Beau Travail

The film begins with the silhouettes of soldiers being ordered to stand in the sun as an endurance test. It is a recollection of Adjudant-Chef Galoup (Denis Lavant), from his home in Marseille, where he is writing his memoirs. He remembers the heat of Djibouti, where he led his section of men under the command of Commandant Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor). We see numerous training scenes, including assault courses and the securing of buildings. Much of the reminiscence has a balletic quality; many of these reminiscences are set against a back-drop of the traditional, local Djibouti life. Galoup has a beautiful young local girlfriend and they often go out dancing.

Galoup says of Forestier: I admired him without knowing why. He retains a wristband with the word Bruno. Galoup envies many things in Forestier, including his clear affection from the men. However, they happily socialise together, playing chess and snooker.

One day, Galoup's section is joined by Gilles Sentain (Grégoire Colin), whose physical beauty, social skills, and fortitude make Galoup envious. Repressed homosexual feelings from Galoup are suggested. He swears to destroy Sentain.

When Sentain hands a canteen of water to another soldier who is being punished by being ordered to dig a large hole in the heat of the day, Galoup chastises Sentain and knocks the water from his hand. Sentain strikes Galoup, who retaliates by taking Sentain into the desert and leaving him to walk back to the base alone. However Sentain does not return because Galoup has tampered with his compass, and the soldier consequently becomes lost. When Sentain fails to return, he is assumed to have deserted.

Sentain collapses in the arid salt flats. His compass is spotted by fellow legionnaires at a sale of local salt-encrusted novelties and is believed to prove Sentain is dead. However, Sentain is found by tribespeople who place him on a bus where he is looked after.

However, on the assumption that Galoup has either killed or tried to kill Sentain, Galoup is sent back to France by his commander for a court martial. It ends his career in the Foreign Legion, his only real love. We see him make his bed in the immaculate military manner, then lie on top clutching a pistol. The final scene is a lively acrobatic solo dance to "The Rhythm of the Night" at a night club in Djibouti.

• Denis Lavant - Adjudant-Chef Galoup
• Michel Subor - Commandant Bruno Forestier
• Grégoire Colin - Légionnaire Gilles Sentain
• Richard Courcet - Légionnaire
• Nicolas Duvauchelle - Légionnaire

In an interview, Denis said, "One of the cast had actually been in the Legion, so we took all their real exercises and did them together every day, to concentrate the actors as a group. We never said we were going to choreograph the film. But afterwards, when we started shooting, using Britten's music, those exercises became like a dance."[2]

The film was highly acclaimed in the United States, topping the Village Voice's Film Critics' Poll in 2000, with Claire Denis also placing at #2 for best director.[3] Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader rated it a "masterpiece," giving it the paper's highest rating of four stars.[4] Charles Taylor of Salon.com wrote that "Beau Travail is the most extreme example of [Denis'] talent, baffling and exhilarating. I don't know when I've seen a movie that is in so many ways foreign to what draws me to movies and still felt under a spell."[5] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it the magazine's highest rating, calling it "unique and unforgettable."[6] J. Hoberman of the Village Voice wrote that the film is "so tactile in its cinematography, inventive in its camera placement, and sensuous in its editing that the purposefully oblique and languid narrative is all but eclipsed."[7]

The review aggregator website, Metacritic, gave the film a score of 91/100 based on 20 reviews, which they characterized as "universal acclaim."[8] Rotten Tomatoes, another aggregator, reports an 85% approval rating based on 39 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.83/10. The site's consensus reads: "Beau Travail finds director Claire Denis drawing on classic literature to construct a modern tragedy fueled by timeless desires".[9]

• Beau Travail at IMDb
• Beau Travail at Rotten Tomatoes
• Beau Travail at Metacritic
• Beau Travail at Turner Classic Movies
• Beau travail: A Cinema of Sensation an essay by Girish Shambu at the Criterion Collection