13 Days in France

This is a 1968 Olympic film of the Winter Games that year in Grenoble, France: 

It’s been more than two years since I’ve seen an Olympic film; thus, it needs to be said that in the past I watched a few of those via the Criterion Channel (as the Criterion Collection released 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912-2012) and I at least liked most of them even if they were all quite different through the years as visual documentation of the events that occur in the Summer and Winter Olympics. Yet, because I’m me I stopped watching those. The fact that many are at best ambivalent about such a niche category should be irrelevant to me, after all.

I do prefer the dry and perhaps cornball straightforward Olympic movies where there is a narrator and the big moments/results are presented. Kon Ichikawa’s Tokyo Olympiad is great as while it is on the arty side in presentation, the important information is provided. 13 Days in France… it is lighthearted and it’s a random snapshot of various scenes filmed throughout; don’t expect to see much if any results provided and in fact, the only names you’ll know are the two that gave the biggest star-making performances: figure skater Peggy Fleming and skier Jean-Claude Killy. At least their popularity was presented; the presentation including songs created for the film… that was a curious decision, as was other bizarre interludes.

The reason why it still gets a 3 star rating? The footage is still shot well and there are some wild moments, such as a POV shot of someone downhill skiing or a figure skater spinning in circles. Furthermore, the soundtrack was rather good, whether it be the score or even those wacky tunes. Others like this more than me, so YMMV if you ever have the urge. There is another documentary on the Grenoble games-Snows of Grenoble-which may be more to my liking; one day I’ll discuss that here.