The Girl on a Motorcycle *** (1968, Marianne Faithfull, Alain Delon, Roger Mutton) – Classic Movie Review 9,594

The 1968 erotic romantic drama film The Girl on a Motorcycle is a wonderfully schlocky Swinging Sixties piece. Marianne Faithfull stars as the married English woman who roars off on her bike to visit her French old flame (Alain Delon) in Heidelberg.

Director Jack Cardiff’s 1968 erotic romantic drama film The Girl on a Motorcycle [Naked Under Leather] [La Motocyclette] is a wonderfully schlocky Swinging Sixties piece with special appeal for bikers and leather fetishists.

Sixties pop star Marianne Faithfull stars in the title ‘girl on a motorcycle’ role as the married English woman Rebecca, ‘naked under leather’, who roars off on her bike to visit her French old flame Daniel (Alain Delon) in Heidelberg.

Did the beautiful people think they were getting into something classy? Certainly The Girl on a Motorcycle is pretentious enough with its pseudo-poetic camerawork and its artily soft-core gropings.

There is not much of a story but, yes, there are great Swinging Sixties visuals, and Cardiff’s and Réne Guissart Jr’s photography is as eye-catchingly pretty as the stars. The Girl on a Motorcycle is perhaps secretly entertaining, as long as you never admit to seeing it, but it is all vacuously pointless and absolutely shameless.

Trash with flash, it has ‘guilty pleasure’ written over every frame.

Ronald Duncan’s screenplay is based on the 1963 novel La Motocyclette by André Pieyre de Mandiargues.

Also in the cast are Roger Mutton, Marius Goring, Catherine Jourdan, Jean Leduc, Jacques Marin and André Maranne.

It is co-produced by Alain Delon’s company Adel Productions.

In the UK, the BBFC heavily cut the film, with edits to all of the sex scenes and the shots of Faithfull caressing the saddle of her motorbike. The cuts were restored in 2001 for DVD releases.

It was the first film to receive an X rating in the US, where it was released as Naked Under Leather, and cut by Warner Bros for an R rating

British fetish clothing designer John Sutcliffe created the biker leather catsuit Faithfull wears in the film. He published the AtomAge fetish magazine in the 1970s as an offshoot of his AtomAge fetish clothing business.

It was to have competed at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, but the festival was cancelled because of the May 1968 civil unrest in France.

Release dates: 21 June 1968 (France) and 13 October 1968 (UK).

The Girl on a Motorcycle [Naked Under Leather] [La Motocyclette] is directed by Jack Cardiff, runs 91 minutes, is made by Adel Productions, Mid-Atlantic Film (Holdings), Ares Production and Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC), is released by British Lion Film Corporation (1968) (UK), Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC) (1968) (France) and Warner Bros/ Seven Arts (1968) (US), is written by Ronald Duncan, based on the novel La Motocyclette by André Pieyre de Mandiargues, is shot by Jack Cardiff and Réne Guissart Jr (lighting cameraman), is produced by William Sassoon and Alain Delon, is scored by Les Reed, and is designed by Jean d’Eaubonne and Russell Hagg.

The cast

The cast are Alain Delon as Daniel, Marianne Faithfull as Rebecca, Roger Mutton as Raymond, Marius Goring as Rebecca’s father, Catherine Jourdan as Catherine, Jean Leduc as Jean, Jacques Marin as pump Attendant, André Maranne as French Superintendent, Bari Jonson as First French Customs Officer, Arnold Diamond as Second French Customs Officer, John G Heller as German Customs Officer, Marika Rivera as German waitress, Richard Blake as 1st student, Chris Williams as 2nd student, and Colin West as 3rd student.

Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull was born on 29 December 1946, to Eva, the Baroness Erisso, and Major Glynn Faithfull, a World War Two British spy.

She achieved fame in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 5 single ‘As Tears Go By’, her popularity enhanced by her films I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname (1967), The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968) and Hamlet (1969)

She died in London on 30 January 2025, aged 78.

Alain Delon

Alain Delon was born on 8 November 1935 in Sceaux, Seine, France.

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon died peacefully at his home in Douchy, France, on 18 August 2024, surrounded by family members, aged 88.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9,594

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com