Republished from the show notes of my other site, Fuds on Film.
Claire Denis’ 1999 Good Work is of course capitalising on the immense success of the 1998 Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Legionnaire, which inspired a rash of imitators and a surge in interest in the legendary French Foreign Legion.
Here we are focussed on Denis Lavant’s Galoup, second in command to Michel Subor’s Commander Bruno Forestier in a squad stationed in Djibouti. While his commander is seemingly well regarded and liked by and friendly with everyone in the squad, including Galoup, the same does not seem to hold for Galoup.
Is that because of some character flaw in Galoup, or just a by-product of Galoup being the hard taskmaster and disciplinarian that is deemed essential to building the esprit de corps in the troops? After all, he seems to get on perfectly well with his local girlfriend. We are invited to ponder this, but the framing of this being set as Galoup’s recollections on a trip back to Paris for court martial hints at the answer.
Indeed, things come to a head when the personable, beautiful young Gilles Sentain, played by Grégoire Colin, is posted to the unit, with a mysterious past it seems that Sentain would rather be left hidden. Which would not seem all that uncommon for the Foreign Legion – see aforementioned 1998 Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Legionnaire – but Galoup cannot let this go and becomes obsessed with destroying Sentain, which will ultimately lead to Galoup’s downfall.
I am, of course, nothing if not a ball of contradictions and hypocrisy, so while I’m sure there’s ample evidence of me really disliking minimalist films that do not explicitly stake out what a character is thinking when they go off on their journey – unlike the 1998 Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Legionnaire – here I quite like not being able to fully get into Galoup’s head, and not entirely trusting the things that he’s saying that purports to explain himself. Those looks he gives a topless Sentain surely have a longing to them that’s in no way connected to uncovering the truth, just plain ol’ uncovering, right?
It’s a languidly paced film, which rather suits the baking sun and the rising tension as Galoup goes off the rails in the low-key way we’ve become accustomed to over the restrained 90 minute running time, and I suppose there’s a case to be made that there’s not, strictly speaking, a lot happening narratively to fill those 90 minutes. Thankfully it’s filled instead with some breathtaking visuals and a tremendous character performance from Denis Lavant, who manages to remain captivating and mysterious throughout.
I’ve not seen a lot of Claire Denis body of work, but I’ll have to rectify that going forward, and for those in a similar situation Beau Travail gets my recommendation. Unlike the 1998 Jean-Claude Van Damme classic Legionnaire, which is, in reality, a bit crap.