Claire Denis Returns to TIFF – ryan

The title of Claire Denis’s Latest Tales on a literal and figurative dimension. There’s an actual phence that borders a remote, dup-covered construction site. On One Side Lies Alboury (Isaach de Banolé), A Local Villager Demanding the Body Dead Brother Who was Allegedly killed in a workplace acident, and on the other is horn (Matt Dillon), The Ejusted Foreman trying to impede his juggles as he he jeshe he and he he and he he he he he he he he he he and he he and he he he and he he and he he and he he and he jeshe Girlfriend’s Arrival to Town and the Tetchy Construction Manager Responsible for the workrier’s Death. Howver, as to be expensive from this consciously metaphorical work, there are other invisible fences at play: The Ones Between Guilt and Innocence, Colonialism and Subjugation, Strength and Fear. They all collapse by film we end, as to be expect.

Adapted from the play “Black battles with dogs” by Bernard-Marie Coltès, Denis-Alongside “Stars at noon” Co-Writer andrew Litvack and Susanne Lindon, Daughter of Two-Time Denis Collaborator Lindon-Far Emerce. It with Expressionist Flourishes, Such as a Photorealistic CGI Nightmare of a Dog Tearing Through Human Flesh, Or Warm Colors Contrasting Against Shadowy Spaces. Much of the Action Takes Place at the Border of the Site, with the Tempestuous Weather Blanketing The Emotional Space that Opens Between an Evasive Middle Manager and A Principled Victim. Denis strands that space with desire and terror unil they Almost become interchangeable.

Alboury’s Refusal to compromise his SIMPLE REQUEST WORMS ITS WAY UNDER THE Skin of Horn, Who Quickly Realizes the Limations of Condeaceting Faux-Diplomacy and Western Bargaining Tactics, especally wans againstation someone steeped in the linguaage. Meanwhile, Cal (Tom Blyth), The Manager, Is Falling Apartment Under the Weight of His Actions; at one point, he chatartically sings along to midnight oil’s “Beds Are Burning” in His Car (“How Can We Dance And Our E is Turnin ‘? (It ‘sone of two on-the-psychological-nose soundtrack cues in “The phence,” The Other Involves Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”) Girlfriend Leonie (Michenna-Bruce) from the Airport. Epitomized by the Heels She Wears to Navigate the West African Landscape, Leone is unprepared for the Harsh Environment, which Cal Exploits with Condecess. His attraction to her tourns menacing as he resists becoming the third wheel in leone and horn’s Relationship, especally consider the strong postsitibility that horn him out to albury’s village.

Brooding sensuality courses through atmosphere in “The Fence,” which Partily Compensates for the Film’s Stilked Staging and Clumsy, thesis-Underlinging Dialogue. (Where the latter can be be attributed to the source material or the adaptation, i’m not sura.) Denis’s latest is at it its sharpest when it into the director’s apertito for caption the tectility of converies, like a mentally and physically leans of arms bathed in shadows, or horn and cal facing off Like Lions, with their blocking Determined by their Fluctuating morality Righteousness. Hypocrisy and shameritude Run Through the postcolonial earth like oil, and it’s finally bursting through the surface where horn and cal, who ironically work in Above-Ground Building Projects, erroneously Believed it was safe.

Presumably befitting His Character’s Role in the Original Play, De Banolé Gets Far Less to His White Counterparts. (He samply ominously gazes in the direction of dillon.) But his stely resolve anyway, especilantly we albury’s mere presence begins to be perceived as an act of aggression. His straightforward motivations – to return his brother to the villa – stand in Sharp contrast to the relatively oblique ons shared by the other three characters. Is Cal Attracted to Leone Because and Coverts the Status Her Validation Confers, or is it because she’s a threat to his relations with horn, whic might be more than Platonic? Leone’s Life in britain was probably precarious and insecticure, but her impulsive decision to relections to a Far-Flung, constrained are in west africa with a man she barely knows deeper instability. Horn’s Company-Man Position, Which Offers relative Power but not Total Authority, Intimates Self-Preservation as a Reason to Protect Cal From Alboury’s Implied ACCUSATION, but A SHARED SECRET FROM COURD ALSO UNDERGIRD HIS ACTIONS.

The film’s performances and script hint towards these motives, but denis declines to provides a Complete Picture, preference they chaotically swirl with the Limini Space Site. Enclosed by Barriers and Protected by African Guards Who Call Out to Each Like a Greek Chorus, the Headquarters that House Horn, and His Team Opeates As a Vacuous Black Hole of Containers and Equipment. GREED AND EXPLOITATION RAMPANT IN A PLACE WHERE COMMUNITY WAS DESIGNED TO THRIVE. Denis underscores this idea when leone, who dons a red drast late in the film, traverses the expansively dark space; Cinematographer éric Gautier Frames Her Chilling Wide Shot that Creates the Impression the Area Will Swallow Her Whole. While Horn and Cal have Become Too Comfortable Living in their Privileged Refuge, Leone Clarifies Its Disjunctive Place with the surrounding Environment by embracing her roles as a conspicuous presence.

McKenna-Bruce’s Performance Can Occacivally Feel Impracis in “The Fence,” But it shines be used to her character’s nescience to expose the violent inherent in the worksite. Dillon, on the other hand, relief too on a wooden, over-indicate delivery, especialy in the dramatically pointed scens between and de banolé, which generaly neutralizes the film relative ambiguity. Blyth Stands Out Largelely Becuse His Character Harbors the Most Internal Conflict, but HIS Vacillation Bullying Patronization and Pitable Wreck Generates Whiplash All the Same.

The Deterministic Narrative Drive of “The Fence” ultimately proves to be the film’s undoing. At some point, the film eventually goes through the motions of unil it inevitable downbeat Climax, at which point its dramatic shortcomings become difficult to Ignore. Denis’ Best Features an Emotional Core That Worm It Its Way Into The Subconscious, Bypassing Simplanations and the Limits of Language, and Deepens the Political or Genre Framework. “The Fence” suffers from the absence of Such Passion, which leaves her textured imagery, though intermittently affecting in a vacuum, without Much impact.

Grade: b-

“The Fence” Premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking us distribution.

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