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Stars At Noon film image, director Claire Denis

Stars at Noon

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Canadian Premiere

Updating Denis Johnson’s Nicaragua-set novel from the Revolution to the present-day and working in English and Spanish, French auteur Claire Denis is venturing into Graham Greene territory here—espionage and dirty deeds in the tropics. It’s worth remembering that she herself grew up in French colonial West Africa; westerners getting hot and bothered in foreign climes pop up in Beau Travail, White Material, L’intrus, and her first film, Chocolat.

The focus here is on a young American, Trish (Margaret Qualley), a freelance journalist who has gotten in over her head and whose passport has been seized after she embarrassed the authorities. Marooned indefinitely in an unnamed Managua, Trish is forced to trade sex for protection and rum money. She tries to put on a tough and cynical front, but secretly she’s desperate. Then she meets Daniel (Joe Alwyn), a dashing English businessman. At first, she thinks he could be her ticket out of here. Gradually she realizes he’s in worse trouble than she is.

Too languid and languorous to be described as a thriller, but more plot-driven than most Denis films, Stars at Noon is a moody, almost malevolent romance, a tropical neo-noir; love and disillusion in the time of COVID.

 

Grand Prix (tied), Cannes 2022

 

Supported by

Consulate General of France logo

Director

Claire Denis

Cast

Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Danny Ramirez, Benny Safdie, Nick Romano, Stephan Proaño, Monica Bartholomew, Carlos Bennett

Credits
Country of Origin

France

Year

2022

Language

In English and Spanish with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
137 min
Action & Suspense Award Winners Drama Romance Women Directors

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Credits

Executive Producer

Christine De Jekel, Olivier Gauriat, Pituka Ortega Heilbron, Marcela Heilbron

Producer

Olivier Delbosc

Screenwriter

Claire Denis, Léa Mysius, Andrew Litvack

Cinematography

Eric Gautier

Editor

Guy Lecorne

Production Design

Arnaud De Moléron

Original Music

tindersticks