Alternate Best Actor 1996: Philippe Torreton in Captain Conan

Philippe Torreton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character in Captain Conan.

Captain Conan is an effective film following the exploits and fallout of an infantry group during World War I, and after.

Captain Conan is a mix of stories, though these actually do cohere, this as we follow Captain Conan, his friend the academically inclined Norbert, and his squad of soldiers, many who were in military prisons previously during World War I, and a bit after. We first witness the men as they are in their element, and this is best represented by Philippe Torreton as the titular Conan. Torreton delivers a wonderful physical performance here in that he creates this effortless combination of intensity with bravado. Torreton creates a man where war essentially is his personal playground in a way, this in the man who is not a soldier but a self-described warrior. This is found in Torreton's performance as Conan, where his name is quite befitting. Torreton's portrayal delivers that man who as he walks among the battlefield you are granted this sense of determination in his eyes, but his whole manner though is with this unique charisma. We see how his men would follow him without question as there is such a sense of certainty in his movements, and his whole manner has this force of personality that Torreton brings out with it. He finds a striking presence of a man who is a force onto himself, but even greater when amplified what he does for his troops. This as Torreton doesn't portray him even as the more typical somber, essentials sort, rather this is a man who wants to be on the battlefield as everything about him in these scenes is a man who is thriving in this environment.

In and around the battles, during the war, Torreton portrays a soldier who lives to be a soldier. This as even as he chats up local girls seeking quick dalliances, it isn't with a lustfulness, but rather that same certainty in his spirit that defines his ferocity in battles. Torreton delivering the charm of the conquering hero in a way, even though much of his work involves technical slaughter as his company has a no prisoners policy. Torreton though presents a man wholly comfortable, as he would be a warrior from any century rather than perhaps the more expected respectable man of the 20th century. Torreton delivers this natural state of the confidence that just exudes in his manner that is without that hesitation. This as he even orders the disobedience of commands, Torreton delivers these lines a mere fact of what will be done without question. This with a sense of a man who knows exactly what he is doing, and the assurance that whatever he says will be done, must be done. There is an ease, and even grace about it that you are granted how he could get away with it, because in this same way you see the efficiency of the man in this. What the man does do is make advancements, and is successful in war. His manner is supported by his success within the French cause. Naturally however though as this cause stops being useful so does the tactics, as when the war is almost won, this is as his men are faced with charges of war crimes.

Torreton is excellent in still portraying the ease of Conan even in this field of the political war of sense, as he delivers again this charisma as he makes his moments of advisement and frustration known to help his men avoid their charges. In each instance again Torreton properly owns the screen, as he delivers each word still with this strict confidence of a man who will see his justice done, and his eyes offer not a hint of hesitation at any point. This as Torreton makes it utterly natural as Conan goes behind the backs of a superior to help an individual soldier, as it is merely in his line to do what his "warrior's" sensibility tells him to do rather than whatever justice another has decided for him. Torreton always emphasizing with his work the strength of will in the man that seems to overcome any adversity when it relates to battle whether it be the battle itself or the fallout from it. Torreton shows us a man absolutely in his element in each scene, and makes such an impression every second he is on screen through the sense of purity of this approach. This however is brilliantly contrasted in the film's epilogue where we find his friend Norbert seeking him out years after the war. Torreton is amazing in this scene in portraying the opposite, this as the warrior now left to fester into nothingness. Torreton is heartbreaking in portraying just how that confidence is now gone in his somber delivery of the hopelessness of his life, and the sense of loss in his eyes as alcohol seems his only comfort in life. In the scene, which I wouldn't have minded if it had been a bit longer, Torreton poignantly shows the warrior without a battle to be fought, and in that just shows a lost soul slowly fading away. This given haunting detail through Torreton's work that offers this as an extreme, but believable shadow to the conqueror that had been Conan.