Homage to les Bleus

Wha

t could possibly be worse for disconsolate French football fans than the shocking collapse of their defending World champion team? Perhaps having to watch les Bleus' spectacular implosion all over again — though that's exactly what film-maker Stéphane Meunier is planning.

Meunier is putting the finishing touches on Les Bleus Dans les Yeux: 3 (The Bleus In the Eyes: 3) — the third of his popular, behind-the-scenes documentaries detailing the personalities and travails of French national sides from the vantage point of a virtual, invisible member of the team. The original film scored big with its intimate, fly-on-the-wall perspective of France's triumphant 1998 World Cup campaign — selling over a million cassettes and DVDs, and creating a new genre of sports journalism. Last May, Meunier released a popular second installment following les Bleus through a largely successful (though clearly misleading) series of friendly matches in 2001-2002. Now, events in Asia are obliging Meunier to swap the happy-ending format for a disaster/horror script, as he prepares to release the unseen stories behind France's World Cup 2002 debacle.

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"Perhaps some of the footage will help people to understand what went on off the pitch, or get clues of what went so wrong," comments Meunier — whose previous camera work covered other kinds of human drama in Bosnia, Beirut, and Palestine. "Despite the result, this movie will retain the focus of the others. The plots of these films are determined by the course of games and events, but the stories are really about the people involved."

Despite the diametrically opposed destinies of the squads they feature, the two previous films and their upcoming sequel are all built on Meunier's complete access to France's national football teams, and participation and recording of the events and activities — from the routine to the exceptional — that are part of the preparation, participation, and termination of a World Cup effort. From half-time scolding to sideline encouragements, bed-time crack ups to injury rehab, pre-game nervousness to sleeplessness in victory; nothing escapes Meunier's ever-rolling camera — which captures and explains the dynamics of a select group, and fleshes out the personalities of its stars that fans hanker to know better.

Ironically, that yearning to learn may actually be greater following this month's World Cup disaster than after the 1998 triumph. Four years ago, fans snatched up Les Bleus Dans les Yeux to know more about the mortals who became national heroes once on the pitch — and keep the glow of joy and pride of the '98 win alive. Given the bewilderment and regret gripping France in the wake of the dysfunctional Asian campaign, many are looking to the new film for insights and answers on what went so wrong. "Others may just want an opportunity to see more of this iconic team that, sadly, left the stage far sooner than any of us wanted," adds Meunier. He hopes to provide that chance with the film's release aimed near the end of World Cup play. After that, both his focus — and les Bleus — will be on the European Championship of 2004.