A jealous Legion officer’s obsession with a young recruit unfolds in Claire Denis’s mesmerising tale of desire, rivalry and repression.

Southend CineScene Presents

Beau Travail (1999)

Country: France

Director: Claire Denis

Running time: 93 minutes

Language: French, Italian and Russian, with English subtitles

Certificate: 15 (UK classification may vary by release)

Starring: Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin

Format: Colour

Set amid the sun-scorched landscapes of Djibouti, Claire Denis’s Beau Travail follows Sergeant Galoup, a French Foreign Legionnaire whose ordered existence begins to unravel with the arrival of a charismatic young recruit, Gilles Sentain. As jealousy and repressed desire take hold, the regiment’s strict codes of discipline become the backdrop for a quietly devastating study of masculinity, obsession and belonging.

Drawing loosely on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Denis crafts a hypnotic, sensuous film in which the physical rituals of military life become a kind of ballet. With striking cinematography by Agnès Godard and a powerful musical counterpoint from Benjamin Britten, Beau Travail builds towards one of contemporary cinema’s most unforgettable finales.

Description supplied by the event organiser.