Beau travail (1999)

This film focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Djibouti.

Director:

Claire Denis

Writers:

Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau

Stars:

Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin

6 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denis Lavant	...	Galoup
Michel Subor	...	Commander Bruno Forestier
Grégoire Colin	...	Gilles Sentain
Richard Courcet	...	Legionnaire
Nicolas Duvauchelle	...	Legionnaire
Adiatou Massudi	...	Legionnaire
Mickael Ravovski	...	Legionnaire
Dan Herzberg	...	Legionnaire
Giuseppe Molino	...	Legionnaire
Gianfranco Poddighe	...	Legionnaire
Marc Veh	...	Legionnaire
Thong Duy Nguyen	...	Legionnaire
Jean-Yves Vivet	...	Legionnaire
Bernardo Montet	...	Legionnaire
Dimitri Tsiapkinis	...	Legionnaire

Storyline

This film focuses on ex-Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind. He feels compelled to stop him from coming to the attention of the commandant who he admires, but who ignores him. Ultimately, his jealousy leads to the destruction of both Sentain and himself.

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Plot Keywords:

military training | male nudity | legionnaire | french foreign legion | djibouti | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #1,042.

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Quotes

Commander Bruno Forestier: [subtitled version]
[in Russian]
Commander Bruno Forestier: Why did you join the Legion?
Legionnaire: [in Russian] Commandant, you know what it's like in Russia. No money, no work. I was in the army there for two years. I fought for Russia. But it's impossible to fight just for an ideal. An ideal that just keeps changing. You know what I mean?
Commander Bruno Forestier: [in Russian] What ideal?

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Connections

Version of Billy Budd (1962)

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Soundtracks

Sous le soleil brûlant d'Afrique
Performed by French Foreign Legion Music Band

User Reviews

put it down and walk away.

This is quite possibly the most dull movie I have ever seen. It documents the life of a Sargeant Galoup in the French Legion in Africa who becomes obsessed with competing with one of his soldiers, Sentain. Tensions escalate. Bad stuff happens.

Very predictable, good acting but it isn't enough to save the viewer from utter boredom. I have lost a portion of my life that I can't have back because of Beau Travail. If you want to see a french movie, I assure you that there are thousands of good ones. If you think you would enjoy a more memoir-ish French movie like Beau Travail, Le Gloire de Mon Pere and the more highly rated Chateau de Ma Mere are both said to be classics. I myself have never seen them but I have read the books, so I know they if the film makers did not betray the storyline too much it is a sweet and slow(sometimes TOO slow) movie. But overall, pretty worth it. I personally prefered Le Gloire de Mon Pere.

To simluate Beau Travail: Do some pushups. Sit in front of a blank wall in your home for about 20 minutes. Run around the block. Watch the same wall. Drink some water. Do alot of crunches and jumping jacks. Wash dishes or do laundry. Come back and look at the wall. Repeat until you think you can't do it anymore out of sheer boredom, then continue for about 45 minutes.

In short, save yourself a few hours, a lot of boredom, and about 5 bucks and don't rent this movie. However, it does have a pretty cool song, by Turkish group Tarkan, called Simarik.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French Italian Russian

Release Date:

3 May 2000 (France)

Also Known As:

Beau travail

Filming Locations:

Obock, Djibouti

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,003, 2 April 2000

Gross USA:

$247,606

Company Credits

Production Co:

La Sept-Arte, Pathé Télévision, S.M. Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1