Basically it's "Billy Budd" transferred to the French Foreign Legion and with a much greater emphasis on the homoerotic relationship between its protagonists. Billy is now a young legionnaire, (Gregoire Colin), his Claggart is his sergeant, jealous of his closeness to the commander, (Dennis Lavant) while their Captain Vere is that commander , (Michel Subor). Claire Denis' masterpiece "Beau Travail" is one of the most beautiful looking films ever to deal almost exclusively with the tensions between men living in close proximity. She fills the screen with beautiful bodies and then stops short of ever allowing anything physical to develop and you could say it's this lack of physical contact that allows things to fester and finally explode. In this respect it is a much more honest version of "Billy Budd" than the Peter Ustinov film. She also uses very little dialogue; seeing is believing. You don't need to be an expert in human psychology to figure out exactly what is happening. This may be the best thing Denis has ever done and is still one of the greatest films ever directed by a woman.
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