Genre: Drama/Sports
Director: Melanie Laurent
Writer: Mo Buck
Cast: Emma Stone, Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn, Alec Baldwin, Leslie Bibb, Nathalie Emmanuel, Barry Keoghan, Adelaide Kane, Melanie Laurent
Plot: Jenny Jensen (Emma Stone), a professional cyclist, is breathing heavily, nearly at the top of the mountain she was climbing as part of one of the most prestigious cycling race in the world. The crowd is cheering for her and she can hear each and everyone of them.
She’s pulled out of her thoughts by Chuck Wilson (Ben Mendelsohn), her personal trainer and personal friend of her father Harry (Alec Baldwin) ever since she started to race professionally as a cyclist at the tender age of sixteen. It is now part of their routine; an appointment with Chuck, a needle in her arm and her father smiling. Harry as an unhealthy obsession with his daughter’s career, taking things way too seriously and taking every critic she receives personally, as if he was the one out there in the race. The Olympics are soon and Chuck wants to make sure that she’s at her best on the biggest stage of them all. She takes out a syringe and it has happened too many times already for Jenny to complain, he’s giving her EPO, a drug that stimulates red blood cell production by the bone marrow for better performances. Chuck mentions that it will be her last dose before the Olympics qualifiers because they don’t want to be caught, right? Jenny nods and leaves the room.
Harry drives his daughter to her practice. Everyone thinks he’s her coach, when, in fact, he does absolutely nothing special and just acts like a parent should, when his kid was eight or nine and went to soccer practice, but Jenny is all grown up now and Harry still insists on being there for every practice in the car that follows them, perhaps he’s overprotective, but Harry denies this, instead claiming to be a loving father who wants the best for his daughter. Jenny has had enough hearing this. When they get there, Jenny chats with Leslie (Leslie Bibb) and Nathalie (Nathalie Emmanuel) her two best teammates. Jenny tells them how excited she is for the Olympic qualification race as Leslie and Nathalie both hope to make the team to be there for Jenny, who has a great chance at a medal.
The practice goes well, without any hiccups. As usual, Jenny was the best rider in the team, being the one to always be in front and going the fastest. Both Leslie and Nathalie are amazed by her resistance and talent. They ask her why she’s so talented, and she tells them it’s because of her hard work. Her father sneaks in and takes the merit of her daughter’s success. It annoys Jenny who tells him to go away. The team hits the showers and afterwards they go to a bar where they drink to the upcoming Olympic qualifications and they all wish for Jenny to succeed.
A couple of days later, Jenny, accompanied by Chuck and Harry, arrive at the qualifications. They are approached by a staff member who says it’s time for Jenny pre-competition’s drug test. Several members of the media are there to cover the event and Harry, once again, is there to answer the questions on behalf of her daughter. When asked why she doesn’t face the media all by herself, Harry says she doesn’t have the time to deal with that and she wants to concentrate on the race instead. Chuck follows Jenny around like a service dog, until they reach the drug test tent. Jenny’s hand is shaking when they hand her the pee cup and the person notices it and Jenny blames on the nerves. The person reassures her, she’ll qualify on the national team, no doubt, she’s the best and the favorite to win, so no stress. Jenny smiles innocently and breathes heavily as she heads to the bathroom. She sees Chuck outside who gives her a thumbs up. Jenny as always been stressed during drug tests, because, of course, Chuck is doping her, but she’s never been caught. She knows that every millimeter of urine as a chance to reveal her as a drug user. She gives the cup back and now they need to take a blood sample. They take away a blood sample and Jenny still has the same feeling. They let her go and she meets up with her father and Chuck again.
All the riders are together with their team under the same tent. The two men are still behind Jenny and she does her best to get rid of them. When the sports operation director of the team hooks them up, she excuses herself and spots Nathalie and Leslie in the crowd. They talk about the strategy during the race. They know they are elite racers and each of them have a chance to make the team, so they work out a strategy that will get each of them on the team. When they are done, Michelle Atkins (Felicity Jones) comments on their strategy. Jenny tells her to fuck off. Michelle is Jenny’s biggest rival, always there to steal the spotlight from her. They’ve been following themselves for the past couple years, always competing in the same races and everyone agrees that Michelle and Jenny are equal. Needless to say, when Harry gets back and notices Michelle. He forces her to go away, boy, does he hate that woman.
