BEAU TRAVAIL
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Siskel Film Center, Siskel Film Center, Chicago, Illinois
screening
1999, Claire Denis, France, 92 mins. In French, Italian and Russian with English subtitles. Format: Digital. A loose adaptation of Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, BEAU TRAVAIL observes the routines of a French Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade that remained in Djibouti after the country's independence in 1977. Director Claire Denis finds rare poetry in choreographed training of an army with no one to fight, personalizing restlessness in Sergeant Galoup's (Denis Lavant) tense relationship with young recruit Gilles Sentain (Grégoire Colin). Part of Contact Zones: Cinema of Globalization, 1989–2024 lecture series. Brief lecture before screening and open discussion afterwards.