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

Sorry - you missed it!

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

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Today (Wednesday 11th March)
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15:30

Soul to Soul U
1h 36m
Documentary about a historic 1971 concert at Black Star Square in Accra, celebrating Ghana’s independence. Over 100,000 people gathered as Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, and other African American musicians created groundbreaking music and experienced Africa for the first time.

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18:00

Burning Man: Art on Fire 12A
+ Director Q&A
1h 30m
Special Events
Documentary about the artists behind Burning Man’s iconic installations, capturing the creativity and community of the festival, and following their race to create massive works in Nevada’s brutal desert. Screening followed by a Q&A with director Gerry Fox.

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20:45

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 15
Descriptive Subtitles
1h 53m
A house filling with water. A child who won’t get better. And a husband who’s never there. Rose Byrne delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a mother whose world is unravelling in Mary Bronstein’s darkly comic portrait of modern womanhood.

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Tomorrow (Thursday 12th March)
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14:45

“Wuthering Heights” 15
Descriptive Subtitles
2h 16m
In 18th-century Yorkshire, brooding outsider Heathcliff falls for Catherine, the daughter of his master, igniting a destructive love story of obsession. Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie star in Emerald Fennell’s (Saltburn) sensual adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel.

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17:45

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 15
1h 53m
A house filling with water. A child who won’t get better. And a husband who’s never there. Rose Byrne delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a mother whose world is unravelling in Mary Bronstein’s darkly comic portrait of modern womanhood.

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20:30

Audition 18
1h 55m | Japanese w/ English subtitles
The Japanese Film Club returns with one of the most infamous Japanese horror films ever made. Acclaimed director Takashi Miike delivers a chilling, unsettling nightmare that explores obsession and objectification. And above all, one question lingers: what’s in the bag?

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Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!

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