The Girl on a Motorcycle

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.

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'.

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!

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.

Rebecca (Marianne Faithfull), a dissatisfied and restless young woman prone to talking to herself way too much leaves her boring, effete schoolteacher husband ("You never do what you want to do, only what you ought to do.") and hits the road from France to Germany to be with her more virile Swiss lover Daniel (Alain Delon).

If you dig cult cinema; the 60s when free love was happening, Baby; and an offbeat, erotic story told in a visually dazzling and kinetic fashion, then this Girl on a Motorcycle offers you a wild, sexy trip through her far-out mind that I think you'll definitely dig! Hop on and go for a spin, Daddy!