Saved events

Beau Travail (15)

Outdoor Cinema

Shirtless men stand in a circle ready to fight

Claire Denis reimagines Herman Melville’s Billy Budd in her extraordinary masterpiece, in which passions simmer in the male environment of the French Foreign Legion.

Voted one of the 10 best films of all time in a recent Sight & Sound poll, Beau Travail delves into the tensions within a French Foreign Legion regiment in the former colony of Djibouti, when the arrival of a handsome young soldier provokes a crisis in Galoup, a grizzled sergeant-major (Denis Lavant). Jealous and inexplicably shaken, Galoup resolves to destroy the younger man. Through the story, Denis subtly explores the legacy of colonialism and the surreal, redundant presence of the soldiers, in sharp contrast to the local women.

Denis’ visuals of desert terrains and men’s physicality blend with the remarkable soundscapes, from the sounds of the men’s army exercises to the snatches of Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd. Sound and vision come together in the film’s electrifying final nightclub scene, an exhilarating moment of release.

£14.40

Become a Member

Corporate Members - £13.50

Become a Corporate member

£12 (Limited availability) 

14–25? Join Young Barbican for free

£10

*Excludes £1.50 booking fee

Feeling Hungry?

Event Information

Sculpture Court