Acclaimed auteur Claire Denis returns to her childhood home of Africa to explore notions of belonging and identity against the backdrop of a nation fractured by colonialism and civil war.

At the core of this superbly crafted story is Maria Vialle (Isabelle Huppert), a coffee plantation matriarch who fails to acknowledge the shifting sands that will embroil herself and her family in a bloody conflict.Infused with another magical score by Tindersticks (Denis' long-time collaborators), White Material features the hallucinatory marriage of sound and image that is the director's trademark, drawing the viewer into an astonishing elliptical narrative. Denis marshals her ensemble cast with aplomb, but it is Huppert's Maria - a perfectly nuanced mix of understated tension and steely resolve - that drives the ever-present suspense in this masterful cinematic experience.