International Women's Day: "White Material"
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 at 12:04PM 
Today is International Women's Day. To honor this day, a look back at a great female directed film that was critically lauded at the time but tends to not get the legacy attention it deserves: Claire Denis' "White Material."
Set in an unnamed former French colony in Africa on the brink of violent civil war, White Material is not new territory for Denis – a French national who grew up in Cameroon, Burinka Faso, Somalia and Senegal – but it does represent a more searing look at the ways in which colonialism has completely uprooted the continent.
Our hero of the story is no hero at all...
Maria Vial (Isabelle Huppert, natch) is the operator of a coffee plantation owned by her ex-husband's father. Although she is not a native of the country, she views it as her home, and when the workers on her plantation begin to flee as rebels encroach on their property, she refuses to leave, putting her life and the life of her unstable son in danger.
We follow Maria for most of the film, but it is often hard to be on her side as she allows her own white privilege to obstruct her common sense and continues to ignore the signs that she should leave. Denis uses Maria's moral struggles to poke at the question of whether or not the colonizer can ever ethically and fairly participate in the economy and society of those they once colonized.
Denis wrote White Material with two women, and directed it with two female ADs as well. On a technical and emotional level the film is a triumph. It is one of those films where the lead actor is filmed with such intimacy that it is hard to imagine the director collaborating with anyone else. There are shots of Huppert, a small woman in a sun dress standing in the midst of red earth and towering vegetation, that are so perfectly composed they could be hung in a museum.
White Material may have a wide political scope, but it is an intimate film in general, and one that operates like watch gears. The cinematography, editing, acting and especially the score (by frequent collaborators The Tindersticks) grind along together in perfect unison. The film represents a natural leap forward for Denis from her previous African films – Chocolat and Beau Trevail, both wonderful – but her signature is still written all over it. There are few directors who are able to so expertly blend the personal and the political as she.
If you have not seen White Material immediately seek it out. If you have, what better time than now for a re-watch, especially as Huppert, who really delivers one of the best performances of her career here (the scene on the bus, the ending, whew), has been in the zeitgeist of the last year in a big way.
Are you a fan of Denis? Any other female directed films you want to shout out for International Women's Day (and, really, for every day of the year)?
Reader Comments (7)
Superb. I absolutely love Isabelle Huppert in this and this movie speaks to me on so many levels. Love its take on post-colonialism and white privilege, and even its take on identity.
Love this movie, my favorite French film of quite a while. Plays like a horror movie, with the dangers creeping in and Huppert carefully living out the internal terror.
Great article! I saw this movie again a few months ago at Metrograph and was floored by how complex and outright terrifying it is, with an, of course, expert Huppert performance.
Thanks for this shout-out for Claire Denis! A truly exceptional filmmaker possessing great compositional style in framing each scene. Huppert is ,as always, transcendent and authentic.
White Material is brilliant. I love Claire Denis. And another extraordinary performance by Queen Isabelle.
I have and was left confused by it. Watched it because Guy Lodge made it a thing with his enthusiasm. And, anything subtitled with Huppert was required viewing. Still, so many movies from her to consume. I can't believe she was never a thing until recent. She's more provocative and interesting than our most daring domestic cinema goddesses. And, no I'm not referring to Streep since she belongs in a conversation separate from anything concerning actual art.
3rtful - Agreed. I find Huppert much better than Streep, but I think the roles Streep has done are much more diverse.