The race is finally underway and right from the start, a couple of underdogs are trying to break free from the peloton, as predicted by frankly, everyone. Harry and Chuck give a rundown of each competitors in small group in front to Jenny, who doesn’t seem to be worried about them. She rides alongside Nathalie and Leslie, with Michelle just behind her, following her every move. During the race, Harry begs her to do something about Michelle, who takes advantage of being behind Jenny all the time, but the rest of Michelle’s team ensures that she stays there. The race goes pretty well for everyone involved, the peloton closes the gap between the small group ahead, again, as expected.
The regrouped peloton is now ready to start the ascension of the biggest, most difficult and final climb of the day. Right from the start, Michelle attacks, which prompts Jenny, Nathalie and Leslie and a small group of women to follow her. She keeps a high tempo for a while, enough for a group of to separate. Michelle’s strategy paid off, they are now about fifteen in front, with all the others trailing behind. Michelle keeps a pretty high tempo, Nathalie and Leslie aren’t able to follow her anymore. This is where Michelle’s strategy worked better. Her team worked for her and her only, whereas Jenny’s team worked for the entire team, not just Jenny. Harry thinks it’s selfish behaviour on Michelle’s part. Jenny tells them that she won’t wait for them and it’s her chance to make her mark. They notice that they are just of the two of them at the front. Jenny starts to play aggressive and follows Michelle closely, too closely. Their wheels collide and they fall, to Harry’s disbelief. By the time they get back up, newcomer and young sensation Ashley Kane (Adelaide Kane) passes them to win to win the race.
Jenny and Michelle have a heated confrontation after they cross the finish line, throwing their bikes to the ground, nearly coming to blows. Harry runs out of the car and he breaks up the fight. They retreat in the team tent and Chuck calms Jenny down. Leslie and Nathalie, who didn’t see the scuffle, ask Jenny what’s wrong. She tells them what happened at the end of the race and how Michelle made her fall. They all agree that she’s the worst as Harry tells them that they must come outside, Jenny has to be on the podium. Chuck whispers in her ear that she mustn’t come to blows with Michelle, they want to be the good guys in this story, it’s up to her to control the narrative. They both get up there and stare at each other. Jenny sees her father in the crowd and he mimics her to smile, and she does.
A couple of days later, the national Olympic team is announced. The qualifier winner Ashley Kane has been selected and both Jenny and Michelle were selected. Nathalie was fortunate enough to make the cut, but Leslie was the last one to left out. Harry announced the news to Jenny has Chuck was injecting her EPO and once again, they say it’s her last shot before the next race and it’s another important one, the World Championships. The World Championships use the same team as the Olympics, so it’s important for her to use the race to scout potential threats for the Olympics. Harry says he needs her to win the race to get all that bonus money, he needs that money to pay the bills and Jenny can keep the rest. She asks him why he always takes her money and doesn’t leave much for her, and Harry says he’s simply financially repaying all the time he spent building her career so she could reach the place where she is now.
Jenny is at a chic restaurant with her boyfriend Jason (Barry Keoghan). They are celebrating their anniversary. She’s wearing a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, showing her cyclist tan, Jason loves it, somehow. She looks to her left and rolls her eyes when she sees Harry and Chuck eating together. He gestures her that he’s watching her. She tells Jason that she has to go to the bathroom real quick, but he says he knows he’s going to talk to her father and the other guy who’ve been starring at him since they got there. Jenny confirms Jason’s suspicions while Jason says it would be time for Jenny to cut the ties with her father. He doesn’t think he’s doing her any good. She immediately refuses and reminds him that they are not supposed to talk about her cyclist career when they are on a date.
