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Film Description
A unique real-time study of one of the beautiful game's greatest icons: Zinedine Zidane. During an entire Real Madrid v Villareal match before 80,000 fans at the Bernabeu stadium, 17 movie cameras were set up around the playing field and focussed solely on Zidane. The soundtrack is made up of the man’s observations along with a score from Mogwai. An extraordinary film conceived and co-directed by Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon and French artist Philippe Parreno.
A simple but mesmerising art house work which captures ninety minutes in the life of infamous footballer Zinedine Zid... more >
WARNING: This film contains no football.
A simple but mesmerising art house work which captures ninety minutes in the life of infamous footballer Zinedine Zidane.
Directed by Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon, the film consists of shots taken from seventeen different cameras, all of which focus exclusively on Zidane during a Real Madrid league match from April 2005 (before the World Cup headbutting incident).
It is the simple but clever editing of sounds and images which makes this film so powerful. One moment we see Zidane up-close and hear his breathing, the next we view him as a distant figure on a distorted TV screen; the sound of the crowd sporadically disappears to make way for a poignant Mogwai score.
The film forces you to contemplate both the inner and outer workings of a dedicated athlete. Zidane is intensely focused and enigmatic throughout, contributing equally to his contrasting images of hero and villain with a goal and sending-off respectively.
This film is so unique it is difficult to compare it with anything else. The only precursors would be Gillian Wearing’s Turner Prize-winning Sixty Minute Silence; or Empire, Andy Warhol’s continuous eight-hour shot of the Empire State Building. Zidane, however, differs from these in that it contains a variety of perspectives and a great deal more drama, albeit in the context of a football match. The most striking moment occurs during a halftime montage of the day’s other newsworthy events, in which we glimpse a small boy in a replica Zidane shirt in war-torn Iraq. Somehow this tiny detail links the football match with the “real world” and suggests the interconnectedness and universality of all dramatic events.
In summary, this is very much a highbrow movie appealing to lovers of art rather than football. Similarly, those expecting a love story, car chase, ultra-violence or most other examples of film action would be wise to avoid it. If, on the other hand, you want to see something totally original and are happy just to contemplate the aesthetic beauty of a simple yet profound aural-visual collage then I urge you to see Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
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