The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) User Reviews

Uneasy Rider

[Lejink · 4/10 · 25 October 2020]

I'm an admirer of Jack Cardiff's earlier work as a cinematographer with name directors which included Hitchcock, Huston and Powell & Pressburger amongst many others although I must admit that this very much of its time film with elements of art-house, psychedelia, road movie and soft porn isn't one I'd normally associate with him.

It's an odd film, thin on plot but thick on plastering Marianne Faithfull and to a lesser extent Alain Delon's naked bodies over the screen. She's Rebecca the stuffy old village bookkeeper's daughter, drifting into marriage with stuffy young schoolteacher Raymond, until she encounters Delon's mean and moody Daniel on the continent and it's not long before she enters the lion's den in establishing a physical connection with him. But tortured soul Daniel isn't interested in a lasting relationship and seems quite happy to leave the girl in torment which he compounds by gifting her a spanking new motorbike as a teasing reminder of their tryst as in between their lovemaking sessions he's handily taught her how to ride his motorbike.

The ending you can almost literally see coming round the corner in a way that Rebecca clearly didn't and it is most shockingly and effectively done, but you have to say that pretty much all that went before it was rather dull, pretentious stuff and nonsense. For every carefully crafted landscape shot, with Cardiff employing so many airborne tracking shots you wonder he didn't invent the drone shot fifty years early, there are just as many awful back projection shots of Faithfull in particular but also Delon tearing it up on the road. Then just to firmly date-stamp his film as being made in 1968, he employs weird saturated colour effects usually when the horny couple are in bed.

Of course both Delon and Faithfull for different reasons, were hot at the time but they're hardly required to act. One suspects in fact the film was little more than a vehicle (sorry!) to get them naked together, although I had to smile at one point at the strategically placed vase of flowers covering Delon's manhood while elsewhere of course, pretty much all of Faithfull's anatomy is on show, even if only in glimpses.

Weighed down in addition by a dull soundtrack, I'm afraid this feature just never clicked into top gear (sorry again!) for me at all.

Interesting as a period piece, not as a movie

[Rhealist · 5/10 · 24 May 2001]

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.

Faithfull looks stunning, Delon is super cool, there are solarized freak outs, a swingin' soundtrack and a naff script. In other words, lots of psychedelic fun!

[Infofreak · 1 October 2003]

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'.

Daft, yet oddly haunting...

[philipr09 · 5/10 · 18 August 2010]

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!

Weird enough to be of more than passing interest.

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 16 August 2015]

Cult movies don't come much 'cultier' than "The Girl on a Motorcycle". This film was British in name only; fundamentally it was French through and through from its source novel, (La Motocyclette by Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues), to its leading actor, Alain Delon. Pop singer Marianne Faithful, naked but for a black leather jump suit, was really only standing in for Bardot. There's no real plot to speak of but there's a lot of sixties psychedelia, sex, nudity, cheesy dialogue (Your body is like a violin in a velvet case), and, of course, Faithful tearing along the highways and byways of Europe on a big, phallic motorbike to the bed of her lover, Delon.

The director was a somewhat unlikely Jack Cardiff whose superb cinematography also gives the film its texture. Faithful's non- performance is really rather appealing while the film itself is ripe for rediscovery. It's not actually very good but it's certainly weird enough to be of more than passing interest.

Vroom! Vroom!

[strong-122-478885 · 4/10 · 24 September 2015]

I think that "Naked Under Leather" would've probably been a much more appropriate title for this British-style, "Easy Rider", chick flick (from the psychedelic 60s).

Sultry actress/pop-singer, Marianne Faithful (22 at the time) sulks and pouts and struts her stuff (in leather, of course) as Rebecca, a young, guiltless adulteress, whose 2 biggest pleasures of all in the world are - (1) Riding her "Electra Glide" motorbike along the wide-open country roads - And - (2) Riding her always-horny lover-boy, Daniel, bareback (where any old place will do).

Though far from being a riveting drama, The Girl On A Motorcycle was still well-worth a view (not only for Jack Cardiff's often heady and hallucinogenic direction) - But, for its seemingly endless moments of unintentional (and, yes, dated) humour, and such. Believe me, some of the outright absurdity in this 1968 production was nothing short of being hilariously priceless.

In my books - The one thing that this picture about blatant infidelity was sorely missing (considering its psychedelic time-line) was a really hip and memorable, pop-music soundtrack.

Life is a highway

[polypam · 7/10 · 8 April 2007]

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.

An under-lit psychedelic movie

[Martin-Smith-3 · 3/10 · 6 March 2008]

I agree that this movie is under-lit in places - especially the indoor scenes. But it is typical of the era and shows some wonderful scenery. Strongly recommended if you're into big bikes and pretty girls. Marianne Faithful is stunning (those cute freckles) and you always know that she is totally naked beneath her leather cat suit.

Meanwhile the reverie scenes are typical of what I understand people experience when under the influence of LSD - a popular recreational drug at the time. Imagine a PINK FLOYD album cover and you'll get the idea.

