2004–2005
This work takes as its impetus the discipline of the Modern Pentathlon, an anachronistic Olympic sport comprised of running, swimming, shooting, horseback riding, and fencing. Its five formalized events were chosen by Baron de Coubertin, founder of the Modern Olympics, to encapsulate the fictional adventures of a gentleman liaison officer who fights his way on horseback, foot, and finally through water, to deliver an urgent message.
Loneliness and the Modern Pentathlon archly hangs this rarified sporting discipline on the narrative structure of the British Angry Young Man film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962). This newly imagined version is also set in an isolated school in rural England and likewise plumbs themes of individualism versus collectivity. Yet, crucially, elements have changed.
In Loneliness and the Modern Pentathlon, a charismatic, ageing headmistress (rather than headmaster), played by Rita Tushingham, iconic star of British New Wave cinema, presides over the daily life of her charges. Her regard – sometimes tender, sometimes cool – is echoed by the camera’s voyeuristic observations that accumulate in a series loose narrative vignettes. Played by both professional dancers and Olympic-level Pentathletes, this group of youths enact a fictitious form of the Modern Pentathlon through hybrid movements that are part dance, part sport, part experimental performance.
Cast
Rita Tushingham
Sam Weale
Lorena Randi
Emily Bright
Dylan Elmore
Fred Gherig
Neil Gibson
Henrietta Hale
Sian Lewis
Rachel Lopez
David Minchin
Jonathan Stephens
Lindsey Weedon
Crew
Choreographer
Henrietta Hale
Composer
Zeena Parkins
Director of Photography
Noski Deville
Editor
Ülrike Munch
Sound Designer
Charis Coke
Production Executives
Maggie Ellis
Franco Marinotti
Production Manager
Pinky Ghundale
Production Coordinator
Ionna Karavela
First Camera Assistant
Steve Annis
Camera Loaders Anna
James Karen Jit
Gaffer
Tom Guy
Sparks
Suzie Lavelle
Shaun Mone
Grips
Duncan Barrett
Lawrence Beckwith
Sound Assistant
Andy Hayward
Sound Editing Assistant
Melissa Mohamdee
Still Photographers
Thierry Bal Ryu Voelkel
Makeup Artist
Jo Stelly
Headmistress’s Jacket
Natalie Jones
Costume and Prop
Master Jennifer Clark
Costume and Prop Assistant
Sam Tidman
Runner
Anna Vass
Title Design
Paul Hetherington
Music supervised by
Electra Productions
Music performed by
Zeena Parkins
The Kitchen House Blend Orchestra, NYC
Thanks to
Triona Adams
Adidas
Arri Media
Jan Bartu
Jo Beadsworth
Lali Chetwynd
Edit Hire
Darren Flook
Fuji Film
Handweavers Studio
Hempstead Equestrian Centre
David Kean
Leon Paul Fencing
Lewis Lyons Executive Cars
Charlotte Mailler
National Rifle Association
National Small Bourne Rifle Association
Istvan Nemeth
Bruno Pacheco
Alan Pett
Peter, Halina and Jim Scharf
Seedpower Studio
Len Thornton
United Nude
Funded by
The Arts Council England with support of Film London and by Fine Arts Unternehmen