Girl on a Motorcycle

Outwardly straightforward stuff: Ms Faithful simpers inanely and tries to look like Suzi Quatro (in the roadside bar scene, anyhow) while she holds a tedious deliberation on the relative merits of her lukewarm, downtrodden schoolteacher husband (Mutton -literally!) vs her rather friskier, piped- up college lecturer lover (Delon, looking strangely like a young Ewan McGregor). All this during a dawn bike ride on a Harley that probably once belonged to Noah. Jack Cardiff pulls this off with aplomb, and stretches the thin material over a flashback/fantasy-forward laden narrative until it becomes transparent, allowing a glimpse through to the dreamlike nature of desire, longing and the futility of trying to control them. Of its time, but by no means the worst of its time, and it sort of stays with you longer than it should. Love the cheesy opening credits!

Oh yeah, baby! Now this film may not be good in a conventional sense of the word, but man is it one hopelessly dated, yet charming and unintentionally amusing slice of swingin' 60's camp silliness. Rock singer/songwriter, former smack addict, and onetime Mick Jagger main squeeze Marianne Faithful portrays Rebecca, a bored housewife who bails on her drab, stuffed shirt hubby, dons a spectacular skintight leather jumpsuit, hops on a shiny, powerful custom chopper, and drives halfway across Europe to reunite herself with her absolute to die for stud muffin college professor lover Daniel (the ever-cool Alain Delon). This marvelously messed-up and ridiculous misfire boasts clumsy direction by Jack Cardiff (who also did the often stunning garish cinematography), a groovy score by Les Reed, the gorgeous Marianne looking positively smashing both in and out of her clothes, plenty of funky oh-so-60's psychedelic visuals (I especially loved the brilliant ruddy whirlpool with the silhouetted seagulls flying around it), a startling bummer of a surprise downbeat ending, and, best of all, Marianne articulating via voice-over all these incredibly dippy heavy sentiments on such worldly topics as war, tying the knot ("Marriage is a little death"), love, obsession, and, naturally, the galvanizing, liberating feel of a mean machine throbbin' between your legs (shout it with me everyone: "My black motorcycle devil makes love beautifully!"). Like, biker zen, dude.

I can't get enough psychedelic silliness, and the DVD revolution has given new life to several 60s/70s gems. First 'Ciao Manhattan' with commentary, now 'Girl On A Motorcycle', also with commentary (by veteran cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who directed). Most people who have seen this movie don't seem to rate it very highly, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Marianne Faithfull looks absolutely beautiful, and watching her race across Europe in a leather jumpsuit is my idea of a good time! Faithfull's acting talent is difficult to gauge. She spends so much time "emoting" over the endless voice overs that her expressions sometimes border on the absurd. There are quite a few unintentional laughs just looking at her face, and there are some naff lines in the script that will provoke smirks. That added to the impressive photography, a couple of solarized freak outs, some swingin' soundtrack music, and super cool Alain Delon ('Le Samourai') makes this lots of psychedelic fun! It would make a great double bill with Roger Corman's exploitation classic 'The Trip'.

First off, the video I saw claims to be the uncut version; this wasn't the heavily censored version released in North America (not that much of it would be cut today.) The most interesting thing about this movie is how typical it is of the 60s - from the psychedelic effects to the long-winded talk about freedom. It's also an hypocritical movie, in a way - while using nudity and strong sexual imagery, the film is a thinly-disguised attack on the 60s concept of freedom and "free love". This is a film that simultaneously tries to use the freedom ideal of the 60s and to criticize that ideal. The director is best-known as a cinematographer, and it shows; while the film is very shallow in terms of plot and message, the cinematography is often brilliant. Rating: worth seeing for historical reasons, not on its own merits.

