Press Kit - New Yorker Films

New Yorker Films Presents
BEAU TRAVAIL
a film by Claire Denis
Official Selection 1999
Venice, Toronto & New York Film Festivals
Official Selection 2000
Sundance Film Festival
CREDITS
Director
Screenplay
Cinematographer
Choreographer
Executive Producer
Editor
Production Designer
Sound
Music
Original Score
Claire Denis
Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Agnès Godard
Bernardo Montet
Jerome Minet
Nelly Quettier
Arnaud de Moleron
Jean-Paul Mugel
Charles Henry de Pirrefeu
Eran Tzur
CAST
Galoup
Bruno Forestier
Gilles Sentain
Legionnaires:
Denis Lavant
Michel Subor
Grégoire Colin
Richard Courcet
Nicolas Duvauchelle
Adiatou Massudi
Mickeal Ravovski
Dan Herzberh
Giuseppe Molino
Gianfranco Poddighe
Marc Veh
Thong Duy Nguyen
Jean-Yves Vivet
Bernardo Montet
Dimitri Tsiapkinis
Djamel Zemali
Abdlekander Bouti
Marta Tafesse Kassa
Young Woman
France
1999
90 min.
(in French with English subtitles)
1:66
Dolby SR
Synopsis
Inspired by Herman Melville’s “Billy Budd”, BEAU TRAVAIL, set in the east African
enclave of Djibouti, is the most provocative and accomplished film yet by Claire Denis
(I CAN’T SLEEP, NÉNETTE AND BONI). Focusing on the lives of men in a small
French Foreign Legion outpost, the film emphasizes the banality and ritual of their days
in the scorching sun. They spend their time practicing military drills, exercising
vigorously and performing domestic chores. Contact with the locals is minimal, largely
limited to nocturnal soirées in open-air discos. Sergeant Galoup (Denis Lavant), barely
older than his charges, seems the ideal Legionnaire: a brooding loner, cut off from his
past. He runs the troupe like a well-oiled machine, until the arrival of a new recruit,
Sentain (Grégoire Colin), threatens to upset the delicate balance that is his life. This is a
poetic and lyrical exploration of a special, very enclosed male world through its rituals,
codes and barely contained emotional conflicts.
The film is saturated with a rich musical score combined with lush, stark images of the
raw beauty of the men’s muscular torsos juxtaposed against a stunning African
landscape. It creates a visual poem that is actualized through ballet-like movements, and
resonates with the power of a Greek tragedy.
A Note from Claire Denis
Two Poems of Herman Melville inspired me first for this work:
The Night March
With banners furled, and clarions mute,
An army passes in the night,
And beaming spears and helms salute,
The dark with bright.
In silence deep the legions stream,
With open ranks, in order true;
Over boundless plains they stream and gleam –
No chief in view!
Gold in the Mountain
Gold in the mountain
And gold in the glen
And greed in the heart
Heaven having no part,
And unsatisfied men.
CLAIRE DENIS
Director
Now at the forefront of a new wave of French women filmmakers, Claire Denis was born
in Paris, the eldest daughter of a French civil servant. When she was two months old, her
family moved to Africa, and over the years of her childhood, lived in several countries
across the continent. Denis returned to Paris at the age of thirteen, and later enrolled in
the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC), from which she graduated in
1972. She made a series of short films and several documentaries until 1975, when Louis
Daquin, the director of IDHEC, recommended her for a job on Robert Enrico’s THE
SECRET.
Denis began working regularly, first as a production assistant, then as a second assistant
director, and finally as a first assistant director with such renowned directors as Dusan
Makavejev, Jacques Rivette, Eduardo de Gregorio, Jacques Rouffio and Constantin
Costa-Gavras. The idea for her feature film, CHOCOLAT, came to her while she was on
location in the American South for Wim Wenders’ PARIS, TEXAS. The landscape
evoked memories of her youth, and she conceived of a semi-autobiographical story of
racial tension in colonial Africa of the 1950s.
Denis worked with Jim Jarmusch on DOWN BY LAW, and again with Wenders on
WINGS OF DESIRE, before finally getting to shoot CHOCOLAT in 1988. That year,
her film was in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, won a CIAK Prize in Italy as
Best First Feature, and was nominated for César (french Oscar) in the same category.
When it opened theatrically in the United States, CHOCOLAT won wide critical praise
and quickly became an art house hit.
Denis went on to direct MAN NO RUN (1989), a concert film which covered the first
French tour of the Cameroon band “Les Têtes brulées,” and which premiered at the 1989
Berlin Film Festival. NO FEAR NO DIE (1990), about two African immigrants in
France who train and sell birds for illegal cockfights, which was released theatrically in
the United States, but was banned in the United Kingdom. KEEP IT TO YOURSELF
(1991); I CAN’T SLEEP (1993), which was released by New Yorker Films in the US the
following year; U.S. GO HOME in 1994 and NÉNETTE AND BONI in 1996. Denis has
also directed several television projects.
CLAIRE DENIS
FILMOGRAPHY
1989
1989
1990
Chocolat
Man No Run
No Fear, No Die
Jacques Rivette, le Veilleur (in collaboration with Serge Daney)
1991
1993
1994
1996
1999
Keep It For Yourself
I Can’t Sleep
US Go Home
Nénette and Boni
Beau Travail
About the Actors
DENIS LAVANT
(Galoup)
After his education at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris, Denis Lavant
became a well-known stage actor in France. After his film debut in LES MISERABLES,
he gained international reputation starring in BOY MEETS GIRL , BAD BLOOD and
LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE, all directed by Léos Carax. Denis Lavant has worked with
such famous directors as Patrice Chereau, Diane Kurys and Claude Lelouch.
