White Material

Isabelle Huppert plays a plantation owner clinging to her land as civil war creeps ever closer, in Claire Denis' mesmerising rumination on the effects of colonialism.

In an unspecified part of French colonial Africa, white coffee plantation owner Maria (Huppert) clings to her land even as civil war and racial conflict brings the spectre of bloodshed ever closer. Adding to the dangerous atmosphere is her unstable son (Duvauchelle). Dedicated to child soldiers, White Material is full of grief, and honours the complexity of souls twisted by colonialism.