Based on the 1986 novel The Stars at Noon by Dennis Johnson, Claire Denis’ adaptation has been a tribute to her colonialism, dislocations, and complexities of appearance since her shocking 1988 debut, Chocolat. reenacts a theme that has often returned to. Results wobble at times, but this one remains steady.No living director better understands the politics of sensuality, the terrifying power of light and shadow on the skin.
Denise’s recent overseas not-so-innocent Trish (Margaret Qualley) is a strong-willed young white American from Nicaragua caught in a corrupt system. Her claim to being a journalist is ambiguous, but she apparently upsets the wrong people, exchanging her sex for cash or favors in the hope that she can get her passport back and escape. It’s decided.
In this context, she meets Danielle (Joe Alwyn), an enigmatically handsome British man, and the erotic intensity of their brief intimacy bends everything towards it. Daniel seems to have problems of his own, and soon the star-crossed couple runs towards the border and is chased by various shadowy villains.
Dennis nibbles at the edges of plot and motives and sometimes struggles with cohesion — even a director duly acclaimed for her elliptical verses spares no detail — and, crucially, “Stars” is her Filmed in Panama and updated to the present day of the pandemic (Johnson’s novel is set in the midst of the Nicaraguan Revolution), the sense of place is more than coincidental. It feels like it won’t go away.
But as usual in Dennis’ work, the slightest act or subtle gesture can open up a whole world of emotions and consequences. Her Qualley in her hands is a force of nature, traveling through space with manic freedom and energy, reserved only for the young, beautiful and damned.
noon star
Lots of sweaty sex and some violence was rated R. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.Available for rent or purchase at the theater apple tv, google play and other streaming platforms and pay-TV operators.