@2026 by mezzanine film, inc.









NO FEAR, NO DIE (S’en fout la mort)
directed by Claire Denis
1990, France/Germany, 90m, DCP

West Coast premiere of a new 4K restoration, courtesy of The Film Desk

Tuesday, September 10
2220 Arts + Archives
2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057

doors/bar: 7:30pm
event: 8pm

Long unavailable in the U.S., the third feature from master French director Claire Denis (Beau Travail) can now be widely recognized as a masterpiece: a visceral noir that intimately explores the effects of colonialism, belonging, and violence in the lives of two black immigrants from Benin and Martinique. Dah (Isaach de Bankolé) arrives in a Paris suburb with his business partner Jocelyn (Alex Descas), where they begin working for an illegal cockfighting enterprise run by shady entrepreneur Pierre (Jean-Claude Brialy) and his provocative restaurateur wife (Solveig Dommartin of Wings of Desire). As tensions rise, Dah witnesses the slow unraveling of Jocelyn’s psychological state, as he strives to maintain personal and professional focus. Hardboiled and tactile (shot expertly by Agnès Godard on a handheld 35mm camera) and inspired by the postcolonial writings of Frantz Fanon, No Fear, No Die submerges us in a tragic dance toward oblivion.

“[Denis’s] first masterwork… In “No Fear, No Die,” [Denis’] copious and nuanced observations, her aesthetic sensibility, and her analytical world view are unified. She films as if she is a part of the world she films, as do the best modern documentarians; her fiction, here, conveys a sense of immediate experience, a feeling of freedom.” -Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“Denis could be the strongest French filmmaker of the post-New Wave generation. She is certainly the greatest risk-taker — unafraid to eroticize her male actors, unleash outré violence, or subsume an elusive narrative in a fiercely lyrical force field. “No Fear, No Die,” made nearly a decade before “Beau Travail,” does all three.” - J. Hoberman, The New York Times

“No Fear, No Die fills a critical gap in Denis’ filmography as she begins to hone her style, striving towards the potent subtlety and hypnotic lyricism of her subsequent films.” - Lily Majteles, Screen Slate

Special thanks to Jake Perlin (The Film Desk).