French film director Claire Denis introduces her film BEAU TRAVAIL (1999) at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on Nov. 13, 2012.
Denis Lavant is the name of this wonderful actor who’s playing Galoup. Danced very impressive in the end. I’ll never be able anymore listening to this song without see him dancing on this song.
The movie is one of my few all time (I'm 82, a 23 year US Army veteran) favorites. To me is seems simple, spare, clean. I was in the relatively small US Special Forces for a while and have good memories of the elite training and comradery, so that could be part of why I like the movie, but the deeper side of the movie I see is non-sexual jealousy - yes, even in a tough Foreign Legion sergeant. Then the release of revenge, and a dance, and in bed with a gun. Surprisingly unusual 💪
The Legion dissing her MADE that movie, it would've looked like "Black Hawk Down" otherwise, w/ hundreds of men, choppers, and armor. A lesser director might've pulled the plug on it right there but instead she took what she had and made it a stripped down, expressionist poem (This woman has been Assist Director on a PILE of films, she knows her craft). I'd love to know where their fears of gayness came from. The Billy Budd opera was written by two gay men but how could the Legion have been privy to that? The music from the opera is in the movie and it's totally hypnotic even if the disco number steals the show. Billy Budd itself is not "gay" but as Camille Paglia brilliantly points out in "Sexual Personae" there are tons of homoerotic undercurrents in Melville. Budd is a kind of homoerotic idol, probably based on Antinous, whose statue Melville was entranced by. If you've read Mann's "Death in Venice," Billy Budd is basically Tadzio as sailor - the silent archetype of Beautiful Boy who creates a hierarchical circle of unspoken man-love, Spartan man-love around him, but to the chagrin of a jealous foe. You can't "teach" this stuff in film class and she's acknowledged she only gets away with it because she operates outside the studio system, that tends to be your so-called "auteurs" comfort space, although directors can improv things into their movies that become iconic. Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill dance in "Silence of the Lambs" was unscripted; he had to loosen up w/ shots of tequila if I remember and Demme used music from a cassette given to him by an unknown musician driving his cab! These two dance scenes are eerily kissing cousins, as Bill sashaying to "Goodbye Horses" is his transformative moment same as the sergeant seems to transcend his death with his dance.
Claire Denis is the greatest filmmaker in our generation.
One of the greatest, yes!
agreed
I agree that she is among the greatest yes.
Beau Travail - a masterpiece
Denis Lavant's dervish dance of death at the end is so moving. This is the rhythm of the night...
Denis Lavant is the name of this wonderful actor who’s playing Galoup.
Danced very impressive in the end.
I’ll never be able anymore listening to this song without see him dancing on this song.
Master piece...
The movie is one of my few all time (I'm 82, a 23 year US Army veteran) favorites. To me is seems simple, spare, clean. I was in the relatively small US Special Forces for a while and have good memories of the elite training and comradery, so that could be part of why I like the movie, but the deeper side of the movie I see is non-sexual jealousy - yes, even in a tough Foreign Legion sergeant. Then the release of revenge, and a dance, and in bed with a gun. Surprisingly unusual 💪
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the film.
wish i was there 🥺🥺
the ease of Claire Denis
The Legion dissing her MADE that movie, it would've looked like "Black Hawk Down" otherwise, w/ hundreds of men, choppers, and armor. A lesser director might've pulled the plug on it right there but instead she took what she had and made it a stripped down, expressionist poem (This woman has been Assist Director on a PILE of films, she knows her craft). I'd love to know where their fears of gayness came from. The Billy Budd opera was written by two gay men but how could the Legion have been privy to that? The music from the opera is in the movie and it's totally hypnotic even if the disco number steals the show. Billy Budd itself is not "gay" but as Camille Paglia brilliantly points out in "Sexual Personae" there are tons of homoerotic undercurrents in Melville. Budd is a kind of homoerotic idol, probably based on Antinous, whose statue Melville was entranced by. If you've read Mann's "Death in Venice," Billy Budd is basically Tadzio as sailor - the silent archetype of Beautiful Boy who creates a hierarchical circle of unspoken man-love, Spartan man-love around him, but to the chagrin of a jealous foe.
You can't "teach" this stuff in film class and she's acknowledged she only gets away with it because she operates outside the studio system, that tends to be your so-called "auteurs" comfort space, although directors can improv things into their movies that become iconic. Ted Levine's Buffalo Bill dance in "Silence of the Lambs" was unscripted; he had to loosen up w/ shots of tequila if I remember and Demme used music from a cassette given to him by an unknown musician driving his cab! These two dance scenes are eerily kissing cousins, as Bill sashaying to "Goodbye Horses" is his transformative moment same as the sergeant seems to transcend his death with his dance.
Thanks for adding to the discussion.
QUEEN!
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