‘I would have hit him very hard. He deserved it’: Eric Cantona exits the fight | Cannes Film Festival

It was 30 years ago this week Eric Cantona hit a powerful volley from the edge of the penalty area to win the 1996 FA Cup final. For his team, Manchester United, it means a victory over arch-rivals Liverpool and the second league and cup double. But for Cantona himself, it recorded one of the most fascinating comeback stories in Premier League history – which has now been turned into a feature film to take Cannes by storm.

Cantona is directed by the duo of David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas, the only British directors to be nominated for this year’s prestigious festival. With cinematic pride, it paints a portrait of one of the sport’s most iconic figures during his turbulent and successful five-game run in Manchester. We are moved by her noble intentions and words of wisdom, as well as her experiences in her whirlwind past. Francein which he criticized the head of the national team as “useless”, he was suspended from his Marseille team and left all sports for a while.

But the biggest drama relates to the most famous incident of Cantona’s career, when he lost control after being sent off in a game at Crystal Palace and launched a flying ball at a taunting Palace fan. Cantona narrowly escaped jail for the attack, was banned for eight months by the FA and was on the verge of quitting football (again).

“Eric’s legend rests on that kick,” says Tryhorn, who says it took more than six months of negotiations with the Premier League to grant a viewing licence, which was never granted. “Obviously, he was a cult hero at United, but I think without that push and bounce back, he wouldn’t be the icon he is today.”

Using old documents and new interviews, Tryhorn and Nicholas explore how United manager Alex Ferguson convinced Cantona not to stay in the game but to produce two more successful seasons for the club.

“We wanted to make something cinematic,” says Tryhorn, whose film has been four years in the making. “I think sports movies these days can be a little bit too synthetic and paint-by-numbers.”

Therefore there are no pictures of the league table and the growth charts in this article. Instead, we get an electronic soundtrack by Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll and long shots of Cantona applying paint to canvas among the olive trees of his native southern France. Cantona contributed to the film by providing a never-before-seen image of him as a child – sitting on a high chair, marveling at a dead rabbit and playing with a toy gun that he aimed at the camera. It was all shot beautifully by his father on 8mm film.

We also hear from a small group of people including Ferguson, team-mate David Beckham and, of course, the man himself.

“No other player thinks or talks like Eric,” says Tryhorn, who made it a point to interview Cantona in French. and English. We knew he could be a little flustered in English. I think you will find the real truth, I think, in the language of your parents.”

Nicholas and Tryhorn have worked together on previous football documentaries such as 2021’s Pelé, 2022’s The Figo Affair and the upcoming Netflix documentary Untold UK: Vinnie Jones. What makes Cantona different from that, says Tryhorn, is that he sees it as a love story between Ferguson and Cantona. “Eric tried Fergie several times, especially after (the kick), but Fergie forgave him, they got back together and Eric paid him back with this good season at the end.”

Cantona, with his long neck and folded collar, has stood out since arriving in what Nicholas calls the “meat and potatoes world” of English football in the early 90s. Tryhorn and Nicholas were not young at the time and both remember the rock-star effect. “It was like Bob Dylan in Don’t Look Back,” says Nicholas. “What happened was when Dylan arrived in Liverpool and the local kids were banging on the car window as he sat smoking his leather jacket and shades.

You are left in awe of the conflicted person. A player who wanted freedom but chose to do a job that required strict discipline. A footballer who can make excellent assists, but also brutally tramples the opposing player. A man who described the consequences of his ban in words of wisdom (“I was watching my death”) yet even now., The 59-year-old admits that he has no regrets: “I would have hit him harder, because it suited him.”

To the relief of filmmakers Cantona – who did not have the final say on the finished film, unlike many popular documentaries today – saw the film and was happy with it. This makes life easier for directors as they prepare to promote in Cannes. None of them have ever been to the festival.

“It’s exciting and exciting for us,” Tryhorn said. “It’s also funny that in an auteur-driven year, there are two amazing guys in the game that no one has heard of. But we are proud that Cannes has chosen the film. It justifies all the work and effort.”