Claire Denis is GFT's latest CineMaster

If The Skinny were to write a list of the finest filmmakers working today, Claire Denis' name would be very near the top. Since her debut 1988 film Chocolat to her most recent, the soon to be released Let the Sunshine In, the French filmmaker has proven herself to be one of the most distinctive and innovative voices in modern cinema. She’s made a huge variety of films, from humane family dramas (Nénette et Boni) to visceral horrors (Trouble Every Day), intoxicating romances (Vendredi Soir) to idiosyncratic documentaries (Jacques Rivette, the Nightwatchman), all in an inimitable style that tends to lean towards the intimate and poetic; her chief concerns are atmosphere, textures and bodies in motion.

Glasgow Film Theatre are screening four of Denis’ films this month as part of the cinema’s ongoing CineMasters series. The season kicks off with Denis’ most celebrated film, Beau Travail, which takes as its influence the work of Herman Melville and in particular his final novel Billy Budd. Denis and co-writer Jean-Pol Fargeau reimage Melville’s seafaring novel as a story set in Djibouti, where the protagonists are soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. It's a landscape the director knows well, having spent much of her childhood in Djibouti, as well as Cameroon and Senegal. “For me, Africa is like the seas Melville missed so much,” Denis said of her choice of setting.

Beau Travail takes the form of the fractured memories of a domineering sergeant (Denis Levant) looking back on his days in the Legion and in particular his confused feelings about a beautiful young soldier (Grégoire Colin) who he seems to both hate and have erotic feelings for. Denis’ use of location and filming of the actors is deeply evocative, with much of the film concerned with the rigorous training the men go through, captured like balletic dance sequences. The film’s mood is intoxicating: “Denis captures the poetry and atmosphere – and, more subtly, the women – of Africa like few filmmakers before her,” notes Jonathan Rosenbaum in his review for the Chicago Reader. This masterpiece is screening from 35mm and shouldn’t be missed on the big screen.

Next there’s one of Denis' most intimate works, 35 Shots of Rum, which she has described as a homage to the great Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, in particular his tender father-daughter drama Late Spring. 35 Shots of Rum also centres on the domestic life of a widowed father (Alex Descas) and his college-aged daughter (Mati Diop), but in this case the action takes place in a grey high-rise on the outskirts of Paris. The simple plot concerns the daughter learning to break away from her loving home, and find a life of her own, but the real magic is in the way Denis puts the film together through sensuous editing and tactile cinematography, courtesy of Denis regular director of photography Agnès Godard.

Less harmonious is White Material, Denis’ 2009 film starring Isabelle Huppert as a stubborn coffee plantation owner who refuses to leave her farmhouse in an unnamed African country after civil war erupts. It’s another dreamy work featuring a fractured timeline and visual lyricism, but it’s also filled with the searing violence and anger that peppers much of Denis’ work. It’s a film of unforgettable shots and gestures: “[Denis] shows you an image of such astonishing poignancy and moral clarity that it will haunt you long after the film ends,” wrote Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.

The season rounds off with Denis’ most recent release, Bastards. Here, we see the filmmaker apply her customary elliptical style to a heady noir thriller. All Denis films are mysteries of a fashion, due to her elliptical approach to narrative, but this elegant thriller is also a mystery in the truest sense, as we piece together the secrets and lies that connect a troubled French family to a wealthy businessman.

The four films above should prove a fine introduction to Denis' masterful use of image and sound, and the dreamy atmosphere she conjures in her films.

Claire Denis: CineMaster

Beau Travail (35mm) – Sat 30 Sep (3.40pm) & Tue 3 Oct (6.05pm)
35 Shots of Rum (35mm) – Sat 7 Oct (3.50pm) & Tue 10 Oct (5.50pm)
White Material (35mm) – Sat 14 Oct (3.45pm) & Tue 17 Oct (5.50pm)
Bastards – Sat 21 Oct (1.10pm) & Tue 24 Oct (6.10pm)

For tickets, head to glasgowfilm.org/shows/cinemasters-claire-denis