La petite reine

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

If you're looking for a movie about bicycle racing, you've come to the wrong place. This is a movie about doping. The actual percentage of time we see the athletes in the saddle is probably less than 10%. Disappointing, but that said...

Full disclosure: I don't speak French and didn't have access to English subtitles so you can take my review with a grain of salt; but, I found this movie to be quite dull. The main character (Laurence Leboeuf playing a role inspired by a real person) is doping from the first moment of the movie to the last. She evades drug tests, moves to a different country to avoid detection and get re-certified, hides the PED's in her parents' fridge, basically does all the things an addict does. She lies and lets everyone down. Yeah!

About the only grace note in the film is the final race in Belgium. It's visually impressive, with scores of racers and good shots of the cities and countryside. Of course, any good feelings the viewer might gain watching the "hero" succeed are tainted by our knowledge that's she's not clean. In the end, Leboeuf's character slinks away into obscurity. Oh, and she shares her bed with her married, Grade-A loser coach, making her even less sympathetic.

Conclusion: Disappointing film.

I only caught the last half of this film early this a.m. on a Quebec TV station (ARTV), but it interested immediately: the characters were well and realistically-played, the subject (doping, competitive sports) timely. The bicycle race in Belgium was effective, capturing the intensity of such events. That the central character comes up from behind to win gives a minor thrill, which is snuffed out when she is revealed before her celebrant teammates and others as having triumphed unfairly. The character may not be sympathetic, but she is realistic. As for her going to bed with her married coach: he eventually mentions divorcing his wife, and the film is from Quebec, where they don't judge these things quite so harshly.