In summary I would say that GIRL ON A MOTORCYCLE is an icon of late sixties pop culture. Thus it is worth viewing, not only for those interested in the period, but also for those (like I) who lived through it. Indeed - I recall wanting to see this movie when it was first released. But I was too young (12). The original UK rating was X.

The European "Easy Rider"

[aimless-46 · 7/10 · 19 April 2005]

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.

Unintentionally comical, occasionally surface-pretty, and about as deep as a puddle...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 16 September 2006]

Jack Cardiff co-wrote, directed and photographed this low-rent film about a girl (on a motorcycle!) rushing to see her former lover on a whim after being unhappily married to a milquetoast teacher for two months (Cardiff shows us a snippet of the teacher at work; he can't control his pre-teen students and trembles when they get rowdy). Wretched script combines the usual rebel pretensions with the young woman's wistful thoughts about Life, some of which are fairly funny (while passing a cemetery, she thinks, "Not everyone who is buried is dead!"). Padded with flashbacks and dream-sequences, which are also amusing, we do get to see Marianne Faithful nude, which seems to have been Cardiff's Modus Operandi (so much for his classy reputation). The picture does have a moody, misty-morning feel which, despite being somewhat enervating, is certainly fascinating, but the slim budget and the lack of real imagination keeps this "Girl" grounded. *1/2 from ****

POSSIBLE SPOILER!!! The ending isn't a puzzle at all!

[arotolante · 10/10 · 29 May 2006]

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!

Why the 60s Were Swinging

[AZINDN · 6/10 · 15 September 2006]

A dated film with solarization, hip music, and the ultimate "it girl" Marianne Faithful as The Girl on a Motorcycle, this is a flashback tale with a 1968 pre-Easy Rider meets Barbarella setup. Rebecca is a French woman who abandons her marital bed in the middle of the night, slips on a skin tight black leather Lanvin jumpsuit, and mounts a huge Harley-like hog to ride to Heidelberg and meet her lover, a professorial Alain Delon, who will ravage her with long stemmed roses and mild S/M sex. While she travels, she fantasizes about sex, memory, and dull Raymond, a teacher and cuckold husband versus Delon.

Filmed in 1968 when the notorious relationship of Faithful and Mick Jagger was the media topic, Girl on a Motorcycle brings back the notion of good women as sexually subservient to their men, and marriage as the only recourse of respectable young girls. Delon was a perfect debaucher by stealing the virginal Rebecca from her father's bookstore for a bike ride to "get the color in her cheeks." Her dull fiancé/husband remains ignorant to his wife's wilder adventures and her desire and enthusiastic willingness to have a pre-marital fling before the pending marriage.

With border guards hands on harassing of Rebecca, this film is a slice of why the women's movement was so timely in the 70s as the notion of a lone woman riding the roads through France and Germany must have been as shocking as free-love, drugs, and the Rolling Stones to conventional society. But because she transgresses the limits of propriety, Rebecca must pay with the ultimate sacrifice in a traditional morality story of lust, leather, and booty on a bike.

Laughably Bad

[chinaskee · 1/10 · 30 June 2001]

This is one of the most awful films to come out during the sixties.Director Jack Cardiff hasn't much of a clue on what makes a good movie.He invariably cuts to a close-up at the worst possible moments.It doesn't help that Marianne Faithful gets some of the strangest expressions on her face that I've ever seen in a movie performer.Most of the interior shots are under-lit.Even seeing this film on the big screen at a "Mods and Rockers" festival didn't help.I won't give away the ending;lets just say I was cheering along with the rest of the crowd.

Girl on a stage prop!

[nobita · 14 June 1999]

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.

Dull and Boring

[claudio_carvalho · 4/10 · 28 December 2014]

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")

Yes, what did they die for, and why's there still marriage?

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 7 September 2020]

"The Girl on a Motorcycle" is very much a product of the '60s. Marianne Faithfull plays a young woman who leaves her husband to visit a lover. There's no shortage of psychedelia and erotic fantasies along the way. And when I say that we get to see Marianne Faithfull, you'd better believe me!

Two scenes stuck out to me. In one scene, she rides past a WWI cemetery and asks what they died for. Good question; can anyone nowadays say what the first global war was about? (never mind how the Versailles Negotiations set the stage for WWII and the Vietnam War) Later on, her lover (Alain Delon) is talking with some students and posits that their generation will do away with marriage. Well, marriage is still a thing over half a century later, even as the marriage rate has dropped. Why do people still get married? Does it serve any purpose?

Obviously that's all tangential. It's a fun movie with some great music. I suspect that they had fun making it. Worth seeing.

Vapid

[richardmsharpe · 1/10 · 23 December 2010]

One of the worst movies i've seen. The entire plot really centers on a 2-3 minute discussion of the meaning and merits of "free love". The rest of the 90 minutes has no substance that merits the viewer's attention. The heroine rides around on her motorcycle almost the entire movie while flashing back to memories of her husband & lover, but nothing is resolved in those relationships before the entirely predictable end to the film. Don't waste your time, as I did, expecting an ending that might make sense of it all. Alain Delon is listed as a primary actor, but he really only makes token appearances. The focus is on Marianne Faithful & i suppose the producer & director thought the viewer would be entranced by 60 minutes of watching her ride a motorcycle while wearing a black leather jumpsuit. They were wrong.

