---
title: 'Beau Travail (1999)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Claire Denis'
released: '1999-09-04'
runtime_minutes: 92
genres:
  - 'Drama'
countries:
  - 'France'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/beau-travail-1999'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209933/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# Beau Travail (1999)

1999 · 92 min · Drama · France


## Synopsis

Beau Travail is a 1999 French arthouse psychological drama film directed by Claire Denis, who co-wrote the screenplay alongside Jean-Pol Fargeau as an adaptation of the novella Billy Budd by Herman Melville. Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor and Grégoire Colin. An almost dialogue-free movie, it follows the story of a section of French Foreign Legion soldiers training in the desert of Djibouti. Parts of the film's soundtrack are taken from Benjamin Britten's 1951 opera based on Melville's novella. It received widespread critical acclaim with special attention towards its direction, acting, cinematography, soundtrack and handling of its themes. It is considered one of the best French films and best movies directed by a female director. It is currently ranked the 7th best movie of all time by Sight and Sound.

## Credits

- **Director:** [Claire Denis](https://cinepixo.com/people/claire-denis)
- **Screenplay:** [Claire Denis](https://cinepixo.com/people/claire-denis), [Jean-Pol Fargeau](https://cinepixo.com/people/jean-pol-fargeau)
- **Original Music Composer:** [Eran Zur](https://cinepixo.com/people/eran-zur)
- **Producer:** [Patrick Grandperret](https://cinepixo.com/people/patrick-grandperret)
- **Director of Photography:** [Agnès Godard](https://cinepixo.com/people/agnes-godard)
- **Editor:** [Nelly Quettier](https://cinepixo.com/people/nelly-quettier)

## Cast

- [Mickael Ravovski](https://cinepixo.com/people/mickael-ravovski)
- [Dan Herzberg](https://cinepixo.com/people/dan-herzberg)
- [Michel Subor](https://cinepixo.com/people/michel-subor) as Bruno Forestier
- [Nicolas Duvauchelle](https://cinepixo.com/people/nicolas-duvauchelle)
- [Grégoire Colin](https://cinepixo.com/people/gregoire-colin) as Gilles Sentain
- [Adiatou Massudi](https://cinepixo.com/people/adiatou-massudi)
- [Bernardo Montet](https://cinepixo.com/people/bernardo-montet)
- [Marta Tafesse Kassa](https://cinepixo.com/people/marta-tafesse-kassa) as la jeune femme
- [Richard Courcet](https://cinepixo.com/people/richard-courcet)
- [Denis Lavant](https://cinepixo.com/people/denis-lavant) as Galoup

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/beau-travail-1999
Film facts: Wikidata (Q1193562); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.