Tour de force

For their debut film, directors Antoine Prum and Boris Kremer stuck to the heels of Luxembourg strongman Georges Christen bending, towing and twisting his way through Russia. Proud holder of 23 Guinness Book World Records in feats of strength - such as bending nails, towing trains, planes, and ships with his teeth, or tearing up the yellow pages - this modern-day gladiator has been touring his unique "PowerShow" for more than twenty years. Muscles, sweat, and blood make his performing routine a unique mixture of genuine power and vintage-style entertainment, appreciated by audiences the world over. Looking back on an impressive track record, Christen felt the time had come for the ultimate challenge... Russia, the country of a strongman’s childhood idols, provides the backdrop to this unconventional film, a road movie that is at once melancholic and jubilatory. In a succession of tableaux vivants,
Tour de force draws an intimate picture of Russia today, caught between the burden of history and the repercussions of fast-paced Westernisation. A parade of truer-than-life characters and faces completes this modern-times ballad of the itinerant artist, where reality at times appears to outdo fiction.