Beau travail

by Claire Denis

France

1999

90 min

French

Feature film

Fiction

Color

DCP

Rétrospectives and Cartes Blanches 2022

Official synopsis

In the Gulf of Djibouti, a platoon of the Foreign Legion repairs roads and trains for war. For Warrant Officer Galoup, this male community is everything - his life and his home. But the order is gradually going to break with the arrival of young soldier Sentain.

The programmer’s eye

As a rope drawn from Denis Lavant's dry biceps towards his solitude, “Beau travail” feels like physical effort. Always weighed down by the sun, the sensuality of the male body emerges when dissolved in its mechanical functions - and takes the form of a warlike, laborious, sweating, affected or dusty body. This reduction is never freed from the constraints of reality or the consequences of military presence; in very close collaboration with her brilliant director of photography Agnès Godard, Claire “Chaos” Denis arranges her characters in a slow virile choreography, found in the military tempo, and chisels the face of Grégoire Colin in the shores of Lake Assal.

Pierre Guidez

Biography and Filmography

Born in Paris, Claire Denis spent her childhood in several African countries, notably Cameroon. Back in France at the age of 12, she discovered auteur cinema with a cinephile professor. In 1972, she graduated from IDHEC and became Wim Wenders’ Assistant Director. In 1988, her first film “Chocolat” was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1996, she received the Golden Leopard at Locarno for “Nénette and Boni”. She then directed “Beau travail” (1999), “Trouble Every Day” (2001) or “High Life” (2018). Claire Denis is back this year with two feature films, “Both Sides of the Blade” and “Stars at Noon”.

2022 : STARS AT NOON - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2022 : BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2018 : HIGH LIFE - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2017 : LET THE SUNSHINE IN - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2015 : BREIDJING CAMP - Claire Denis - Director

2013 : BASTARDS - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2011 : TO THE DEVIL - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2010 : WHITE MATERIAL - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2009 : 35 SHOT OF RUM - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2005 : TOWARDS MATHILDE - Claire Denis - Director

2005 : THE INTRUDER - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2002 : FRIDAY NIGHT - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2001 : TROUBLE EVERY DAY - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

2000 : BEAU TRAVAIL - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1997 : NENETTE AND BONI - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1995 : US GO HOME - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1995 : LA DÉCLARATION (SHORT) - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1994 : I CAN’T SLEEP - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1991 : KEEP IT FOR YOURSELF - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1990 : NO FEAR, NO DIE - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1989 : MAN NO RUN - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

1988 : CHOCOLAT - Claire Denis - Director and Screenwriter

Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau d’après Herman Melville

Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin…

La Sept, Arte

Splendor Films

Lagardère Studio