Beau Travail Movie Review 1998

Very loose adaptation of Melville's "Billy Budd" is set in the French Foreign Legion at an outpost near Djibouti in Africa. Second-in-command Galoup (Lavant) tries to break popular new soldier Sentain (Colin) before he can become the Commandant's favorite. Visual style and attention to the male form take precedence over the story itself, which is mostly provided in Galoup's flashback narration. French with subtitles.

Distribution

New Yorker Video, 16 W. 61st St., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10023, Phone: (212)645-4600, Toll-free: 800-447-0196, Fax: (212)645-3030, Email: info@newyorkerfilms.com, URL: http://www.newyorkerfilms.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 89 minutes.
Originally from French.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Desert War/Foreign Legion, Flashback

Screenplay

Jean-Pol Fargeau

Cast

Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Gregoire Colin, Claire Denis

Cinematography

Agnes Godard