A dreamy, reckless girl who wants out

[circagirl · 7/10 · 26 March 2020]

But can she outrace her hubris? Big nope but, hey, the motorcycling sequences across the gorgeous, rural backdrop is nice to look at. Alain Delon is both enchanting and repellent as the man who awakens her to a lust for passion, life and freedom just beyond her reach.

Zzzz....

[eye3 · 1/10 · 8 December 2003]

Cute chick (and Marianne Faithfull really was back then) in tight black leather, riding on a motorcycle -- it just has to have some redeeming quality about it, right?

Wrong! This was the sort of snoozer that gave '60s avant-garde European directors a bad name. No story, no plot, no interest, no nothing!

It is hard not to laugh

[eersoy-13-915969 · 7/10 · 24 April 2019]

Times have changed I guess. Once it was radical and psychedelic, now it is amusing. Watch when you are high.

Not a fun filled ride

[sauravjoshi85 · 3/10 · 14 September 2019]

The girl on the motorcycle is a romantic drama movie starring Marianne Faithfull, Alain Delon and Roger Mutton. The film is directed by Jack Cardiff.

The movie is the story of a girl who hops on a motorcycle to meet her lover.

The entire ride is covered with flashbacks but the ride becomes too long hence lacks true erotic flair.

As far as acting is concerned the actress is more into using facial expression rather then able to project the true woman's feelings. The male actors had just done their jobs.

The screenplay of the movie could have been better and it lacks depth. Camera work also could have been better. Direction and plot is average.

The movie is an erotic romantic drama but with the true essence of eroticism.

An enjoyably silly piece of vintage 60's psychedelic kitsch

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 16 December 2007]

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.

Jack Cardiff's Existential Biker Film

[ninjaalexs · 7/10 · 13 March 2020]

I first saw this bizarre slice of British French New Wave inspired cinema at the age of 11 on TV with my parents. I thought it was extremely boring and just about a woman thinking outloud while riding a motorcycle. I only ended up seeing about twenty minutes of it. I was of course wrong about this, but I think it is a love it or hate it film. The film is directed by Jack Cardiff, without doubt one of the greatest cameramen and cinemtographers the UK has ever had. The film is incredibly stylish with it wearing its influences on its sleeve: Goddard, Truffaut and pop art. The film is effortlessly cool with a classy jazzy soundtrack by Les Reed. Alain Delon being urbane. Marianne Faithfull being the thing of male fantasy wearing tight leathers and her long blonde hair blowing in the breeze down country roads.

Thematically the film reminded me of Rabbit, Run in terms of a character fleeing a fading marriage to be with another lover. Of course, the motorcycle represents her freedom and escapism from what she considers mundane life. Interestingly the film pre-dates Easy Rider which would cement the motorcycle as the symbol for freedom and rebellion. It is easy to write off as a film where not much happens or eye candy without substance, like I did at the time in my adolescent brain. I think that is diluting it, it is of its time with even a few psychedelic scenes thrown in, but it is hard not to be captivated by the scenery and just pure chic.

As far as films go it is better than Goddard's worst films, but not as good as his best. In terms of British films it is part of the stylish New Wave inspired films like those by Tony Richardson before the grim, social realist movement really took hold with Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. I've also heard this be described as a feminist film which I think was more by accident than design, any more than Rabbit, Run is "intentionally" considered to be sexist. It's simply a case of modern audiences viewing it with a different set of values. I can see why this film is regarded as both important and a classic of British 60s cinema; it has that weird limbo space of being slightly ahead of its time while very much a product of its time, a lot like Easy Rider.

Overall: well worth a look, but your mileage may vary with this one.

There's a girl in my bike!

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 27 September 2011]

The great Jack Cardiff was an exceptional cinematographer before his career as a director. "The Girl on a Motorcycle", which came out in 1968, was an attempt to work on a genre that was popular at the time. After all, everything back then was psychedelic and mod. The film is based on a French novel that probably was better than the adaptation by the director and Ronald Duncan.

Starting with the opening credits, we are taken along for a ride through some of the most scenic areas of France, Germany and Switzerland. At the center of the story is Rebecca, a luscious young woman trapped into a loveless marriage. Her recollection of the great love affair she had with Daniel, is the excuse for the road trip. In flashbacks we are told the missing details of Rebecca and Daniel's romance and torrid encounters. Unfortunately, there is little substance to the story because the road trip is more interesting than the sum of its parts.

It has been noted that Alain Delon was given top billing in the film, when the real star is Marianne Faithful, a singer with an attractive face and gorgeous body. Ms. Faithful's Rebecca comes across as a woman who has no clue as to what to do with her life. The Daniel of Alain Delon is not one of his best creations because the director makes him an interesting figure, which in reality, he is not. Marius Goring has nothing to do as the father of Rebecca.