Nuda sotto la pelle

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.