We often hear that it's not easy to get boys to talk. The ones Jérémie Battaglia aims his camera at, mirror cabinets that are around 20 years old, correspond exactly to the cliché of the man who doesn't speak. You open up to him. What is said in his documentary Adonis is sometimes very disturbing.
Published at 1:30 am. Updated at 5:54 am.
The role models that we convey to boys and men have changed radically in the last few decades. If scrawny Mick Jagger could have been a sex symbol in the 1960s, today every Hollywood actor flaunts his ripped muscles, even when playing the romantic love interest in a film like La La Land. However, the masculine ideal that the young men that director Jérémie Battaglia interviews in “Adonis” strive for is of a different kind. They are real Mr. Muscles for whom training is an extreme sport.
An extreme and dangerous sport.
The documentary filmmaker lifts the veil on what he describes as a public health crisis that goes completely under the radar. He's talking about a social media-driven system that promotes the use of anabolic steroids by amateur bodybuilders without any oversight.
What he shows in Adonis is – neither more nor less – an open market for doping products… even if their sale is banned in Canada. Substances that many young fitness enthusiasts consume “at risk to their health,” notes the director. And with a clarity that makes your blood run cold: all the young men who talk about steroids in his film know that these products are dangerous to their health and many are still thinking about taking them. One of them even says he would rather die at 50 doing what he loves than at 80 not doing it…
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Concerned about young bodybuilding enthusiasts, Jérémie Battaglia wanted to highlight the widespread use and easy access to steroids with his film Adonis.
There is a type of disinformation being spread by men who I would describe as predators. These fitness influencers promote the idea that there are side effects [des produits dopants] are controllable.
Jérémie Battaglia, director
“Sometimes there is some truth in what is said, but it only shows the good side, not the long-term effects it had on health,” explains Jérémie Battaglia.
Areas of influence
Adonis also unravels the way some young men get sucked into the vortex of an unhealthy form of exercise. Interest in bodybuilding can quickly lead to a corner of the internet populated by influencers playing trainers, sellers of performance-enhancing products, and masculinist ideologues like Andrew Tate, known for his misogynistic discourse and now accused of rape and human trafficking.
EXTERIOR PHOTO PROVIDED BY PRODUCTION
According to director Jérémie Battaglia, social networks are playing an increasingly important role in reducing the harmful side of training.
It only takes “a few clicks” for an algorithm to recognize a young person’s interest in bodybuilding and expose them to content that Jérémie Battaglia associates with “brainwashing.” “We tell you that in life you have to be muscular like this. To get there, you have to eat so much, train so much, and take this product, and what's more, on social media, we even get it for yourself, he points out. All this on Instagram, completely indifferent! »
The director is also in training. In his film, he admits that he even suffered from an eating disorder at a young age due to his obsession with training.
I'm 40 years old and I say to myself, “If I were her age, what would I have done?” It breaks my heart that the authorities aren't taking this more seriously.
Jérémie Battaglia, director
What gives Adonis a lot of strength is the simplicity with which the young men entrust themselves to Jérémie Battaglia's camera. Everyone talks to him about their wishes, but also about their mistakes. Everyone carries a wound within them that makes them want to be muscular and be perceived as strong, attractive, confident, or even threatening.
“To be honest, I was surprised at how easily they gave in,” admits the director, who did not shy away from sharing his own experiences with his interviewees. I think that with boys in general we rarely take the time to ask them how they are doing, to really listen to them. Actually, they have a lot to say. »
Wednesday, 9 p.m., on Télé-Québec
14 years and older
Sonia* has experienced the recruiting process in the world of bodybuilding first hand. His son (who does not appear in Adonis) was 14 when he started training. “I started doing push-ups in my room several times a day,” says the now almost 16-year-old teenager. I liked the effect it had on my body. »
His mother was surprised by this sudden interest, far away from the family world. She was even more so when her son mentioned steroids and the “not so bad” comments of one Andrew Tate. Instead of objecting, she chatted with him and became interested in his new passion. “Victor* always had a strong critical sense,” she says.
No, the teenager has never taken doping substances (“I'm too well-informed to judge that it's a sensible idea,” he says), but admits to appreciating the “respect” he received at school back then has been accommodated since it has become more built. A nice change for a boy who has experienced bullying.
Training quickly became his world (he even became an “influencer” in his field), but Victor keeps his distance from the “alpha male” talk and “bodybuilding culture,” which he finds “ridiculous.” “Just because I work out doesn’t mean I have to make it my personality,” the teenager says.
*Fictitious names to protect your anonymity.