4.SMELL

he first thing you may notice about 2008’s , especially if you’re a Claire Denis connoisseur, is that it’s a very quiet movie: not much happens in terms of plot; there’s very little dialogue; it’s homely; and conflicts are quickly extinguished. It’s unlike some of the more visceral or exotic experiences offered up by the rest of her filmography. Denis has said that , about a widowed father and his twenty something daughter, was an homage to the Japanese director Yasujiro, also about a widowed father and his twenty-something daughter. The Ozu-ness of the film is unfamiliar territory for Denis, thus the placidity is something of note.