Jenny is approached by a young girl, who claims she’s a big fan. It takes Jenny by surprise, as cyclist aren’t usually popular around here. The young her shows her pictures she has of Jenny and asks her if she would like to autograph them. Jenny pleasantly accepts as Jason looks on smiling. She then asks if they can take a picture and Jenny says yes. Her father runs over to Jenny’s table and he takes away, rolling down her sleeve. She completely forgot about the band-aid covering the needle marks. Harry says this is why he constantly needs to look after her. He brings her back to the young girl and they take a picture together. For the rest of the night, Jenny keeps things light and breezy, completely disconnecting for her stressful life and just enjoys the fun she has with Jason.
Two days later, Jenny has her official drug test for the upcoming World Championship. She pees in the cup, as usual and hands the cup to the clerk. She’s welcomed by Harry and Chuck as soon as she leaves the offices and Chuck whispers to her that everything’s going to be alright.
On the day of the World Championships, the cyclists are split between their respective nationality, which means Jenny will have to team up with Michelle, a little preview of the Olympics. Nathalie tells Jenny that they on the same team the past two years and it worked well, right? Ashley comes over and agrees that Michelle is basically just a bitch, which surprises Jenny who welcomes her to the anti-Michelle team. Leslie, who didn’t qualify for the World Championships came anyway to encourage her friends. Michelle comes over and she thinks all their scheming is childish, she prefers to let her actions speak. Jenny is suspicious, because she’s not seeing her father around. He appears out of nowhere and he drags her inside their van for a moment. Chuck is there. He tells her that she can’t be in the race today, they found something in her urine. Her whole world crumbles, she starts to hit her father. Chuck breaks the scuffle up and says he’ll do something about it.
Of course, the press learned what happened, so Jenny holds a press conference to give her side of the story. With one sponsor who already dropped her, they’re trying to limit the damage. Harry prepared her a little script for what she’s going to tell. He asks her if she’s nervous and she says she is. During this time, Chuck is at blood & urine lab and he asks to speak to the doctor in charge, as he’s a doctor himself and he would like to talk to him about his methods. He gives him a new cup of urine and says he’s going to analyze this and say this is Jenny Jensen’s urine and that the other one was a false positive. The doctor initially refuses, but Chuck insists and the doctor abdicates and accepts.
Jenny sits down on her chair and photographs take her picture. A first journalist gets up and she asks her a question. Anna Dupuis (Melanie Laurent) asks her if she drugged herself before the World Championships. Jenny looks down at her sheets, but she decides to go a little off script. She swears that she never took drugs in her career and that “she never touched EPO” and has never, ever taken drugs. Jenny gets emotional and Harry takes over the conference, ending it abruptly. He claims the test was a false positive and he will seek damages for the dropped sponsors and the damaged reputation. He gets a text message that everything is clear, the test will be declared a false positive. Backstage, Harry is furious at Jenny for saying that during the press conference. It was a blatant lie and it will probably come back to bite them in the ass.
Jenny laid low between the World Championships and the Olympics, to avoid unwanted attention, but she continued to train with Harry and Chuck. Harry keeps dreaming about the settlement money they’re going to get as soon as that thing is over. Chuck advises Harry that he needs to tell Jenny that the reason she can’t compete is because of his lawsuit against the cyclist union and not because he wants to protect her like she was led to believe. Harry says it’s not necessary, besides, it will only distract her. Meanwhile, Anna Dupuis keeps reviewing footage of the press conference and looks at what was disclosed before that day and she finds it weird that Jenny specifically talked about EPO, even though the substance she tested positive for was never leaked. Don’t even try to talk to her about that false positive, she doesn’t believe it for one second. She will be at the Olympics, she will not back down. But in a way, Jenny was right when she said she never touched EPO, Chuck did. He injects her a final dose of the drug before the Olympics. He asks her if she’s nervous and she says she’s not. She spent all that time practicing and scouting her opponents, she has fresh legs and will be top shape. Chuck simply responds that she needs to trust him, he knows what he’s doing, speaking about the drugs.
