Beau Travail

New Yorker Films | Release Date: March 31, 2000

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

91	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 20 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Jonathan Foreman

So minimalist in characterization and dialogue that the plot all but evaporates -- and so does any dramatic power.

100

Peter Travers

Unique and unforgettable.

100

Wesley Morris

Elegant. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineKen Fox

Denis dispenses with most of Melville's hefty Christian symbolism in favor of the story's other great theme -- repressed homoerotic desire. Read full review

Marjorie Baumgarten

A stunning work of beauty, mystery, contemplation, and grit -- and like sands through the desert hourglass, these are the days of our lives. Read full review

100

Michael Wilmington

You may not like Beau Travail - which is, after all, a quintessential "critic's film" - but I think you'll have to admit it's been almost perfectly executed. Read full review

Kevin Thomas

A ruggedly beautiful landscape of desert and sea provides a dramatic setting for a psychological drama told with the utmost rigor--and unabashed eroticism. Read full review

100

Stephen Holden

A film that has the sweep and esthetic power of a full-length ballet. Read full review

100

Peter Stack

Riveting. Read full review

Film.comPeter Brunette

A lovely piece of work.

100

Lisa Schwarzbaum

(Denis's) visual style is hypnotic, rapturous, and she makes barren landscapes look gorgeous, hard men look vulnerable. Read full review

100

Film.comErnest Hardy

For anyone who wants to see wildly inventive, peerless filmmaking that's oblivious to market-place formulas, Beau Travail is an absolute must-see.

Brendan Bernhard

Leaving the theater, you feel not only as if you've been in a foreign country, but as if you'd gone there inside someone else's skin. Read full review

Charles Taylor

Claire Denis' baffling and exhilarating "Billy Budd" smolders with heat-blasted rhythms and supercharged acting. Read full review

100

Kim Morgan

It easily is the most beautiful picture released in America so far this year, perhaps one of the most beautiful films ever made.

Mr. ShowbizMichael Atkinson

The characters are barely characters, the story barely a story, and the elliptical filmmaking style that so besots Denis' many fans could drive you to drink.

Jami Bernard

"Chocolat" was just a warmup for the stunning display of the male form against National Geographic settings in her new Beau Travail.

Marta Barber

If only Beau Travail had a more dramatic edge, this nicely done film wouldn't have felt so long.

100

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Masterpiece. Read full review

100

J. Hoberman

A movie so tactile in its cinematography, inventive in its camera placement, and sensuous in its editing that the purposefully oblique and languid narrative is all but eclipsed. Read full review