A Sunday in Hell
Directed by	Jørgen Leth
Produced by	Christian Clausen
Written by	Jørgen Leth
Music by	Gunner Møller Pedersen
Editing by	Lars Brydesen
Release date(s)	1977
Running time	111 min
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish

A Sunday in Hell (original title: En Forårsdag i Helvede) is a 1977 Danish documentary directed by Jørgen Leth. The film is a chronology of the 1976 Paris-Roubaix bicycle race from the perspective of participants, organizers and spectators.

Paris-Roubaix is the most famous and usually the most dramatic of the spring classics. Much of the latter portion is over narrow, cobbled tracks that choke with dust on dry days and become slick and muddy in rain. For the riders it's a challenge to keep going without puncturing or crashing.

The film captures not just the events of the 1976 edition but the atmosphere of a professional race. It begins by introducing the contenders: Eddy Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck (the previous year's winner), Freddy Maertens, and Francesco Moser, each with their supporting riders (the domestiques), who are charged with helping their team leader win. The film gives views of the team director, protester (the race is halted for a while), spectator, mechanic and rider. As the Hell of the North is entered the selection begins. Riders puncture, crash, make the wrong move - the race plays out. By the finish in the velodrome in Roubaix only a few are in with a chance. The winner is a surprise, but that is part of the appeal. Post-race the exhausted riders, mired in dirt, give interviews in the velodrome's showers. They look like men who have been to hell and back.

"You can see every bead of sweat on the cyclists and every smashed-up ankle. It really makes you never want to get on a bike again. But it is an amazing film." - Nick Fraser, BBC commissioning editor^[1]

"Arguably the best film ever made about professional cycling" - Peter Cowie, International Film Guide^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ "Adelaide Film Festival 2007". Adelaide Film Festival. 2007. http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/films/id-103/view.html. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 
2. ^ "Bergen International Film Festival". Bergen International Film Festival. 2003. http://www.biff.no/2003/index.php3?Eng=&ID=FilmEng&counter=140. Retrieved 2007-03-14. 

[edit] External links

• A Sunday in Hell at the Internet Movie Database
• A Sunday in Hell at Allmovie
• The BBC's Storyville on A Sunday in Hell
• Adelaide Film Festival
• Bergen International Film Festival 2003

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