Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle

How close can you get to a phenomenon? Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno had a go with seventeen cameras set up around the pitch where Zinédine Zidane was playing a run-of-the-mill home game for Real Madrid against Villareal, on 23 April 2005.

We see a foot, a ball, a face. Grass. Drops of sweat on the forehead, in close-up, of Zidane. Action, rest, snatches of the roar of the stadium. For ninety minutes, the cameras record the star footballer of the noughties – the who dealt out genius passes, and every now and then a headbutt.

'Aqui!'

For 85 of those 90 minutes, Zidane takes it easy. Strolls forward, and then back. Now and again calls ‘aqui!’ when he wants the ball at his feet. Zidane conserves his energy with strict efficiency – almost like a big cat. Then places that one masterly pass that leads to a goal.

Gordon and Parreno's film captures the phenomenon of Zidane in images, sound and music (from legendary post-rock band Mogwai). No interviews, no talking heads, no documentary footage. Just the ball, the man and the match.

Zidane, un portrait du 21e siècle has also screened in museums as a video installation on two screens: one showing the edited film version, the other unedited footage from one of the 17 cameras; these images are shown synchronously. Eye is screening the edited cinema version on the big screen.

Screening on 35mm from the Eye collection.

© Produced by Anna Lena Films and Nafalstrengir, coproduced by Love Streams and Arte.