Nénette et Boni

Plot

Nenette (Alice Houri) is a 14-year-old girl with an attitude problem who runs away from her boarding school only to knock on the door of her older brother Boni (Gregoire Colin). Boni has his own problems most of which center around an erotic fixation with the baker's sexy wife (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi). He is very reluctant to take Nenette in. Then he finds out she is pregnant. As their relationship grows and adjusts, each begins to understand what maturity it takes to bring a new life into the world. Claire Denis, best known for her film Chocolat, directed. This French film won top honors at the 1996 Locarno Film Festival. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Review

A lyrical movie set among Marseilles' working class, Claire Denis' Nenette et Boni is a work of nonchalant pleasures. In telling its coming-of-age story of a brother and sister from a dysfunctional family, Nenette et Boni proceeds on its own distinctive, lackadaisical rhythm -- it isn't afraid to digress if something of greater interest draws its attention. Denis displays a gift for capturing bits of subdued, incidental beauty: The sensuous fabric of a dress, the delectable icing on a pastry, the kaleidoscopic play of lights at night. At times, her meditative glance lingers longer than usual, as in a delightful moment when a baker's wife preens to the tune of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows." As noteworthy as her knack for unlikely eye candy is her inviting humanism. In Denis' world, every individual is worthy of attention, even affection. Her characters are admirably full-bodied: They're reliable in their unpredictable humanity, acting in accordance with their own (sometimes inexplicable) motivations and never in the mere service of plot. Staying true to a career-long preoccupation with cross-cultural dynamics, Denis also includes a seemingly throwaway thread about illegal immigrants struggling to scratch out an existence in the city. It's a testament to her depth of feeling that such concerns, rendered tangentially here, nonetheless leave an impression. ~ Elbert Ventura, Rovi

Cast

• Grégoire Colin - Boniface (Boni)
• Alice Houri - Antoinette (Nenette)
• Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi - Baker's Wife
• Vincent Gallo - Baker
• Jacques Nollot

Gérard Meylan; Alex Descas; Jamila Farah; Sébastien Pons; Mounir Aissa; Christophe Carmona; Djellali El'Ouzeri; Mark Sultan

Credit

Claire Denis - Director, Yan Dedet - Editor, Françoise Guglielmi - Executive Producer, Vincent Arnardi - Composer (Music Score), Thierry Lebon - Composer (Music Score), Eric Michon - Musical Direction/Supervision, Tindersticks - Songwriter, Arnaud de Moleron - Production Designer, Agnès Godard - Cinematographer, Georges Benayoun - Producer, Jean-Louis Ughetto - Sound/Sound Designer, Claire Denis - Screenwriter, Jean-Pol Fargeau - Screenwriter, Nicolas Daguet - Production Director, Gabriel Julien-Laferriere - Assistant Director

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