I will start off by saying that Ron Howard’s 2013 epic Rush is a solid 9 / 10 for me and one of my favourite films ever. This mainly comes from the fact that I’m a huge Formula One fan and have been since significantly before the start of the turbo hybrid era in 2014. I know my history too, and that certainly had an impact when I watched that film for the first time. And that might have been enough for me to love the film, but what elevates it into greatness is how the sense of speed and danger is created. Not through gratuitous vomit inducing camera shake, but through cinematography and editing that, at the time, blew my mind. The speed, the precision, the fact that every shot seemed expertly engineered to create a feeling of being completely on edge, and having done an analysis of the closing scene from the film as part of my GCSE film studies coursework project, it only confirmed what I already knew.
So, swap Ron Howard out for James Mangold and swap Formula One out for sportscars and you have Le Mans ‘66, a retelling of the Ferrari vs Ford war that was the main story going into the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, a world famous twenty-four hour endurance race in which manufactures dual to build the fastest and most reliable machinery for the best sportscar drivers in the world. In other words, a big deal. The stakes are high. My expectations are sky high. So, how’s the film?
To the surprise of approximately no one, the film is absolutely amazing, and I’m so happy I found the time to finally see it. Is it better than Rush? I don’t quite think it is. There’s a magic to that film that is damn near untouchable, but the fact that this film gives it a run for its money across the board is a testament to James Mangold’s skills as a director. And, just like its spiritual predecessor, the film basically won we over straight away on cinematography and editing alone. It’s important to acknowledge that those two elements are way more important in a film like this than they might be otherwise, because, like it or not, there is only so much an actor can emote when they’re stuck behind the wheel of a sports car, even though Christan Bale certainly tests that limit.
As such, the composition and weaving together of each shot has to be seamless at the very least in order to counteract the inevitable. And if you are going to use any word to describe this film, seamless would be the one. A big part of this is the lack of any obvious CGI on the cars, but the rest comes through in the subtle touches in the cinematography and editing. This film would make the perfect case study in how a shot composed ever so slightly in shallow focus, just enough to foreground the subject within the shot, can really tug at the heart strings; how it’s possible to communicate a sense of speed and danger without gratuitous camera shake; and how amazing direction and writing can elevate a film that could have so easily been another underdog story to forget.
I’ve already talked about how the film has an exceptional grasp on how to precisely focus a shot (particularly when Miles is alone with his son in the dark on the track), but I’d be doing the film a disservice if I didn’t mention the framing of the shots at some point too. How the sweeping wide shots effortlessly pan across the cars as they hurtle by is something to behold, but the film also knows that it’s the relationship between man and machine that makes speed. As such, the combination of the wide shots and the close-up shots of the drivers, whether they be composed looking at the driver through the dirty windshield or being in the car with the driver, are an essential component in terms of establishing that relationship.
And, speaking of relationships, that takes us nicely onto the narrative and the writing, which does leave something to be desired in places. For example, now little is made out of the emotion of losing the race in the end on the part of both Miles and Shelby; I would have loved to have seen his son’s reaction to the defeat given how much of the film focuses on his relationship to his dad. This is nitpicking to the extreme, but that bit did leave me cold. Even the whole ‘I’m the wife of a racing driver so I’m living in the constant terror of losing him in an accident whilst trying to care for a child and work myself’ narrative could have done with refining, especially given that she does end up losing him in the end. She does have one emotional outburst that is impactful, that highlights the confusion and unknowing on her part as she struggles to make up her mind about whether or not this is what she wants, but not much else to elevate her character past that. Although, it does make sense that her character arc is left slightly up in the air
Where the writing really shines is in the subtext, though. Unlike Rush, which uses the danger of racing as its main motif throughout, Le Mans ‘66 takes a slightly different approach, as only those who know their history about how dangerous motor racing was in the 1960s will pick up on the subtext, until, while testing the new car, Miles inexplicably veers off the track as a result of a brake failure, and, on impact with a wall, the car explodes like an atom bomb. And, in that moment, in that ferocious impact, that sliver of subtext becomes text in the most brutal way imaginable.
Frightening stuff, but necessary from a writing standpoint, especially considering what happens to Miles when all is said and done. And the circumstances of his death and the eerily parallel constructed between the narration and the visuals only adds to it.
And the whole idea of the 7000rpm point where a car comes fully alive being the main motif that runs throughout the film and experiencing that being the circumstances in which Miles died in makes that moment hit with tremendous impact.
Almost everything about this film clicks for me, almost to the extent that I would call it my favourite film of the year so far. I actually rewatched the film that it’s up against, Justin Baldoni’s teen drama ‘Five Feet Apart’ (I know, I’m that kind of person) recently, and the flaws of that film came right into focus for me on that second viewing. I can’t imagine the same being true of Le Mans ‘66. It’s my film to beat in 2019, and as we move closer to December and the release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker, I’m excited to see what comes out on top.
9 / 10