Beau Travail
Beau Travail | |
---|---|
Directed by | Claire Denis |
Screenplay by | Claire Denis Jean-Pol Fargeau |
Based on | Billy Budd by Herman Melville |
Produced by | Patrick Grandperret |
Starring | Denis Lavant Michel Subor |
Cinematography | Agnès Godard |
Edited by | Nelly Quettier |
Music by | Benjamin Britten Charles Henri de Pierrefeu |
Distributed by | Pyramide Distribution |
Release dates |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | France |
Languages | French Italian Russian |
Box office | $570,000[1] |
Beau Travail (pronounced
Synopsis
Adjudant-Chef Galoup of the French Foreign Legion reflects on his life from his home in Marseille. He recalls his time in Djibouti, where he led a section of men under the command of Commandant Bruno Forestier. Galoup admired and envied many of Forestier's qualities, including his clear affection from the men, and retains a wristband with Forestier's name. Galoup has a Djiboutian girlfriend, and they often go out dancing.
One day, a new recruit named Gilles Sentain joins Galoup's section. Galoup harbors an immediate and seemingly irrational hostility towards Sentain, and vows to destroy him. When Sentain hands a canteen of water to another soldier who is being punished by being forced 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 ordering him to walk back to the base alone. However, Galoup had previously tampered with Sentain's compass, causing him to become lost and collapse from dehydration in the arid salt flats.
Sentain is ultimately found and rescued by locals, but never returns to the base and is presumed to have deserted. His compass is later found by the legionnaires at a local sale of salt-encrusted novelties, and is believed to prove Sentain is dead. On the assumption that Galoup has either killed or attempted to kill Sentain, Galoup is sent back to France by Forestier for a court martial, ending his career in the Foreign Legion. He makes his bed in the immaculate military manner, then lies on top clutching a pistol, and reads aloud the phrase tattooed on his chest: "Sert la bonne cause et meurs" ("Serve the good cause then die"). The film ends with a sequence of Galoup at a night club in Djibouti, engaging in a lively acrobatic solo dance to "The Rhythm of the Night".
Cast
- Denis Lavant as Adjudant-Chef Galoup
- Michel Subor as Commandant Bruno Forestier
- Grégoire Colin as Légionnaire Gilles Sentain
- Richard Courcet as Légionnaire
- Nicolas Duvauchelle as Légionnaire
Subor played a character with the same name 30 years earlier in Le petit soldat.
Production
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
Release
The film was screened on 4 September 1999 in the Cinema del Presente section at the 56th Venice International Film Festival.[3] It was theatrically released in France on 3 May 2000 by Pyramide Distribution.[4]
Reception
The film was highly acclaimed in the United States, topping the
The review aggregator website,
In 2017, Rolling Stone named the film as the 12th best film in their list The 100 Greatest Movies of the Nineties.[12]
In the 2022 Sight and Sound critic's poll, Beau Travail was ranked the 7th best movie of all time.[13] Variety magazine ranked Beau Travail at 69 for its list The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.[14]
References
- ^ "Beau travail (2000) - JPBox-Office". www.jpbox-office.com.
- ^ "Interview: Claire Denis and Beau Travail". The Daily Telegraph. 16 August 2003.
- ^ "Il programma". la Repubblica (in Italian). 4 September 1999. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "Beau Travail" (in French). Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "Where Are They Now: Winners of Past Film Polls". The Village Voice. 22 December 2009. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
- ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (26 May 2000). "Unsatisfied Men". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020 – via www.jonathanrosenbaum.net.
- ^ Taylor, Charles (31 March 2000). "Beau Travail". Salon.com.
- ^ Hoberman, J. (28 March 2000). "Work in Progress". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 9 July 2001.
- ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ "Beau Travail". Metacritic.
- ^ "Beau Travail (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Movies of the Nineties - 'Beau Travail'". Rolling Stone. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ "Revealed: the results of the 2022 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time poll". bfi.org.uk. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ "The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time - Beau Travail (1999)". Variety. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
External links
- 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 Criterion Collection