Film Revue - Le Velo de Ghislain Lambert


Flandria Cafe wielersupporters topfavorite: The 2001 Franco-Belge feature film "Le Velo de Ghislain Lambert."

This French language film stars Belgian comic actor Benoit Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog, Asterix Goes to the Olympic Games). Poelvoorde plays the title character in this 'mockumentary' about cycling's unglamorous side- the saga of a humble domestique whose lack of talent is only surpassed by a blind and dogged self belief in his destiny to become a champion.

Poelvoorde strikes the near perfect tragi-comedic balance in his portrayal of the luckless Lambert, portraying a sympathetic main character with a modest palmares, but also with a spirit and dreams undampened by the stark reality of the gritty pro peloton.

For fans of the Eddy Merckx era of the '70's, the film does a great job delivering a nostalgically accurate rendition of the ambiance, teams, bikes and clothing of the era. The many colorful race scenes include the cobbled muur of the Tour of Flanders, the Bordeaux Paris derny-paced marathon, and of course, some great Alpine vistas of the Tour de France (a 'legendary race' that interestingly is implied but never referred to by name).


Even Poelvoorde's own hometown gets featured in the famous climb to the Citadel of Namur - a cobbled finish slope featured in so many Walloon races over the years (among the more memorable the site of a memorable winged flight by Fausto Coppi in the 1952 Tour de France, dropping the pack but finishing 2nd behind solo winner Bim Diederich of Luxembourg).

For me, the real richness of the film is in the colorful characters and based-on-cycling-reality vignettes that surround Ghislain. The old-time directeur sportif; the Italian ladies-man gregario who shows the neo-pro the ropes on the bike and off; the ex-pro bike shop owner; the older brother-agent; and the self-absorbed team leader. All remind you of the characters around the sport. Even doping gets spoofed in an appropriately humorous way for a change.

You can download the film subtitled in English from Amazon ($2.99 for a 24 hr. rental / $9.99 to own) here. For you total cheapskates in need of a laugh, check out some excerpt clips here and here.

Totally worth the ten bucks. Grab a few like-minded euro cycling-lunatics, a few Chimay ales, and have a great laugh.

Le Velo de Ghislain Lambert
Flandria Cafe rating: Five (5) Lions


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time tested, old school early season training advice

Image
I just love the article below. I found it on the web years ago. It's a lecture by Dr. Marco Pierfederici, a trainer who used to work with Eddy Merckx and Italian pro teams back in the ’70 and ‘80s. He delivered this talk at a training camp in Miami organized by a long-gone business called 'Italia Velo Sport'. They imported Battaglin and Francesco Moser frames, Campagnolo and Gipiemme components and other Italian clothing and gear. This innovative, early discount mail order company brought champion Francesco Moser to a winter camp with US amateurs in 1982, and then brought over Giovanni Battaglin and his teammates, I believe in early 1983. The pros spent the days logging early season easy miles with starry-eyed US amateurs, and spent evenings giving clinics to imparting old world 'knowledge'. An old friend and CCB teammate Rick Graham attended that camp. A few weeks later as we were tapping out the miles around Gloucester Mass., I remember Rick talking ab
Read more

Benotto dreams...

Image
Before the US National Road Race Championship, August 1982. Hard to believe now jongens , but once upon a time I could sprint a bike through a crowd fast enough that somebody actually saw fit to sponsor me. It's a faded memory I needed to keep drawing upon several times this past season... Way back in 1981 I was recruited by Constantin Negulescu to join his Northstar Bicycle Club.  The ex-Romanian national team rider had put together an elite US Amateur team, sponsored by a slate of leading Italian cycling brands:  Bicicletas Benotto, Gipiemme components, Ambrosio rims, Hutchinson tires and IscaSella Saddles.   With the exception of Hutchinson (who still makes killer tubeless tires... raced this whole season on one pair), most are brands either dead, or largely missing in action.  But back in '82, well, it was the perfect gear. "Good enough for Roger DeVlaeminck or Moser, good enough for you!" Talk about Christmas morning... I can still remember being in
Read more

Lost races of the Northeast: Le Tour de la Gaspésie

Image
Ever wonder what it's really like to ride a Tour? C'mon, admit it.  Most of us amateurs, from the time we first stomp on pedals in anger, from that first adrenaline rush riding in a peloton, that sound of whirring chains and wind, incubates a dream of riding a ' Tour '.   A real stage race, one longer than the 3 or 4 day long weekend versions available nowadays.  A race with  commissaires,  run from town to town in a place where the road signs are in a foreign language.  A race with stages measured in kilometers, one where words like revitaillement, grimpeur,  hors-delai and  voiture balai  are quickly added to your daily vocabulary. Back in the 1980 and '81, if you were a New England based Cat 1 or 2 rider longing to ride a Tour, you basically had two options:  Get selected for the internationally known Coors Classic in Colorado, or work your way onto a team doing Québec's Tour de la Gaspésie.   While I had neither the talent nor the  palmares for the form
Read more