Claire Denis’s moving, poetic portrait of repression in the armed forces might be one of the best movies of all time.
In the French Foreign Legion, there are beautiful, elegant young men; there’s their goblinish commander; and there’s nowhere else to go for any of them. The group’s leader, Galoup (Denis Lavant), is hopelessly in thrall to his own superior, Forestier (Michel Subor) — so when young newcomer Sentain (Grégoire Colin) starts to court attention from Forestier, Galoup resorts to subterfuge and abuse of authority to keep Sentain in line with the rest of his section.
A masterpiece of visual storytelling and queer cinema, BEAU TRAVAIL is a sordid story of jealousy, externalized repression, and the struggle to find oneself beneath layers of oneself.
References:
#LaSauvagerieetBeautédeClaireDenis #DCP
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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters.
Timestamps
0:00 - Episode 325: BEAU TRAVAIL (1999)
2:29 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary
4:02 - People who are what (or are in places where) they shouldn’t be
18:47 - Counterpoint of image and story, visual and narrative
27:54 - Beautiful boys, colonialism, homoeroticism, and heteronormativity
35:07 - Galoup’s attempt to externalize his hatred of expression
47:48 - The all-timer ending scene
56:20 - The Junk Drawer
1:01:33 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1999
1:03:29 - Cody’s Noteys: The House of Champions: 1999 (deciding the best movie from 1999)
