White Material: Claire Denis on coffee in an African war.

«White Material» is a feature film by director Claire Denis from France and Cameroon, released in 2009. It follows the dissolution of a coffee plantation amid the turmoil of an African civil war: the workers flee, the owner (Isabelle Huppert) tries to organise new workers to bring in the harvest, her husband seeks to save his skin through deals with the mayor and his militias, the father is terminally ill and the grown son is no help either, being off on his own trip. The screenplay is by Claire Denis and Marie NDiaye, with cinematography by Yves Cape; the cast includes Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Lambert and Nicolas Duvauchelle. Claire Denis's gaze is so precise and affectionate that Isabelle Huppert is rarely seen so intimately as she is here.