Beau Travail15

Directed by Claire Denis | France | 1999 | 1h 33m | French w/ English subtitles | Starring Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet, Nicolas Duvauchelle

Amid the deep blue waters and sunbaked deserts of Djibouti, a French Foreign Legion sergeant begins a path to self-destruction, driven by his obsession with a captivating young recruit. Masculine codes of honour, the lasting impact of colonialism, and repressed desire blend in acclaimed filmmaker Claire Denis’s (High Life, Trouble Every Day) hypnotically sensual adaptation of Herman Melville’s ‘Billy Budd, Sailor’.

Voted the 7th Greatest Film of All Time in the BFI’s recent Sight And Sound poll of 2023.

1999 Classics Season

Reviews

‘A film that has the sweep and esthetic power of a full-length ballet.’
Stephen Holden, The New York Times

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We showed Beau Travail between December 1, 2024 and December 3, 2024.

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Today (Wednesday 1st April)
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15:00

Sinners 15
2h 18m
Twin brothers seek a fresh start in their 1930s Southern hometown but uncover an evil lurking beneath the surface. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan reunite for this chilling supernatural thriller set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow-era South.

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18:00

Safe 15
+ Intro
1h 58m
In 1980s Los Angeles, a suburban housewife develops a mysterious illness that doctors cannot explain. As she becomes convinced she has severe environmental allergies, Todd Haynes’s Safe unfolds as a chilling meditation on illness and isolation. All tickets £6 each.

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21:00

The President's Cake 12A
1h 45m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
During 1990s Iraq, schoolgirl Lamia is chosen by her class to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein. With her pet rooster beside her she searches the town for ingredients in an award-winning debut about childhood resilience and life under dictatorship.

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Tomorrow (Thursday 2nd April)
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12:00

Sinners 15
Parent + Baby Club
2h 18m
Twin brothers seek a fresh start in their 1930s Southern hometown but uncover an evil lurking beneath the surface. Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan reunite for this chilling supernatural thriller set against the backdrop of the Jim Crow-era South.

Book here

Find out more

15:00

The President's Cake 12A
1h 45m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
During 1990s Iraq, schoolgirl Lamia is chosen by her class to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein. With her pet rooster beside her she searches the town for ingredients in an award-winning debut about childhood resilience and life under dictatorship.

Book here

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17:45

Sirāt 15
1h 54m | Spanish, French & Arabic w/ English subtitles
Oliver Laxe’s intense, hallucinatory road movie follows a father and son through Morocco as they try to find a missing relative at various sprawling, illegal raves. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2025.

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20:30

Sound of Falling 18
2h 35m | German w/ English subtitles
Across the twentieth century four teenage girls spend their youth in the same farmhouse decades apart, yet their lives echo each other. German director Mascha Schilinski interweaves generations of girlhood, revealing loneliness and lost innocence across a turbulent century.

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