Mark Cavendish: Never Enough

Alex Kiehl's 2023 documentary covers the collapse and return in the career of the British cyclist Mark Cavendish. Cavendish was among the most successful sprinters in the sport; then illness, depression and an inability to find a team brought him to the end of his career. At the centre is his diagnosis with the Epstein-Barr virus and the period that followed. For a long time Cavendish took the decline in his performance to be his own fault, a familiar pattern in athletes' relationships with illness, and the film states it plainly. The sections on depression are not concealed either. The comeback came at the 2021 Tour de France, where Cavendish reached the record for stage wins. The film builds this as its climax, and in that section it enters the familiar mould of the sports documentary. Who it's for: those interested in cycling and in athlete biographies. Who it's not for: viewers looking for critical distance; the documentary was produced with its subject's participation.