The cover-up of a worker’s death in West Africa and the arrival of the site manager’s young wife are lit matches to a tinderbox in this strange, sinewy thriller of alienation and exploitation.
De Bankolé gives the lynchpin performance, his clear eyes and measured expression saying more about this enduring imbalance of power than words ever could.
The Fence 2025
Le cri des gardes
Arthouse great Claire Denis is renowned for bold, prickly explorations of power and desire, in places marked by colonialism’s ongoing legacy. Based on a 1979 play by Bernard Marie-Koltes, Black Battles With Dogs, and retaining a stripped-back, almost theatrical concentration on highly charged encounters, Denis’ latest feature is set in the isolated, guarded living quarters of a construction project in an unnamed West African nation.
A local has been killed on the job, and his brother Alboury (Isaach de Bankolé) has turned up outside the gates, demanding the body be handed over. Site manager Horn (Matt Dillon) has a short fuse, and little patience for this. Meanwhile his new wife Leonie (Mia McKenna-Bruce) has just moved in that night, driven from the airport by leering engineer Cal (Tom Blyth).
The atmosphere is sinister, and the relationships combustible, in this dystopian imitation of a community, run for extractive gain by men whose unaccountability and privilege have enabled their worst instincts to run amok. It’s a dark choreography of dignity and predation, with glints of empathy distant beacons from another world.
- Carmen Gray