The filmography of
Claire Denis is a pantheon of the study of moral and spiritual oblivion.
Every film she has crafted approaches this topic in a different way,
exploring the absolute limits of the human experience with sex, violence, and
above all, deep and prolonged contemplation. Her latest offering, Stars
at Noon is yet another masterpiece in what is one of the greatest
portfolios of a living director. A masterful meditation on isolation,
lust, and betrayal, this is an exploration of a sexual purgatory that is also
somehow perfectly at home in a post(?) Covid world. Meandering in pace,
unrelenting in its inability to hold hands, this is a stoic, near impenetrable
story of love and loss in a modern-day necropolis of broken
promises.
Margaret Qualley stars as Trish, an American quasi-ex patriot who is stranded
in Nicaragua, selling her body and soul to survive while trying to forge a path
forward. She eventually enters the orbit of a suave English
businessman and their love affair not only threatens to undo each of them, it
also dictates their eventual fates in a place of eternal longing. Qualley
gives the performance of a lifetime. A common criticism is in the script
and how her interpretation and delivery is mismatched, possibly due to the
difference in nationalities and native languages of the director and
principals. This is a misinterpretation. Much like Paris Belongs
to Us, this is a film in which the viewer is meant to feel awkward,
desperate and infinitely out of place. Denis is not concerned with
traditional nuance. Here, the absolute insanity of humanity and thriving
existence is being dissected.
Covid is perhaps the second most important character. Much like current day America, the disease remains a specter, ever present in almost every scene with masks being donned and removed in fluid motions, signifying the disguises that everyone involved is wearing. No one is whom they appear to be, and many of them fool themselves with their clever, well-grounded illusions. The world within Denis' framework is a waystation for lost souls, fighting, stealing, and copulating their way through existence, hoping for escape, and yet there is no salvation in a place without hope and Denis lures the viewer in slowly. Eric Gutier’s cinematography captures the world of Covid Nicaragua with a latent sense of observation, an almost anthropological approach. The result is perhaps the most Wong Kar-wai film that the maestro himself didn't make.
This is the potency
of Denis’ work. This is a story in between beats. Sweat soaked
sheets, immaculately film sex sequences, and a nonchalant divergence into
absolute danger. Innuendo and supposition are the guidelines and
everything else falls in between, giving way to a wasteland of promise, filled
with urgency and danger and Denis wields these concepts perfectly.
Now available for digital rental, Stars at Noon is an absolute
marvel. Denis takes the traditional erotic thriller and, wonderfully,
predictably throws an introspective spin upon it. This is a film that
resists interpretation and revels in turgid existentialism, endlessly spinning
a story about a woman trying desperately to not become undone, despite knowing
she is already there. A masterwork of subtlety and restraint, if slow
paced cinema is of import, this is not to be missed.
-Kyle Jonathan