an athlete feeling bad in his skin in a world of losers

THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – WHY NOT

Two months before the start of the Paris Olympic Games, a comedy is released in theaters which goes against the promise that such an event can hold. Neither euphoria nor patriotic motivation runs through Jérémie Sein’s first feature film, The Coubertin Spirit, in which the French, after ten days of competition, suffered a series of failures and humiliations. The only hope of winning a medal now rests on a single person: Paul Bosquet (Benjamin Voisin), a distinguished shooting champion, maniac, uncomfortable in his skin and antisocial, who nothing can keep from his goal. Not even his roommate who multiplies conquests, smokes and drinks without moderation, or his coach (Emmanuelle Bercot) who encourages him, between two training sessions, to have a little good time.

Caricature

The confrontation of this misfit with the world of losers that surrounds him provokes expected situations whose lack of refinement sometimes makes him uncomfortable and whose simple sequence is not enough to create a dynamic. In this context where everyone, subjected to the caricature of their function, seems ridiculous (journalists threading commonplaces like pearls, athletes with childish language, incompetent politicians), Benjamin Voisin (unrecognizable) and Emmanuelle Bercot manage to amaze us. The only ones who can claim the podium.