Few women render male sexuality as unflinchingly as Claire Denis. But in Beau Travail, she sees its softness and vulnerability in the unlikeliest of places: a group of French foreign legion sailors stationed in Djibouti. Contempt, jealousy, and obsession roil under the surface, described through dance in this new restoration, centering on Denis Lavant’s sadistic commander Galoup. Loosely based on Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd, Denis’ masterpiece screens at AFS this weekend in anticipation of Austin’s encroaching white-hot summer. – Lina Fisher
March 8-9 & 12
