Beckham | Beckham’s Pigtails, Cuts and Hair

Peroxided, completely shaved, pulled back into a ponytail, blonded, braided or styled in a faux-hawk (guilty of having copied it in the early 2000s), David Beckham’s hair has often screamed louder than his exploits on a soccer field .

At least, in North America, where the sport does not raise the crowds as much as in Europe, the center of drunken fans who lose cards, scream vulgar songs and insult disappointing players.

On our side of the Atlantic, David Beckham is all about his tacky marriage – in purple! – with Victoria Adams, aka Posh Spice, the smallest of the Spice Girls, yes, with whom he had four beautiful children, Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper.

But to what extent had we forgotten that David Beckham, 48, was a formidable athlete, one of the best English players of the 1990s and 2000s?

The documentary Beckham, divided into four 70-minute episodes on Netflix, reframes the fascinating story of this Londoner, from the middle class and king of all cuts. Hair, like those granted after prestigious tournaments.

Honestly, it’s super interesting, even if you’re as indifferent to soccer as Mélody’s inner world in If we loved each other. I loved this miniseries, generous in archives and interviews, which will satisfy sports enthusiasts and gossip fans alike.

Despite the numerous rumors of infidelity, the moves to Los Angeles, Paris or Madrid as well as Victoria’s solo album, the Beckhams have never divorced and still live together, after 26 years of union, including 24 as husband and wife. female.

Their English country house, which the director films extensively, comes straight from the pages of the magazine Architectural Digest. Extreme jealousy of their summerhouse, where David Beckham, ex-captain of the English team, cooks for hours and invests even more time cleaning everything after each family feast.

He doesn’t explicitly reveal it on camera, but David Beckham lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which pushes him to cut candle wicks every night, to wipe soot from the edges of candlesticks, to hang his clothes to the millimeter. in his wardrobe and to replace furniture and magazines symmetrically.

It’s marshmallow to write, but they are beautiful to see, the Beckhams, they tease each other about their bad period looks (Y2K!), they take refuge a lot in self-deprecation and they form, even today, a couple among the most influential in global showbiz. Their 2023 clothing style is just impeccable.

This type of luxurious documentary often descends into hagiography and infomercial. Not Beckham. In any case, not 100%. Of course, the miniseries shows the footballer’s sporting triumphs, including his famous midfield goal in 1996, as well as his blunders, his failures, his arguments with his coaches and his star tantrums.

The fourth episode delves into the adultery scandal of 2004, while the midfielder was playing for Real Madrid in Spain. The fierce British tabloids then revealed that David Beckham was sleeping with his personal assistant. Asked about her husband’s infidelities in Madrid, Victoria Beckham does not confirm them directly and skirts the question by specifying that this period was the most painful of her life. Understand: she was publicly humiliated, she swallowed, then forgave.

The first two episodes, probably the best, turn back the clock and show the great influence of David Beckham’s father on his meteoric rise. Since the birth of his son in 1975, dad Beckham has tirelessly trained him to become a champion. And at the age of 12, David Beckham was spotted by Manchester United, the team of his dreams. Like in a Hollywood movie.

It’s touching to see David Beckham’s parents, Ted and Sandra, testify, as they relive the ups and downs of their child football prodigy’s life.

Among the low points was the season following the 1998 World Cup. For months on end, Manchester United’s opponents booed Beckham every time he appeared at the stadium, in addition to disgusting his wife and their baby.

Fans have never forgiven the Spice Boy for a red card he received during a match against Argentina that ultimately knocked England out of the competition. Terrible national drama.

David Beckham’s move to the Los Angeles Galaxy, in MLS, generates less emotion, to put it mildly, than the seasons spent in Manchester. This glorious period, between 1995 and 2003, gives you chills because the editing is so Friday Night Lights does it justice.

David Beckham, who retired from soccer in 2013, admits it himself in the documentary: he is not the smartest man in the world, surprise!, he slips, smirking

For the honesty of the words, for the quality of the research and for the images where the former professional athlete talks about his new hobby as a beekeeper, Beckham achieved its goal.