03 July 2006

Naked Under Leather

Girl on a Motorcycle (La Motocyclette) - dir. Jack Cardiff - 1968 - UK/France

If you know about and really want to see Girl on a Motorcycle (or La Motocyclette or Naked Under Leather, as it was once known), please go ahead. The premise: Marianne Faithfull leaves her husband, clad in a leather jump suit on top of her Harley. Most of our film is narrated, horrible erotic prose by Faithfull (probably so as to easily dub into other languages) as she drives through the countryside of France, searching for her lover (Alain Delon). For all its fetish-iness (I know it's not a word), Girl on a Motorcycle is pretty forgettable; in fact, aside from the leather and a sex scene between Faithfull and Delon with strategically placed vases and flowers, I don't remember much. Yet, now, it seems like a loving remembrace of the B Euro eroticas, only successful through star power and the failed promise of lotsa skin. Oh, and a "swingin'" soundtrack.
So this is post #99, all suggestions as to what I should do for the 100th welcome. If not, I'll probably just bore everyone talking about Gregg Araki. And you don't want that, do you? While you're thinking, enjoy one of the three Derek Jarman-directed Faithfull videos, "Broken English," off her album of the same name.

2 comments:

Eric Dienstfrey said...

Um, Brown Bunny?

reassurance said...

I never noticed the similarities before you mentioned that -- even while writing it. They're both totally Euro and of their time... and both star musicians.