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 SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

White Material

  • 2009
  • Not Rated
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
8.7K
YOUR RATING
Isabelle Huppert in White Material (2009)
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
1 Video
72 Photos
DramaWar

Amidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.Amidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.Amidst turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophone African state, a white French woman fights for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately for her life.

  • Director
    • Claire Denis
  • Writers
    • Claire Denis
    • Marie N'Diaye
    • Lucie Borleteau
  • Stars
    • Isabelle Huppert
    • Christopher Lambert
    • Isaach De Bankolé
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    8.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Claire Denis
    • Writers
      • Claire Denis
      • Marie N'Diaye
      • Lucie Borleteau
    • Stars
      • Isabelle Huppert
      • Christopher Lambert
      • Isaach De Bankolé
    • 31User reviews
    • 124Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 10 nominations total

    Videos1

    White Material
    Trailer 1:45
    White Material

    Photos72

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 68
    View Poster

    Top cast32

    Edit
    Isabelle Huppert
    Isabelle Huppert
    • Maria Vial
    Christopher Lambert
    Christopher Lambert
    • André Vial
    • (as Christophe Lambert)
    Isaach De Bankolé
    Isaach De Bankolé
    • Le Boxeur
    Nicolas Duvauchelle
    Nicolas Duvauchelle
    • Manuel Vial
    William Nadylam
    William Nadylam
    • Chérif, le maire
    Michel Subor
    Michel Subor
    • Henri Vial, le propriétaire
    Adèle Ado
    • Lucie, la femme d'André
    Ali Barkai
    • Jeep, le chef des enfants rebelles
    Jean-Marie Ahanda
    Martin Poulibe
    Patrice Eya
    Serge Mong
    Mama Njouam
    Thomas Dumerchez
    Christine-Ange Tatah
    Suzanne Ayuck
    Daniel Tchangang
    • José
    Lionnel Messi Inoussa
    • Director
      • Claire Denis
    • Writers
      • Claire Denis
      • Marie N'Diaye
      • Lucie Borleteau
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews31

    6.98.7K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    9RosanaBotafogo

    Strong and captivating...

    Claire Denis' works are always representative and significant, with an intensity and realism, raw, almost raw, the two previous ones with the same characteristics, but it was here, that I identified myself the most, she entered a patriarchal world, in the midst of civil war , and the unconditional love of a mother, photography and perfect characterizations, intense performances, script written between the lines, strong and captivating...
    7valadas

    Africa indeed

    It is indeed Africa and a violent one truly depicted here. In a former French colony a white woman runs a coffee plantation in a zone ravaged by the fight between the army and rebels. A courageous woman who fights against everything and everybody (Isabelle Huppert),for besides the problems of the plantation she has got family problems with her ex-husband and a half-mad son. A movie that is directed in realistic style as almost documentar although not dimming the dramatic freature of the story. Also a real document of the relationship between Africans and Europeans. A movie worth to be seen though not exactly a masterpiece as far as a few behaviours are not utterly shown nor explained.
    9PoppyTransfusion

    What happens when the place you consider home rejects you?

    The setting for the film is a West African, French-speaking country riven by civil unrest and fighting between the army and rebels who consist of children, many orphaned. The rebels' icon and unofficial leader is a former soldier known as The Boxer (a cameo from Isaach de Bankole). Directed by Clare Denis she presents the country's unravelling situation and uses a non-linear narrative to loop back and forth within the 48-hour period that is the story's time frame.

    Amidst the mayhem we are slowly introduced to the owners of a coffee plantation, who are a white family of French origins: Maria Vial (Huppert), her ex-husband Andre (Lambert), their son Manuel and his grandfather Bernard. Living with the family is Andre's second wife/partner Lucie and their son Jose. At the point we meet the family they are 5 days from coffee harvest and their workers are fleeing the plantation afraid for their lives. They leave to return home because 'coffee is just coffee and not worth dying for'. Maria does not feel the same way and recruits some replacement workers to ensure a successful harvest. Meanwhile Andre, who shares the workers' fears, is plotting the family's escape which means selling the plantation to the local mayor who will ensure their safe passage out of the country. This is kept from Maria who has vowed never to leave.

    As events unfold it is obvious to everyone around Maria that the situation is becoming less stable and increasingly precarious. She refuses to see or acknowledge this. Interspersed throughout we hear a DJ allied to the rebels, used as a sort of narrator, playing reggae and making pronouncements against the existing government and white people, who are the 'white material' of the title.

    The film's narrative and characters make it difficult for the viewer to apprehend what is happening immediately and/or to like/relate to the characters easily. This is part of its success: the situation and people we are presented with are complex. Although of French origin and white we learn that Bernard and Manuel were both born in the country making them citizens. Maria has left France and never wants to return; she herself despises the white French people ('these dirty whites ... they don't deserve this beautiful land') and clearly does not perceive herself to be one even though the rebels and army see her as one such 'dirty white' who makes the country 'filthy'. Throughout is woven the theme of where is home and what it means to feel you belong and rooted in a situation where others label you an outsider.

