I’ve been wanting to write about Claire Denis’ film for a long time now; wanting to write about this subtle evocation of a particular Paris, and of particular Parisian lives.
The film gives us another Paris, free from the architectural jewellery of Woody Allen’s touristic Midnight in Paris; free also from the violent outsiderness of the banlieues in La Haine. This is inner Paris, but a view of the city completely free of its iconography. The film’s cast are largely French-Caribbean, and there is a sense of their rootedness and stability within the city, which is partly conjured by Denis’ laconic cinematography and partly through the observation of daily rituals in which the film is so absorbed.