"Careful what you're saying. Backstabbing isn't in the Legion's honor code." Janus Films has revealed a new re-release trailer for an acclaimed French drama titled Beau Travail, one of the early films made by filmmaker Claire Denis. It first premiered in 1999 at both the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in the fall, then played at the Sundance Film Festival the next year. This film focuses on an ex-Foreign Legion officer as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in Djibouti. Criterion explains: "Denis and cinematographer Agnès Godard fold military and masculine codes of honor, colonialism’s legacy, destructive jealousy, and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most startling and unforgettable endings in all of modern cinema." Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, and Grégoire Colin. This 4K digital restoration was supervised by director of photography Agnès Godard and approved by director Claire Denis. And it will be playing in "virtual theaters" in the US starting in early September this year. One of Denis' finest films, this is an important watch to understand her filmmaking sensibilities.
Here's the new restoration trailer (+ original poster) for Claire Denis' Beau Travail, from Vimeo:
With her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor, Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual tone poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked desert landscapes of Djibouti, a French Foreign Legion sergeant (Denis Lavant) sows the seeds of his own ruin as his obsession with a striking young recruit (Grégoire Colin) plays out to the thunderous, operatic strains of Benjamin Britten. Denis and cinematographer Agnès Godard fold military and masculine codes of honor, colonialism's legacy, destructive jealousy, and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most startling and unforgettable endings in all of modern cinema. Beau Travail is directed by acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis, her fifth feature film at the time. The screenplay is written by Claire Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau; based on the story "Billy Budd, Sailor" by Herman Melville. This originally premiered at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 1999, and opened in the US in early 2000 after playing at the Sundance Film Festival. Janus Films will release Beau Travail in 4K in "virtual cinemas" starting on September 4th next month. For theater listings, visit their official website.
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