‘Agon’ Review: Inside the Cold Machinery of Elite Sport (MUBI)

“ἀγών (agōn): an ancient Greek term meaning competition, conflict, or struggle,
used across a range of fields—sporting, military, literary, and legal.”

Every specific activity—sports, artistic, cultural, professional—has two sides. One is what the outsider sees: the casual viewer, the occasional participant, the person who only witnesses the results. The other is internal, containing some of those visible elements but also many more that remain largely unknown. There are countless examples, especially in sports and entertainment, two arenas constantly watched and dissected by thousands of eyes. And yet, details still slip through. Agon, the fascinating and decidedly strange dissection of the world of elite professional sports, operates in a space where documentary reality and (science) fiction seem to converge. It offers a clinical, detached, yet highly specific observation of the lives of three athletes competing in the Olympic Games.

Ludoj 2024—that’s the name of these Games—never existed, and almost everything we see here (with one exception) is fictional as well. Of the three athletes we follow, only one is real; the other two are played by actresses. But that hardly matters. Agon isn’t a documentary, though at times it feels like one. Director Giulio Bertelli observes and presents this world like an entomologist studying the behavior of creatures in a strange ecosystem, captured with meticulous precision in every detail.

The film’s mise-en-scène could be described as a blend of the eerie atmosphere found in Jonathan Glazer’s work (especially Under the Skin), the controlled, mechanical detachment of Stanley Kubrick’s cinema, and the dry, detail-oriented gaze of the experimental films produced by Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab. It may be about three athletes at the Olympics, but beyond that basic premise, almost nothing resembles a conventional sports film. In fact, they often seem less like competitors than astronauts preparing to depart on a mission to some distant planet.

Modern sport is so thoroughly shaped by precision technology—data analysis, medical testing, specialized equipment, constant measurement—that the event spectators watch is merely the tip of a vast and complex iceberg. Beneath it lies a world of hardware and software, factories producing equipment, doctors, diets, training regimens, machines, and facilities that often resemble spacecraft more than athletic venues. It’s within these environments that this peculiar and compelling debut unfolds, following three Italian athletes from disciplines rooted in violence, aggression, and a degree of risk: fencing, judo, and target shooting. All of them, in their own way, deeply solitary pursuits.

Alice Bellandi, a real-life Olympic gold medalist in judo, is the only actual athlete among them. The first thing we see is the brutal knee surgery she undergoes in order to compete. From there, we follow her through training sessions, doping controls, and exercises aimed at managing pain and cutting weight. Alex (Sofija Zobina) is a competitive shooter with a strong online following whose career is jeopardized when a video of her hunting animals goes viral, threatening both her Olympic participation and her public image. Gio (Yile Yara Vianello), meanwhile, is absorbed in the almost video game–like precision of her discipline, until her own situation begins to unravel.

Agon has no interest in the epic dimension of competition, nor does it follow the familiar beats of the sports movie. On the contrary, it presents this world as overwhelming, isolating, and saturated with technical minutiae—a deeply alienating environment. Bertelli deliberately omits the presence of spectators, creating a stripped-down atmosphere with very few athletes and almost no social life. At times, it genuinely feels as though these three women are competing inside a lunar module. And yet, the problems they face are entirely real and often severe. In fact, one of the most shocking incidents is drawn from an event that actually occurred.

A film of procedures—the doping control sequences feel almost like police interrogations—and of details, Agon focuses on clothing, swords, helmets, weapons, training technologies, media appearances, managers, moments of solitude, the substances they consume, and everything that takes place behind the scenes of the spectacle audiences ultimately see. Bertelli (an heir to the Prada family) has an extraordinary eye for the kind of details most people overlook. And for those who love sports, the film offers both a kind of pleasure and a deeper unease, immersing the viewer in a sensory journey that feels less like athletics and more like a laboratory in a science fiction film.