Sightlines · reception

How Trouble Every Day was received

2001 · Claire Denis · Trouble Every Day on Sightlines

The arc

Booed and walked out on at its out-of-competition Cannes premiere in 2001 and dismissed by many critics as an arthouse atrocity, it's since been reappraised as one of Claire Denis's major works — the scandal that aged into a touchstone.

What’s debated

Fans still argue whether it's a profound film about desire and the body or an empty provocation — and whether calling it 'horror' honors it or misses the point.

Its footprint

It's the ur-text of what James Quandt dubbed the 'New French Extremity' in his 2004 Artforum essay, and it's routinely name-checked as a forerunner of today's arthouse horror — with Tindersticks' smoldering title song carrying its own devoted following.

Where it stands

A cult object turned canon climber: the 'difficult' Denis film that cinephiles now hold up as essential, especially on Letterboxd's darker shelves.

Did you know? Its Cannes 2001 premiere was one of the festival's great scandals — screened out of competition, it provoked boos and mass walkouts before slowly becoming one of Denis's most defended films.