Contact (2014)
    Contact
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2014
  • Voilà l'enchaînement (2014)
    Voilà l'enchaînement
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2014
  • Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013)
    Venice 70: Future Reloaded
    • Director
    • 2013
  • Bastards (2013)
    Bastards
    • Director
    • 2013
  • To the Devil (2011)
    To the Devil
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2011
  • Festival des festivals 2006: Huit documentaires sélectionnés dans les plus grands festivals français (2009)
    Festival des festivals 2006: Huit documentaires sélectionnés dans les plus grands festivals français
    • Director (segment Vers Mathilde)
    • Video
    • 2009
  • Isabelle Huppert in White Material (2009)
    White Material
    • Director
    • 2009
  • 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
    35 Shots of Rum
    • Director
    • 2008
  • Diaspora (2007)
    Diaspora
    • Director
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2007
  • Toward Mathilde (2005)
    Toward Mathilde
    • Director
    • 2005

Writer

  • Stars at Noon (2022)
    Stars at Noon
    • screenplay
    • 2022
  • Both Sides of the Blade (2022)
    Both Sides of the Blade
    • scenario
    • 2022
  • High Life (2018)
    High Life
    • written by
    • 2018
  • Let the Sunshine In (2017)
    Let the Sunshine In
    • screenplay
    • 2017
  • The Breidjing Camp (2015)
    The Breidjing Camp
    • Writer
    • TV Movie
    • 2015
  • Bastards (2013)
    Bastards
    • screenplay
    • 2013
  • To the Devil (2011)
    To the Devil
    • Writer
    • Short
    • 2011
  • Isabelle Huppert in White Material (2009)
    White Material
    • scenario
    • 2009
  • 35 Shots of Rum (2008)
    35 Shots of Rum
    • scenario
    • 2008
  • Diaspora (2007)
    Diaspora
    • original idea
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2007
  • The Intruder (2004)
    The Intruder
    • Writer
    • 2004
  • Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002)
    Ten Minutes Older: The Cello
    • Writer (segment Vers Nancy)
    • 2002
  • Friday Night (2002)
    Friday Night
    • Writer
    • 2002
  • Béatrice Dalle in Trouble Every Day (2001)
    Trouble Every Day
    • Writer
    • 2001
  • Beau travail (1999)
    Beau travail
    • writer
    • 1999

Second Unit or Assistant Director

  • Wings of Desire (1987)
    Wings of Desire
    • first assistant director
    • 1987
  • Roberto Benigni, Tom Waits, and John Lurie in Down by Law (1986)
    Down by Law
    • assistant director
    • 1986
  • Nastassja Kinski, Harry Dean Stanton, and Hunter Carson in Paris, Texas (1984)
    Paris, Texas
    • assistant director
    • 1984
  • Teri Garr, Robert Wagner, and Horst Janson in To Catch a King (1984)
    To Catch a King
    • first assistant director
    • TV Movie
    • 1984
  • Hanna K. (1983)
    Hanna K.
    • first assistant director
    • 1983
  • Le bâtard (1983)
    Le bâtard
    • first assistant director
    • 1983
  • Romy Schneider in The Passerby (1982)
    The Passerby
    • first assistant director
    • 1982
  • We're Not Angels... Neither Are They (1981)
    We're Not Angels... Neither Are They
    • assistant director
    • 1981
  • Philippe Noiret and Michel Serrault in Pile ou face (1980)
    Pile ou face
    • assistant director
    • 1980
  • L'empreinte des géants (1980)
    L'empreinte des géants
    • assistant director
    • 1980
  • Zoo zéro (1979)
    Zoo zéro
    • first assistant director
    • 1979
  • Retour à la bien-aimée (1979)
    Retour à la bien-aimée
    • assistant director
    • 1979
  • Mais où et donc Ornicar (1979)
    Mais où et donc Ornicar
    • first assistant director
    • 1979
  • Surreal Estate (1976)
    Surreal Estate
    • first assistant director
    • 1976
  • Romy Schneider and Philippe Noiret in The Old Gun (1975)
    The Old Gun
    • assistant director
    • 1975
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos1

White Material
Trailer 1:45
White Material

Personal details

Edit
  • Born
    • April 21, 1946
    • Paris, France
  • Publicity listings
    • 2 Print Biographies
    • 2 Interviews
    • 6 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Worked as an assistant director to Wim Wenders (on Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987)) and Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law (1986)).
  • Quotes
    I have a dreamy distance with reality, which is not a really good thing.
  • Trademarks
      Elliptical edit

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
List
The Best Things to Watch in June
See the list
Production art
Photos
See These Trending Actors in Early Roles
Can you place the face?

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of Claire Denis’s work you have seen. Go to your list.
Still frame
List
The 50 Most Popular Indian Web Series of All Time
See the list

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.