Fwiw, the film is in English and needs minimal (if any) translation. That said, it is...not a good movie, so caveat emptor for other reasonscriterionsnob wrote: Mon May 18, 2026 4:48 pmClaire Denis' latest film, The Fence is getting a DVD only release in France on August 19.
Claire Denis
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Never Cursed
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Re: Claire Denis
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hearthesilence
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Re: Claire Denis
Claire Denis's new film, an adaptation of “Black Battles with Dogs” by Bernard-Marie Koltès, is opening at IFC Center today - again it has been saddled with a lame American title when a straight translation, Le Cri des gardes / The Cry of the Guards, would've been better.
I saw this at NYFF last year, and while it's not among her best, I actually liked it myself. (It's been too long since I've seen it, but what was the controversial A.I. shot? I'm surprised to hear there was one.)
FWIW, I do remember two key moments early on in the film, and I thought it was peculiar that no one discussed the implications of them. First, it becomes clear later on (without spelling it out in words) that Alboury could have found the exact location of his brother through the help of locals. With this in mind, the reasons for confronting those at the construction site become sharper, and in memory those reasons can feel directed at us/the audience. Second, it’s no minor detail that the meaning of an indigenous land rights anthem can be lost on someone who can sing along to every word.
I saw this at NYFF last year, and while it's not among her best, I actually liked it myself. (It's been too long since I've seen it, but what was the controversial A.I. shot? I'm surprised to hear there was one.)
FWIW, I do remember two key moments early on in the film, and I thought it was peculiar that no one discussed the implications of them. First, it becomes clear later on (without spelling it out in words) that Alboury could have found the exact location of his brother through the help of locals. With this in mind, the reasons for confronting those at the construction site become sharper, and in memory those reasons can feel directed at us/the audience. Second, it’s no minor detail that the meaning of an indigenous land rights anthem can be lost on someone who can sing along to every word.
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Never Cursed
- Such is life on board the Redoutable
- Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 4:22 am
Re: Claire Denis
hearthesilence wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2026 8:25 pmI saw this at NYFF last year, and while it's not among her best, I actually liked it myself. (It's been too long since I've seen it, but what was the controversial A.I. shot? I'm surprised to hear there was one.)
Spoiler
de Bankolé's character's dreams in the beginning contain shots of a dog that were "enhanced" with generative AI images; i.e., they filmed a plate of a dog, and then used AI to make it look the way Denis wanted it. It certainly stood out to me when I saw it.
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zedz
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Re: Claire Denis
Though that image is specifically identified as “the white man’s dream of the black man’s nightmare,” so I think grotesque AI is a fitting way to represent that. I don’t know why people need to single that out for criticism when there’s so much else that’s bad about the film!
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Never Cursed
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Re: Claire Denis
There's no reason to use AI specifically to depict it, though: conventional VFX could have done this job just as easily (but probably at greater expense) and with the same meaning. The only time I've seen it actually work artistically is in Radu Jude's Dracula, where the point is to create disgusting machine-generated libidinal fantasies for the purpose of making fun of AI and of the idea-free idiots who use it