Gert Jan Theunisse
La Roue
Philippe Grandrieux
1993 - 7 min - Couleur - France

The racing cyclist Gert-Jan Theunisse had what is called a “dope problem”. Captured in a close-up that examines his expression, he never says (nor clearly denies) that he took any drugs. He speaks of a “higher rate for some than for others, that his natural, that scientists don’t yet understand everything".
Everything happens as if a curse had suddenly invaded his interior, depriving him of his own body and, with his body, all the joy of cycling. The invasion took place and Gert-Jan “trembles like a leaf at every one of these damned tests that soil everyone, the family". The "interior" has several faces too, oneself, perhaps relations his young wife who is commiserating with him, saying that he “speaks well”. Several degrees of interiority which are contaminated in sequence by the loss of freedom of one degree.