White Material (Criterion Collection)

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In this drama directed and co-written by Claire Denis, Isabelle Huppert plays Maria, a white woman living in an African nation that has been falling into political chaos. Maria owns a coffee plantation, and regards her property as her personal domain; she would rather fight that give up her land, though her stubborn attitude prevents her from admitting that she's putting those close to her in danger.

In White Material, the great contemporary French filmmaker Claire Denis (Chocolat, Beau travail), known for her restless, intimate dramas, introduces an unforgettably crazed character. Played ferociously by Isabelle Huppert (Story Of Women, The Piano Teacher), Maria is an entitled white woman living in Africa, desperately unwilling to give up her family's crumbling coffee plantation despite the civil war closing in on her. Created with Denis' signature full-throttle visual style, which places the viewer in the center of the maelstrom, White Material is a gripping evocation of the death throes of European colonialism and a fascinating look at a woman lost in her own mind.