French Movie - Beau Travail (1999)

Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet, Nicolas Duvauchelle

Beau travail is a 1999 French movie directed by Claire Denis that is loosely based on Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd. However, instead of the maritime setting of the novella, the movie takes place in Djibouti where the protagonists are soldiers in the French Foreign Legion. Parts of the soundtrack of the movie are from the opera by Benjamin Britten also based on the novella.



Back in France, master sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant) remembers the time in the desert, where he led his men under the command of Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor). His life there consisted mostly of routine duties like supervising the physical exercise of his men.One day, his troop is joined by Gilles Sentain (Grégoire Colin), whose physical beauty, social skills, and fortitude make Galoup envious. As in the novel, repressed homosexual feelings on the part of Galoup are hinted at.



When Sentain helps another soldier, violating previous orders by Galoup, Galoup sees a chance to destroy Sentain. As a punishment, he drives him out into the desert to make him walk back to the base. But Sentain does not return because Galoup has tampered with his compass, and Sentain cannot make his way out without it.Even though Sentain is later found and rescued by natives, Galoup is sent back to France by his commander for a court martial, ending his time in the Foreign Legion. The final scene suggests the possibility of his suicide.



Jenny J.J.I.'s Review: Even though I've seen quite a few French films this seems to be one of better ones. Is this movie slow pace?, yes but it's done for a reason. While viewing this you can tell that director Claire Denis had a tight budget and limited technical resources when this film was shot, but her fecund imagination and masterful directorial skills don't let those constraints appear on the screen. Visually, Beau Travail is rich in telling imagery, stunning settings, and powerful contrasts. Narrated in voiceover by the central character, Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant), Beau Travail uses minimal dialogue in telling a story that is simply plotted, but complicated in overtones and undertones, much of which is provided by subtle suggestion and richly ambiguous imagery. Running throughout like a leitmotif are shots of the squad of legionnaires in rigorous exercise and military training exercises, as well as attending to the daily rituals of laundry, bathing, and shaving.


The exercise sequences are highly choreographed. Whether engaged in yoga-like movements, or crawling under barbed wire, or traversing rope like high wire artists against the tropical blue sky, Denis mines the images of these lean, hard, half-naked men to make her points. Accompanying much of this footage with music from Britten's Billy Budd adds intensity and a further ritualistic strangeness to the mix.Into the status quo enters a newcomer, Sentain (Gregoire Colin), who proves to be popular with the other men and with the commander, Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor). Galoup's jealousy is aroused, and with the inevitability of Greek myth, the events unfold. The script throws in a passing line to the effect that Subor has been dogged by rumors, but the rumors are unspecified. His admiration for Sentain is expressed indirectly, verbally, but nothing happens between them. Still, through it all, the subtext of homoerotic love is palpably present, a given of the situation which remains unarticulated.


There are sequences, as well, of the men in town, largely nighttime scenes in a local discotheque, where the men mix with local black women. The music and dancing are charged, but the sexuality is largely implied. A brief scene nicely establishes Galoup's tender relationship with his woman. The relationship of blacks to whites and the place of blacks in the colonial setting is otherwise left unexplored, aside from a variety of images of the natives quietly going through their day-to-day lives in the austere environment. The latter strongly contrasts with the legionnaires' style of defying the same environment, with their grueling exercise under the hot sun, their fitted and primly creased uniforms challenging the heat and humidity.


In telling her story, Denis, through incidents and imagery, offers more to think about in her disciplined ninety minutes than other directors manage in twice the time. The former Russian soldier who has joined the Legion complains of having fought for an ideal that kept changing, while Subor, the ultimate professional soldier, claims no ideals at all. He, though, is addicted to kat, the narcotic leaf that the natives chew. The idea of the Legion as family, variations on themes of competitiveness (combat, games of chess and billiards) and the ever present questions of life, death, and mortality are offered in a rich mix, an object lesson in thoughtful filmmaking. Highly recommended.