    Maria is a tough fighter but lacks sensitivity and does not seem to realise, or wish to see, how she is perceived. We witness the tragic consequences of this to her, her family and the people who work with her as the film works to its conclusion.

    The film is beautifully shot with an atmospheric soundtrack provided by Tindersticks. The colours, the heat, the expanse are well evoked and make you realise why Maria loves it so she is prepared to risk her life and those close to her. There is spare use of dialogue and Huppert excels at the role of Maria, a difficult woman of few words. This is the sort of film that benefits from more than one watch as Denis packs in characters and events all of which add to the texture of the film and its politics.
    carlitaantonini

    Histerically boring

    A story of a distressed woman willing to die and sacrifice her own family rather than giving up some acres of land somewhere in the middle of nowhere merely to prove (to none) that she is not afraid.

    Isabelle Huppert provides as always an excellent and charming neurotic character. Her character is brave and determined but the whole objective of her determination makes no sense at all.

    Overall, the script is pretty poor. It is not certain if the movie wants to talk about female neurosis, ignorant expatriates behavior, social revolution, oppressed against colonizers, black and white or simply tell the story of how someone can get blind by her own ego.

    Nice photography of landscapes, some minutes of enjoying to see Huppert acting and absolutely nothing more.
    7oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx

    Has some sense of Africa but feels like a lot was left on the cutting room floor

    White Material is a film about a coffee plantation in an unnamed African country (shot in Cameroon). Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert) runs the place for her father Henri (Michel Subor). She has a layabout son called Manuel (Nicolas Duvauchelle) and a weak-willed husband André (played by Christopher Lambert of Highlander fame).

    The French army is withdrawing and the country is fractured into regular army, rebels, and newly-formed mad-dog local militias out for rape and pillage, sprung from the ground once law and order dissolves, like Ray Harryhausen's skeleton warriors of the dragon's teeth (Jason and the Argonauts).

    It's time to banish the White Material, that is white folk and the trappings of white living. Maria doesn't want to know though and stays on stubbornly trying to process her coffee crop.

    The film is quite pretty and captures the feel of Africa on the ground, of the isolation and the wild beauty, but also the extreme lurking danger. Denis has roots in Africa and so manages a lot of authenticity. The dialogue is occasionally awesome, soliloquies in which Maria curses whites and talks about Africa in relation to Europe particularly stand out.

    Unfortunately I think there are weak elements, Lambert isn't good enough and his character isn't even necessary (which goes for Henri too), Maria does something brutal and inexplicable at the end (in true clichéd Huppert style), and the film looks like it took a severe amount of cutting as there are plot threads that are barely picked up. The film has the feel of an overly condensed epic. The biggest problem though maybe the narrative structure, where the end occurs at the beginning, which in all frankness, and with due respect to a director who has entertained me with great films more than once, comes off as amateurish.

    As usual the Tindersticks provide a wonderful soundtrack for Denis, so important for an auteur to have a proper musical collaborator, but they basically paper over the cracks.

    The film is good enough if you just look at is as mesmerising anarchy, but it's not a multi-faceted Denis masterpiece. Isaach De Bankolé is underused as Le Boxeur, the rebel hero general, he's a symbol of a strong moral Africa, gut-shot and dying alone. This character lingers in the memory.

    More like this

    35 Shots of Rum
    7.1
    35 Shots of Rum
    Chocolat
    7.3
    Chocolat
    Bastards
    6.1
    Bastards
    Let the Sunshine In
    6.0
    Let the Sunshine In
    The Intruder
    6.6
    The Intruder
    Friday Night
    6.7
    Friday Night
    Beau Travail
    7.3
    Beau Travail
    Nénette and Boni
    6.9
    Nénette and Boni
    Trouble Every Day
    5.9
    Trouble Every Day
    I Can't Sleep
    6.8
    I Can't Sleep
    Both Sides of the Blade
    6.1
    Both Sides of the Blade
    Toward Mathilde
    6.5
    Toward Mathilde

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The scene where Maria goes into her son's bedroom to wake him up was written intentionally long, with numerous throwaway lines, so that it could be cut way down during editing. According to director Claire Denis, Isabelle Huppert's line readings were so precise and meaningful that they ended up not cutting a single word.
    • Goofs
      The position of the goat's head in the coffee beans changes between shots.
    • Connections
      Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.13 (2011)
    • Soundtracks
      Night Nurse
      Written by Gregory Isaacs and Sylvester Weise

      Performed by Gregory Isaacs

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ19

    • How long is White Material?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 24, 2010 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Cameroon
    • Official site
      • Official site (France)
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • 白鬼子
    • Production companies
      • Why Not Productions
      • Wild Bunch
      • France 3 Cinéma
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $304,020
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $34,613
      • Nov 21, 2010
    • Gross worldwide
      • $1,392,434
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 46 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Isabelle Huppert in White Material (2009)
    Top Gap
    By what name was White Material (2009) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    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
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb app
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb app
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.