Presented in the Limelight section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Merckx is a documentary directed by Christophe Hermans and Boris Tilquin which paints a dense and intense portrait of one of the biggest sportspeople of all time: Belgium’s Eddy Merckx. We know Christophe Hermanson for the precision of his approach, initiated two decades ago, winding his way between fiction and documentary and observing the world with camera in hand, as with his fiction feature film The Hive [+lee también:
crítica
entrevista: Christophe Hermans
ficha de la película], or the recent documentaries En attendant la deuxième vague and Bodies and Struggles, which plunged us into an intensive care unit at the height of the Covid pandemic. Cinema and TV screenwriter Boris Tilquin, meanwhile, will soon be releasing his first short fiction film, Drosera. The two of them set about writing the documentary using the very particular language of archive footage, because what sets Merckx apart as a documentary biopic is the fact that it’s wholly composed of archive material.

We’re introduced to young Eddy back before he’s a champion, but when he’s already dreaming about competing in the Tour de France. Even at this early stage, as a promising talent he’s the focus of the TV networks’ attentions, standing out as one to watch. Through the magic of writing, interviews with Eddy’s parents and sister are arranged, exploring his childhood and his youth. The makings of a champion appear as far back as when he’s whizzing around in amateur clubs. But his career very quickly skyrockets (in the story, that is; it’s less speedy compared to modern frames of reference): Eddy is signed up by an Italian team and takes his first steps amongst professionals at just twenty years of age. Eddy dominates, he’s a world champion, he wins three Giros in a row. But this supremacy stirs up jealousy. Just as he’s getting ready to fulfil his dream of taking the roads of his first Tour de France by storm, a positive drugs test stops him dead in his tracks. It could be and probably is a fix, but Eddy bounces back, as he’ll continue to do throughout his career, in the face of accidents and blows dealt by fate.

Because, ultimately, what Merckx provides us with, over and above the portrait of a champion, is an incredible story of resilience, of a man who never throws in the towel, even when he has nothing left to prove and when his only remaining adversary is himself. He’s an extraordinary hero who’s skilfully depicted through writing which offers no shortage of cliffhangers or suspense. But over and above Merckx’s strikingly unique trajectory, the film also reveals a sport in the throes of change as it becomes increasingly professional. And beyond the nostalgia stirred up by the film’s archive footage (ah, those were the days, when training consisted of bikes being lifted onto rollers and cycled on the spot), there are striking echoes with the cycling world today. Reading between the lines, the movie also chronicles the trajectory of a hero who united a divided nation, who carried the country’s different identities within him, notably its two languages. In short, Merckx tells a modest story about Belgium – and the relationship it enjoys with its French neighbour.

Merckx was produced by Kaos Films (Belgium). The film will be distributed by Gusto Entertainment in the Netherlands and by O’Brother Distribution in Belgium, where it’s due for release on 26 February.