Le Départ

Skolimowski's first film made outside Poland, this perhaps laid the seeds for the later troubles and misunderstandings of his years in the wilderness with its sharp contrast between surface visual excitements and the shallow substance underneath. The hero (Léaud, hot from Godard's Masculin Féminin, along with Catherine Duport) is as much of a firecracker as the director, playing a Brussels hairdresser who gets up to crazy, startling tricks in order to secure a Porsche for a weekend racing rally. His obsessive quest allows Skolimowski to score some points about Capitalist excess and isolation, but not enough to keep the film properly balanced. Still, if you feel in the mood for frenzied hijinks, you'll get your money's worth.