[1][2][3] Her work has dealt with themes of colonial and post-colonial West Africa, as well as issues in modern France, and continues to influence European cinematic identity.

[4][5][6] Other acclaimed works include Trouble Every Day (2001), 35 Shots of Rum (2008), White Material (2009), High Life (2018) and Both Sides of the Blade (2022), the last of which won her the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.

[7] For Stars at Noon (2022), Denis won the Grand Prix at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, sharing the award with Lukas Dhont's Close.

[12] Her childhood was spent living in West Africa with her parents and her younger sister coloured her perspective on certain political issues.

In 1969 Denis studied at IDHEC (L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques – now La Fémis) with her husband's encouragement.

After telling everyone that she wanted to apply to IDHEC, they told her, "no, don't waste your time studying, all you need to do is make films here with us".

Such films include Jacques Rivette's Out 1 (1971), Denis Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie (1974), Robert Enrico's The Old Gun (1974), Eduardo de Gregorio's Sérail (1976) and Costa-Gavras's Hanna K. (1983).

[20] Denis's feature film debut, Chocolat (1988), is a semi-autobiographical meditation about a French woman reflecting on her childhood in Cameroon and her relationship with her family's African servant.

Denis's second film, Man No Run (1989), is a documentary that follows a group of Cameroonian musicians, Les Têtes Brulées, touring France.

Her next two narrative films were No Fear, No Die (S'en fout la mort, 1990) and I Can't Sleep (J'ai pas sommeil, 1994).

The Intruder (L'Intrus, 2004) is based on Jean Luc Nancy's short memoir about a man receiving a heart transplant and reconnecting with his son.

Her film Bastards (Les Salauds, 2013) was inspired by Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru, 1960).

Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2017) is a romantic comedy inspired by Roland Barthes's A Lover's Discourse: Fragments (1977).

[20] With films such as US Go Home (1994), Nénette et Boni, Beau Travail,[21] Trouble Every Day, and Vendredi soir, Denis established a reputation as a filmmaker who "has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France.

Denis has also made many short films spanning a multitude of subjects, such as Le 15 Mai (1969) while studying at IDHEC, Keep It for Yourself (1991) and Voilà l'enchaînement (2014).

She also made the short film Contact (2014) for a light installation by Olafur Eliasson, who helped on the production design for High Life.

Vincent Gallo, Béatrice Dalle, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Juliette Binoche and Grégoire Colin have also appeared in multiple Denis films.

She most often collaborates with screenwriter Jean-Pol Fargeau, composer Stuart Staples of the band Tindersticks, and cinematographer Agnès Godard, whom she met in the 1970s at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques.

[23] She also worked as an assistant director with Wim Wenders on Paris, Texas (1984) and Wings of Desire (1987), and with Jim Jarmusch on Down by Law (1986).

In 2018 Denis completed and released High Life, her first English-language feature film, with Robert Pattinson cast as the lead.

[30] According to the Australian James Phillips, Denis rejects the marketable conventions of Hollywood cinema and frees the viewers of her films from the expectations of clichés.

Denis has said she does not aim to bring about radical social change or make the viewer feel better: "I'm not so sure films should be made to soothe people's pain.

"[37] Denis has said that the body is "central" to her work and often uses skin, blood, and other bodily fluids to symbolize characters' feelings and highlight relationships between them.

In Chocolat, skin is photographed prominently to accentuate the difference between the subservient and degrading nature of the dark-skinned Proteè's forced outdoor bathing and the shameless confidence of pale, white Luc, who chooses to do so.

In Trouble Every Day and High Life, bodily fluids are central to the stories, creating visceral disturbing images, and highlighting the films' "sexuality".

Though she has made horror movies and romantic comedies and dramas, Denis has never been concerned with making the scariest, funniest, or most heartbreaking films; she is only interested in telling the human story.

"[39] In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Denis signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.