The day has finally come. The Olympics, the biggest sports event in the world. Jenny reunites with her teammate Nathalie. Jenny says she’s pretty excited about racing again, Harry prepped her so hard for this, he had her take a couple of months off. That’s when Nathalie realises Jenny doesn’t know she was suspended and can’t compete because of her father’s lawsuit. Ashley, the bright new sensation who basically won everything during these months arrive and tells Jenny that wants to thank her father for su… and Nathalie interrupts her before Ashley reveals what actually prevented Jenny from competing. Michelle Atkins comes in from behind and she completes Ashley’s sentence; she wants to say thanks to Harry for suing the organization, allowing her to win all the competitions while she was gone. Jenny can’t believe what she just heard, she storms out and takes a moment by herself before the race starts. Besides, it’s probably just Michelle trying to get in her head before the race.
The race starts without anything out of the ordinary happening. All the cameras are on Jenny who makes her awaited return to the competition after the drug test debacle. Nathalie is working for Jenny, protecting her, while Michelle and Ashley follow her every move. There is a final ascension before the finish and that’s where it’s going to get wild. The last time there was a cycling event at that mountain, Jenny won the event, so she’s pretty confident about her ability to win the gold.
Fast forward to said mountain, Nathalie lets Jenny go mid-climb and she leaves the small group ahead of the race with four women following her, including Michelle and Ashley. The race is tight and grueling, but Jenny feels pretty confident. Harry watches the race from one of the race car and he’s incredibly nervous, it’s a true nail biter. There are four of them with about five hundred meters to go. Ashley still has some gas in the tank and she attacks first, rookie mistake Jenny says. They let her go a little bit to give her a false sense of over-confidence and Jenny, Michelle and the other woman counter-attack. The finish is wild, but Ashley ends up winning, the other woman wins silver and Jenny takes home the bronze.
After the race, she celebrates with her boyfriend Jason, while her father handles the press for her. At the medal ceremony, she takes a unhealthy pleasure at watching Michelle not winning a medal. Of course, Harry and Chuck are all smiles, but their happiness doesn’t last long.
As soon as they are back from the Olympics, they are subpoenaed to appear in court in Jenny’s case, a lawsuit she had no idea was happening. Jenny doesn’t understand it at first and she finally realises the real reason why she wasn’t able to compete was because of her father. From now on, she refuses to speak with him and she leaves the house to live with Jason.
When they testify, Harry and Chuck deny any wrong doing in her case, but it is revealed that Chuck isn’t a doctor at all, something Jenny didn’t know, but Harry died and he perjured himself, saying he knew he was a doctor. Chuck says the reason why Jenny’s tests were abnormal was because she has a unique biology, something the jury doesn’t seem to buy. They get Jenny on the stand and ask her various questions, to which she doesn’t know the answer. It becomes clear for everyone that Jenny had no idea what was happening and was kept in the dark by her over-controlling father. Jason is called to the stand and he describes the unhealthy obsession Harry has with his daughter. The jury doesn’t need to deliberate long, they find the cyclist union not guilty and in the aftermath, Jenny receives a lifetime ban for drugging herself for all those years. She refuses to speak to her father, she’s devastated, her life is ruined. In addition to her lifetime ban, she is ordered to surrender her medal to Michelle Atkins of all people. She cries herself to sleep that night.
A couple of years later, Jenny does a sit-down interview with Anna Dupuis, who wants to know what happened to Jenny Jensen, how was she not able to know about it. She starts the interview by saying why she started to get injections by the man she believed to be a doctor, Chuck. She had a bad case of anemia and she underwent treatments, but she was led to believe those treatments weren’t legal according to the cyclist union but she could compete if she took only small doses and that’s what they did. Her father told her that. She talks about her relationship with her father. He controlled her life. She always thought he wanted the best for her, but now she realises that he was controlling her and he used her and she feels ashamed that she didn’t see anything. She regrets her actions. She starts crying in front of the camera and Dupuis orders to cut to commercials. Harry ruined her life and it’s now too late to turn the ship around.
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