No Fear, No Die | |
---|---|
Directed by | Claire Denis |
Produced by | Francis Boespflug Philippe Carcassonne |
Written by | Claire Denis Jean-Pol Fargeau |
Starring |
Isaach De Bankolé Alex Descas |
Music by | Abdullah Ibrahim |
Cinematography | Pascal Marti |
Edited by | Dominique Auvray |
Production
company |
Cinéa
NEF Diffusion |
Distributed by | Pyramide Distribution |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
90 minutes |
Country | France West Germany |
Language | French |
Box office | $390.000 |
No Fear, No Die (French: S'en fout la mort) is a 1990 drama film directed by Claire Denis and written by Denis in collaboration with Jean-Pol Fargeau. It features Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas and Solveig Dommartin.
Two young men, Dah (Isaach De Bankolé) from Benin and Jocelyn (Alex Descas) from the Caribbean decide to work together as a team that organizes illegal cockfights in order to gain quick cash. Dah is responsible for the financial transactions while Jocelyn trains the animals. Jocelyn has a special attachment to one of the champion roosters he has named No Fear, No Die. No Fear, No Die, like all roosters, is eventually defeated causing Jocelyn to begin to lose interest in cockfighting.
Dah and Jocelyn have a third partner, Pierre (Jean Claude Brialy) who owns the space where the cockfights take place. Pierre has a pre-existing relationship with Jocelyn, having known both him and his mother before he immigrated to France. However he constantly haggles with the two men over money and insists that the cockfights become more violent urging the men to use razor blades and steel spurs instead of small horns on the roosters. After one particular fight Pierre also insinuates that he slept with Jocelyn's mother.
Disgusted, Jocelyn takes to drinking and becomes more and more despondent, developing an obsession with Pierre's wife Toni (Solveig Dommartin) and naming one of the roosters after her. One night he gets drunk and releases the roosters from their cages. Afterwards Jocelyn and Dah learn that Pierre has begun locking them in and insists on using steel spurs on the roosters that night. Enraged, Jocelyn breaks out and flees to Paris where Dah manages to track him down and convinces him to return to the cockfighting ring for one final night.