Girl on a Motorcycle Think Once, Think Twice, Think Bike Wed just...(More)

Girl on a Motorcycle Think Once, Think Twice, Think Bike Wed just two months before, Rebecca (Marianne Faithfull) drifts in and out of sleep early one morning, dreaming of a circus where her husband Raymond (Roger Mutton) is playing a cello and the object of ridicule, while she rides on a horse that circles the ring, whipped by the ringmaster, who is her ex-lover Daniel (Alain Delon). Awake now, she makes up her mind to leave her husband and drive off on the wedding present Daniel gave her: a motorcycle that will take her across Europe to Daniel, abandoning her husband far behind... Scripted by Ronald Duncan, from director Jack Cardiff's adaptation of Andre Pieter DEA Mandrakes' novel, Girl on a Motorcycle presents itself as the ultimate in sixties permissiveness from the start. Rebecca dresses herself in a leather jumpsuit with nothing on underneath, and is scandalously intending to commit adultery, more for the thrill of sex than the power of love. We are privy to her thoughts as she zooms along the country roads, thanks to Faithfully breathless whosoever and the extensive flashbacks. She not only recalls the events that have brought her to this stage, but also imagines her future and relates her observations on war and free love, all to validate her happening credentials. Rebecca has grown to despise meek schoolteacher Raymond, who we see being made a fool of by his pupils. What she needs is a virile, pipe-smoking intellectual like Daniel, who will treat her the way she treats Raymond - she wants to be dominated, and happily gives in to Daniel's mind games. So she's not half as independent as she should be, because leaving her husband isn't much of an act of liberation when she's running to the arms of Daniel. It may be rebellion, as she claims at the beginning, but it doesn't set her free. Cardiff photographed the film, too, and indulges himself with various tricks, such as the psychedelic polarization techniques that jazz up the images of lovemaking, or the rather clever 360 degree shot around Rebecca as she rides on her bike. The story also doubles as a nice travelogue, with numerous shots of the French and German countryside, and the Swiss skiing holiday that Rebecca and Raymond go on. Faithfulness motorcycle is patently sitting on a trailer for many of the driving scenes, as all the while she laughs and smiles in anticipation, even working herself up into a sexual frenzy, with the bike as a substitute for Daniel. Girl on a Motorcycle ends up being quite endearing in its attempts to be cutting edge and daring, with unintentional humour arising from Rebecca's "shocking" behaviour. At one point, she starts shouting, "Bastard!" as she drives along a busy street, causing one gentleman to turn around, incensed. During one of the countless flashbacks and imaginings, the kinky nature of Rebecca and Daniel's relationship sees her sinking her teeth into his shoulder as he beats her with a bunch of roses, all in migraine-inducing colours. However, the film doesn't have the courage to give Rebecca what she wants, and the ending looks like punishment for her radical behaviour. Either that or it's a warning not to drink and drive. Music by Les Reed. Girl on a motorcycleHarley-Kissee tarries on all four cylinders! English Reexamine croquet! Tired of listening to the noise of sweaty palmed teenagers replacing their Zena posters with cut-outs of "The Bride" and telling their (often imaginary girlfriends) to stop wearing push-up bras and Goth makeup and start dressing like a petrol station attendant in samurai land, I picked up this little 'cult classic' for some light relief the other day. Sadly whilst light, the relief was not instantly forthcoming. In fact I was faced with another English Rose in a cat suit off to put the world to rights. Luckily she wasn't pregnant and whilst one of her lovers was decidedly gawky there was no unconscious rape scenes or cleverly unimaginative pregnancies to be seen here. There was, however, plenty of unwarranted special effects, though this time at least they hadn't been worked at so hard at as to put you in a moral bind when you find yourself thinking how shit they are. Anyway that's enough of me picking on Quarantine's girl on a vendetta, what about Girl on a Motorcycle. Well, long before Last Tango in Paris, Electra Glide in Blue, and a little bit before Easy Rider came Girl on a Motorcycle. But try thinking of all those films, take out the sex, drugs and rock and roll, then take out the ugly actors and replace them with the beautiful Marianne Faithful and handsome Alain Delon. Finally make Marianne Faithful a young virgin discovering the divides between lust, love, marriage and motorcycles, and Alan Felon the devilishly-charming philosophy professor speeding her discoveries. Sweet, simple and unpretentious I really enjoyed this meandering journey across Alain's Europe, Marianne's body, a couple's illicit affair and a Sixties' take on sex, youth, gender and freedom. If only the psychedelia could be edited out and a little more naked Marianne edited in... Still, after watching Girl on a Motorcycle it came as no surprise to me that Jack Cardiff never really made much of himself territorially, this lacks both enough eye candy and technical expertise to be a genuine movie classic. It is, however, a cult classic and: if you think a Norton Commando is an anti-virus program; or if when you caught her in Intimacy you didn't have to pause a moment to create a second older and less perfect Marianne Faithful in your head; or you need adrenalin and steroid pumped hyper-referential blockbuster 'cult-classics-before-they're-released' kind-of-films wait for it to get aired late-night on channel 4 and fall asleep to it as you are reminded what the phrases 'down to earth' and 'real' and 'sweet' actually mean 6.5/10 (4 if the words "Marianne Faithful", "Harley-Davidson" and the tangling "She's always naked under leather" don't make you sweat like a 21st century Hobbit choosing between playing with the naked blade of a Satori Hannis or with its catsuited owner) S is for Serge Ginsburg worked on all the best girls 09/05/05 Girl On A Motorcycle Original Soundtrack Les Reed Notes A brilliant soundtrack composed and arranged by Les Reed, and very much of it's time when the film was released in 1968. A groovy hamming driven opening title theme music, incidental ambient noises, and lush string pieces backed by a strong beat, all interspersed with roaring motorcycle engines, make for an exotic aural experience. Packaging & Liner Notes CD: Standard jewel case with huge fold-out booklet containing a wealth of background information and pictures on one side and a poster on the other. Track Listing 1. Girl On A Motorcycle Les Reed 2. Dream Les Reed 3. Holiday With Raymond Les Reed 4. Daniel Les Reed 5. Souvenirs Of Raymond Les Reed 6. Surrender To A Stranger Les Reed 7. Take Me To My Lover Les Reed 8. Dawn Idyll Les Reed 9. Journey To Love Les Reed 10. Big Bare Beat Les Reed 11. The Summer House Les Reed 12. Don't Ask Me Les Reed 13. Au Revoir Daniel (bonus track) Les Reed/Mireille Matthieu 14. Sweet Souvenirs Of Stefan (bonus track) Les Reed/Mireille Matthieu 15. Don't Ask Me (bonus track) Les Reed/Cleo Laine (Less)