My favorite movie of 2009 (thus far) might very well be the latest film from today’s birthday girl, 35 Rhums.  I was actually giddy after I saw it - which given the past work of Claire Denis is quite a surprising thing.  That isn’t to say that I don’t like all of her other films - just that the ones I’ve seen are quite dark and not ones that necessarily make you actually smile (although they definitely make your mind smile).

Denis (and I stole this from one of bios - simply because it said all that I wanted to say) “ is a Paris-based filmmaker internationally recognized for her fearless investigation of the human condition with its cross-cultural tensions and family troubles. Denis is a graduate of IDHEC, the French Film School, and served as assistant to Jacques Rivette, Costa-Gavras, Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders. Her debut feature film Chocolat (1988), a meditation on colonialism, won her critical acclaim. With films such as US Go Home (1994), Nenette and Boni (1997), Good Work (Beau Travail) (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), and Friday Night (2003) she established a reputation as the filmmaker who ‘has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France’”

takepart to learn more about Denis and watch the beautiful trailer for 35 Rhums below - which I think works wonderfully without subtitles.