BEAU TRAVAIL ------------
In current day Marseilles, Galoup (Denis Lavant, "Lovers on the Bridge") goes through the regimen of daily life while contemplating his recent past as a Chief Master Sargeant of the French Foreign Legion ('From a certain point of view, I screwed up, and points of view are important.')
Cowritten (with Jean-Paul Fargeau) and directed by Claire Denis ("Chocolat"), "Beau Travail" is based on Melville's "Billy Budd," but shifts the focus from the innocent victim to his tormentor.
LAURA:
"Beau Travail" is a mood piece with limitted dialogue and a relatively langorous pace. However, if you can accept the irrational hatred of Galoup for one of his soldiers, Sentain (Grigoire Colin, "The Dreamlife of Angels"), and give yourself over to this film, you may find yourself experiencing cinematic splendor.
Galoup clearly loves his Legionnaire life, as well as the attention of his superior, Commander Bruno Forestier (Michel Subor). The Commander is content to use the Djibouti equivalent of marijuana even as he still keeps his experienced gaze upon Galoup and his praiseworthy group of displaced young men, He's also wise enough to warn Galoup about his overreactions to Sentain, a young man liked by all. All is well as Galoup guides his men through their daily training, followed by the inevitable laundry and outdoor ironing, rewarded by weekends spent at a disco, where the men dance around their undulating local girlfriends.
Then a helicopter crashes into the sea during a training exercise and Sentain emerges a hero, decorated by their Commander. Galoup's jealousy continues to build and he brings his men to camp in a desolate area, ostensibly to perform road repairs. Instead Galoup engineers his group's dynamics until he has a valid complaint against Sentain. Galoup chooses to punish Sentain (who ironically was standing up for another soldier Galoup was punishing too severely and inhumanely) by abandoning him in the desert with a compass he knows to be faulty - a death sentence in this harsh environment. Forestier is forced to court martial Galoup and we're brought full circle to where the tale began.
Denis' film features striking imagery (cinematography by Agnes Godard, film Editing by Nelly Quettier), juxtaposing waves in sand and in sea, salt encrusted on land (and a found compass). She glorifies the male body like a color film version of Leni Reifenstahl's "Olympiad" with bare-chested men crab-crawlinging under obstacles, wire-walking, thrusting and parrying. Her images have a gorgeous, crystal clarity which are superbly set to the music of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd opera and original music by Charles Henri de Pierrefeu.
Of her cast, only three men really matter. Colin is mostly an object of desire, either stoicly performing his duties or letting a open smile overtake his features when relaxing with his peers. Although Lavant narrates the story, Subor almost acts as the audience's point of view, even when he's not present. Bleery from local drugs yet cognizant of everything, he remains distanced from the action. In Lavant, Denis has found the lifeforce of her film. This actor demands your attention with his pockmarked face and urgent body language. Lavant gives a compelling performance, evoking audience sympathy even as he acts badly. When the film ends, we believe we're about to witness Galoup's suicide, then Denis cuts to him alone in the disco, where the tightly wound coil of his body literally explodes in dance as the lyrics "This is the rhythm of the night, this is the rhythm of my life" pound out over the dance floor, a powerful release from all that's been witnessed.
A
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