In this loose adaptation of Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis takes a captivating look at the rituals of life in the French Foreign Legion, an army with no real purpose anymore. Denis Lavant stars as Galoup, a mercenary who remains emotionally isolated from the men with whom he rigorously trains.  His quiet existence is disrupted by the arrival of a promising recruit who draws the attention of the troop's commanding officer. Focusing on the beauty of the human form and with a clear nod to Riefenstahl's Olympia, Denis presents life in the barren North African landscape (familiar territory for the director, who was raised on the continent) with haunting intensity.