"Beau travail" is labelled as a same-sex movie, but its description of homosexuality is implicit and introverted. It is difficult for soldiers in a constrained life to have private emotions, and the protagonist Galoup can only haunt him through his ghost. The narration of the book reveals the pain of not being able to walk on the common track of the world. Director Claire Denis tried his best to create a depressive atmosphere for the film, trapping the character's soul in a relatively sealed space surrounded by brick-wall dogma; but surprisingly, the film always shows blue sky and blue sea, endless desert, Or the undulating mountains; these vast expanse scenes are in contrast to the pressured spiritual world of the protagonist immersed in a lonely little pond. The ruined branches in his heart continue to spread uncontrollably, and because of the quiet ocean and desolation. Against the background of the desert, it is even more lonely.
The cool and restrained "Beau travail" is set against the background of the vast African wilderness. The director Claire Denis focuses on the image, reflecting the hidden but suppressed wildness or sexual desire of the protagonists. In the later passages of the film, the prosperous urban street scene appeared, which formed a huge gap in perception with the primitive African desert and environment; Claire Denis used the transformation of space to bring out a stronger sense of "abandonment" of Galoup. He For example, the characters in Beckett's "Waiting for Gorda", "hold on to the illusion of permanent disappointment while waiting, or in a state of powerlessness, conceal the clear sense that one's own existence is dying." Galoup, who wanders in the bustling city, is actually like Sentain holding an invalid compass, falling into a lost situation, unable to find a way out of self-help.
But "Beau travail", which is interspersed with "reality" and memories that took place in Africa, has more scenes that are not coherent. Such a processing method not only highlights the jumping nature of memories, but also creates a kind of "scatteredness". "a feeling of. Soldiers who have been trained and grown up by strict discipline and boring and repetitive training are like worker ants who can only follow the brigade. They will lose their own personality and ideas, and they can only obey the collective; this kind of "self" consciousness slowly The disappearance or the hollowing out of the soul is like an individual becoming incomplete, in keeping with this "fragmented" and "fragmented" image style. The film "Beau travail" gradually changed the situation through the addition of recruit Sentain. He dared to resist the chief Galoup, or Galoup might just exist in his fantasy, unscrupulous, and release his own solo dance. It can be seen as the individuality of the protagonists, and the soul of Galoup that swims away (you can think of Galoup's narration as watching your own soul), breaking the copper wall and iron wall of military discipline, and truly flowing return.
What the director Claire Denis wants to say in this film is not limited to the problem of individual "existence". The script written by Jean-Pol Fargeau and adapted from Melville’s novel, with the appearance of the recruit Sentain, destroyed the delicate same-sex relationship between the protagonist Galoup and the old boss Bruno; this kind of intervention is actually like this class of France. The "invasion" of the garrison troops in Africa, they smashed the ground and opened the way. These inconspicuous plots are also another form of "sabotage." The bigger and deeper, the bigger the gap between Galoup and Sentain). In the latter part of the film, the rescue of the African girl with the already chapped Sentain, or the sudden insertion of the image of the bustling city, can be said to be a different way of intervention. The film "Beau travail" deliberately explores the "intervention" or impact of modernization on the more primitive and backward regions. It crosses the continents. It uses African girls to provide Sentain with the most needed water source. It cleverly metaphors the supply of resources by the colony to the colonial country, or It was direct help; and what Galoup said to the soldier who was watching over the punished subordinates: "You are no longer an African, you are now a soldier." This sentence expresses that the soldier has or will Individual alienation by the military also expresses the assimilation crisis of African black civilization and other regions.
Claire Denis, who has lived in Africa since she was a child, has a special affection for this place. In "Beau travail", she uses music that can increase the religious color of the image, and the soldiers usually stretch and stretch but they are photographed as if they are participating in a certain ceremony. Cameras to show the ancient and mystery of this land in Africa. Claire Denis's "Beau travail" not only crosses the boundaries of regions and races, but also crosses time. It makes us feel the energy from ancient times; and this energy awakens people's primitive desires, and through the beauty of the ups and downs of love The display of male carcasses inspires the audience to have more lust or associations.
The film "Beau travail" is inspired by this bidirectional desire (both the audience and the characters in the film), and it implicitly illustrates the theory of the postmodern philosopher Gilles Delueze. One of Deleuze's thoughts is to modify Lacan and Freud's belief that desire is scarce, or just a subjective mental state caused by human lack. He felt that "desire should be active, active, and creative, a creative force similar to Nietzsche's will, and both revolutionary and subversive." Therefore, the protagonist Galoup’s desire for possession, or the desire to challenge and resist Galoup accumulated by the recruit Sentain, became the main cause of the awakening of these two autonomous consciousnesses. Their desires became their respective wings, making the recruit Sentain, And Galoup, who has already "internalized" the military system and order, can fly over the besieged city, instead of playing a role that doesn't even have his own name.
Claire Denis, who prefers gay themes (she has already filmed "J'ai pas sommeil" in 1994, which touches on homosexual/transgender). Although the figure of the selected actors is not very outstanding, they are set against the blue sky and sea. , And all can attract our beauty. And Claire Denis' unforgettable film language and expression methods, just like the background of water and sky, increase the charm of the film and bring more room for interpretation of the film. For example, the close-up of shirtless Sentain and Galoup facing each other with their eyes and bodies at the beach has made the exposed and suppressed emotions coexist, and it echoes the dance scene at the beginning (their confrontation is like dancing). The cold and hot shows the director's skill and the ideas hidden in the script.
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