Jean-Pol Fargeau

The majority of French playwright and screenwriter Jean-Pol Fargeau's work in film has been in collaboration with French director Claire Denis, beginning with her critically acclaimed 1988 debut, "Chocolat." The film, a semi-autobiographical drama set in the African nation of Cameroon, deals with a young French woman (Cécile Ducasse) who returns to the country after many years away, becomes friends with an African servant (Isaach De Bankolé), and is consumed by memories of her childhood living there. Many of the themes and preoccupations in the film -- an outsider in a foreign land; reflection on childhood; the political consequences of colonialism; and characters being weighed down by the past -- became familiar ground in several of Fargeau's subsequent scripts with Denis. His highly collaborative creative relationship with Denis continued with "No Fear, No Die," released in 1990 and starring De Bankolé and Solveig Dommartin, focused on black immigrants involved with illegal cockfighting in France. "I Can't Sleep," released in 1994, continued their partnership with a tale of urban isolation and crime, while 1996's "Nénette et Boni" likewise focused on characters pushed to the margins of urban society. Fargeau and Denis' unconventional "Billy Budd" adaptation, "Beau Travail," was released in 1999 to great critical acclaim and returned to Africa for its story of French Foreign Legion soldiers based there. Of Fargeau's work apart from Denis, his script for the controversial Leos Carax 1999 film "Pola X," is arguably his most notable.