I feel I must comment on what aimless-46 said in his (or her) review: "The ending is a bit of a puzzle; after the accident they pull up from the scene to a wide aerial shot and you expect the movie to go out on this shot (copied for "Easy Rider's" ending), which would have been very effective. Instead they cut to a travelogue-like scene of a European village and go to credits after about 60 seconds of this stuff. It serves no purpose other than to deflate any lasting impact." Actually the ending is quite clear and extremely effective! Earlier in the film, Rebecca daydreams about seeing her lover at 8am. As the clock chimes 8 in Heidelberg, we see Rebecca on her motorcycle traveling the road, parking her bike, running up the garden path to the gazebo and falling into Daniel's arms. She is then pulled out of her daydream (I believe by the tank full of soldiers driving past her on the road) and continues with her "real" travel to her lover. At the end of the film, this scene is played out again. Once the camera pulls away from Rebecca's crash, we hear the clock begin to chime 8 in Heidelberg. The camera focuses in on the clock, then revisits the same locations that Rebecca had imagined in her daydream, only she is not there. There is a sadness as we see the deserted road where she imagined she would travel, the place where she would have parked her bike, the empty garden path and the gazebo. We see the void she has left behind due to the carelessness leading to her horrible (yet spectacular) crash. And the viewer can't help but be reminded of how she told Daniel the last time they met that she would never come to him again. One wonders how he will take the news of her death, or if he will find out about it at all. Basically it's a meditation on loss and it's really quite moving. By the way, it's impossible to see this film and not get the metaphor of a teenage girl's dark sexual awakenings as embodied in the wedding gift of a motorcycle from her lover. A groovy soundtrack, leather, whips, motorcycle races, Alpine skiing, free love, fondue, Marianne Faithful getting lashed by a dozen thorny red roses - what a film! Thank you, Mr. Cardiff!

What annoyed me about this film was the fact that Alain Delon got top billing for the movie, which is somewhat unfair to Marianne Faithfull seeing as though Alain Delon is only in the film for a collective 40 mins. But despite that small annoyance, the film is very interesting, but I do believe I say that out of sympathy. The film basically follows Marianne Faithfully on a large motorcycle, which does look like a shocking studio prop a lot of the time, through Alsace to Heidleberg in Germany, to meet up with her motorcycle lover Alain Delon. The story of their relationship is told via flashbacks which is told through flashbacks which are then told through flashbacks etc. On the whole the film was a daring 1960's movie which aimed at showing raunchy sex scenes through hip psychedelic camera shots and just general 60'sness, if you know what I mean. It won't be great cinematic viewing (although the shots of Marianne Faithfull bouncing around on a motocycle in nothing but a leather catsuit is somewhat great!) But the movie will offer you something different that you don't see everyday.

The newly married Rebecca (Marianne Faithful) leaves her husband, the school teacher Raymond (Roger Mutton) and drives her motorcycle to meet her lover Daniel (Alain Delon) in Heldelberg. While crossing Europe, she recalls some moments of Raymond's life and how she met Daniel at her father's bookstore and then in an inn. "The Girl on a Motorcycle" is a dull and boring movie with a story that is a rip-off of the cult "Easy Rider". Most of the time the camera shows the beautiful face of Marianne Faithful smiling and the story is limited to the storyline. The motorcycle in both movies is the symbol of freedom and the tragic conclusion is alike. The poor image and sound on the DVD seems to be from a VHS. My vote is four. Title (Brazil): "A Garota da Motocicleta" ("The Girl of the Motorcycle")

An emerging cult classic that was hard to find until its recent release on video, GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE is beautiful in its simplicity. Marianne Faithfull's character serves as a wish-fulfilment fantasy for both men and women, she's a figure of liberation and freedom who bucks social conventions to follow her heart. The film was a labor of love for veteran Hollywood cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and captures the late 1960's zeitgeist that is nowadays parodied in films like "Austin Powers." But one need only compare the opening sequence of this film to the beginning of David Lynch's "Lost Highway" to see the influence this film still has thirty years later. Rated "X" when it was originally released, even the "uncensored" version would be lucky to get an "R" these days, which more reflects changing social morays than the filmmakers' intentions. Far from reputation the film has developed, it is in fact an intriguing psychological study of a troubled young woman who must choose either a safe, loveless marriage or a passionate affair with a man who vows never to love again.