FILMOGRAPHY
1982
1983
1983
1984
1984
1985
1986
1990
1991
1993
1994
1996
1998
1999
Les Misérables
At First Sight
The Wounded Man
Viva la Vie!
Boy Meets Girl
Hôtel du Siècle - (TV Series)
Bad Blood
Mona and Me
Lovers on the Bridge
Forced to be with Others
The Chess Game
Obviously, I Need You
Don Juan
Cantique de la Racaille
Tuvalu
Le Monde à l’envers
Beau Travail
Robert Hossein
Diane Kurys
Patrice Chéreau
Claude Lelouch
Léos Carax
Jean Kerchbron
Léos Carax
Patrick Grandperret
Léos Carax
Simon Reggiani
Yves Hanchar
Jean-Michel Carré
Jacques Weber
Vincent Ravalec
Veit Helmer
Rolando Colla
Claire Denis
MICHEL SUBOR
(Bruno Forestier)
Michel Subor has acted in over 18 film and television projects. Interestingly, in Godard’s
LE PETIT SOLDAT, his character was called Bruno Forestier, the same name that Claire
Denis gives him in BEAU TRAVAIL.
FILMOGRAPHY
1961
1961
1962
1963
1963
1963
1965
1965
1966
1966
1969
1973
1980
1985
1989
1991
1997
1999
Jules and Jim
Only for Love
François Truffaut
Jean Aurel, Jack Dunn Trop,
Roger Vadim
Wild Living
Pierre Montazel
Anatomy of a Marriage
André Cayatle
Le Petit Soldat
Jean-Luc Godard
Le Reflux
Paul Gégauff
La Dame de Pique
Léonard Keigel
What’s New, Pussycat
Clive Vonner
A Nous Deux Paris
Jean-Jacques Vierne
Su Nombre es Daphne
Germán Lorente
Topaz
Alfred Hitchcock
La Balancoire a Minouches
Jean-Louis van Belle
Le Rebelle
Gérard Blain
Le Quatrieme Pouvoir
Serge Leroy
Der Mann im Salz (TV)
Rainer Wolffhardt
Tatort – Finale am Rothenbaum (TV)Dieter Kehler
Un Petit Grain de Folie (TV)
Sébastien Grall
Beau Travail
Claire Denis
GRÉGOIRE COLIN
(Gilles Sentain)
Grégoire Colin has acted in over 17 feature films. He received the Bronze Leopard at
Festival of Locarno for his acting in NÉNETTE AND BONI, a film by Claire Denis.
Most recently, he played the role of Chriss in Erick Zonca’s DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS.
FILMOGRAPHY
1991
1992
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
L’année de L’éveil
Oliver Oliver
Roulez Jeunesse
L’ceil Écarlate
Pas Très Catholique
La Reine Margot
Before the Rain
Fiesta
Nénette and Boni
Homère
The Dreamlife of Angels
Secret Defense
Disparus
Superlove
Beau Travail
Gérard Corbiau
Agnieszka Holland
Jacques Fansten
Dominique Roulet
Tony Marshall
Patrice Chéreau
Milch Manchevski
Pierre Boutron
Claire Denis
Fabio Carpi
Erick Zonca
Jacques Rivette
Gilles Bourdos
Jean-Claude Janer
Claire Denis
AGNÈS GODARD
Director of Photography
After graduating from the photography section of IDHEC, Agnes Godard started working
as camera operator on feature films directed be Peter Greenaway, Wim Wenders, Bernard
Tavernier and Claire Denis, to name but a few. She is now director of photography and
has worked in that capacity on 19 films amongst which are JEUNESSE SANS DIEU by
Catherine Corsini, NENETTE ET BONI by Claire Denis, L’ARRIÈRE PAYS by Jacques
Nolot, PETITE by Noémie Lvovski (in collaboration with Bertrand Chatry) and
DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS by Erick Zonca.
FILMOGRAPHY
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Le Vieilleur
Keep It For Yourself
Jacquot de Nantes
L’Absence
I Can’t Sleep
La Vis (short film)
US Go Home
Sida, Une Histoire Qui N’a Pas deFin
Jeunesse Sans Dieu
Sida, Paroles de Familles
Nénette et Boni
L’Arrière Pays
Dreamlife of Angels
Beau Travail
La Vie Ne Me Fait Pas Peur
La Nouvelle Eve
Beau Travail
Claire Denis
Claire Denis
Agnès Varda
Peter Handke
Claire Denis
Didier Flamand
Claire Denis
Paul Muxel & Bertrand de Solliers
Catherine Corsini
Paul Muxel & Bertrand de Solliers
Claire Denis
Jacques Nolot
Erick Zonca
Claire Denis
Noémie Lvovsky
Catherine Corsini
Claire Denis
MUSIC
Excerpts from:
“Billy Budd”
“Safeway Cart”
“Rhythm of the Night”
“Simarik”
“Tourment d’Amour”
“Aida”
“Wassa Mogola”
Benjamin Britton opera
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Corona
Tarkan
Franky Vincent
Olivier N’Goma
Abayazid Ali Dhable
Legionnaire songs as interpreted by the actors:
“La Lune est Claire”
“Sous le Soleil brulant d’Afrique”