I'm a sucker for swinging 60's era flicks, even cheesy ones (because of the great visuals), but I had heard that this film was very so unwatchably BAD that I never made it a priority on my mod movie flicks list. So I am REALLY glad that it popped up on cable just as I was flipping the channels. The story is okay (not great, but not a disaster), the dialog is a little rough at times but not awful, and the tragic ending was a little on the Russ Meyers side. But Marianne Faithful is just STUNNING throughout the movie (any of today's Hollywood starlets WISH they had an ounce of her natural beauty and on-screen presence), Alain Delon is a stone fox, and the dreamy flashbacks provide enough of a plot to make this film, dare I say, enjoyable:) Needless to say, not only was I thrilled I caught it on cable, but I was equally pleased to have stumbled upon it TWICE in one week. Definitely adding the DVD to my retro movie collection.

Imagine Diana Rigg joining "Easy Rider's" Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda for a ride across France and Germany and you will have a pretty good idea what "Girl on a Motorcycle" looks like. Made one year before "Easy Rider"; this is an amazing 1960's road movie that includes hip camera angles, groovy music, a leather suit and a Harley Super Glide. While low-budget, it is not a thrown together "B" Movie but a thoughtful existential trip inside the mind of a flawed character who happens to be a sexy woman. On close examination, what appears to be yet another fruitless examination of the mysteries of female discontent is really a more expansive study of the human condition. Rebecca, the main character, illustrates life as a process of choosing between comfortable security and the need for freedom and excitement; a daily struggle with guilt and its consequent self-destructiveness, and the seductive lure of risk. Motivations familiar to almost all serious motorcycle riders. In voice-over, Marianne Faithful gives us Rebecca's story in a series of flashbacks, with minimal scenes of conventional dialogue. Most of these work very well although there is a ski weekend flashback about midway through the film that looks more like a travel advertisement than a movie scene. And while much of Jack Cardiff's film is beautifully shot, the action sequences are somewhat clumsy looking and obviously low budget. And there is excessive reliance on the Elvis movie technique of projecting moving scenery(shot by the second unit) with the star pretending to be cruising along the road while actually stationary in the studio. Cardiff was very creative with the editing and came up with some great match cuts, typically used to bring Faithful out of her frequent flashbacks/dreams. In one we see her lover slowing pulling open the zipper of her suit, then the film cuts to the tread of an Army tank moving past the place where she has been napping by her motorcycle. Cardiff's technique was quite revolutionary at the time as his camera has a love affair with the leather suit , the motorcycle, and Faithful's eyes. His extensive use of very tight shots is extremely effective and the most pleasing thing about the film. The ending is a bit of a puzzle; after the accident they pull up from the scene to a wide aerial shot and you expect the movie to go out on this shot (copied for "Easy Rider's" ending), which would have been very effective. Instead they cut to a travelogue-like scene of a European village and go to credits after about 60 seconds of this stuff. It serves no purpose other than to deflate any lasting impact. Faithful is on screen in almost all the scenes and gives a surprisingly good performance. Alain Delon as her lover gets a fair amount of screen time (all in flashbacks). I've not been able to take Delon seriously as an actor since his performance as a character named "Baldy" in Dean Martin's "Texas Across the River" in 1966. Plus I get him confused with Jorge Rivero and his almost identical character "Capt. Pierre Cordona aka Frenchy" in "Rio Lobo". Maybe they are the same person and used two names as a tax dodge. Both the VHS tape and the DVD include a nice stills gallery and a couple trailers. All in all I recommend this film. It has thoughtful themes and many well-shot scenes. If you like motorcycles, a sexy body in and out of a leather suit, the most beautiful eyes ever, and cute freckles you should view this film.