Skolimowski's first film after leaving Poland (following a ban imposed on his political allegory HANDS UP! [1967; released 1981]) - has an air of inconsequentiality about it which was also evident in his earlier work but, lacking those films' socio-political resonance, it comes across as rather pointless - if not without merit and charm. Still, despite the fact that it features one of the defining faces of the Nouvelle Vague in Jean-Pierre Leaud, the film doesn't feel French at all - and this is augmented by the typical strains of Krzysztof Komeda's score.
The leads (Leaud and Catherine Dupont) are engaging and the film amusing (particularly the numerous scenes in which Leaud gets into a scuffle), and seems to have been partly improvised (for instance, the mirror sequence that's tinged with surrealism). Racing-cars aren't my cup of tea but Skolimowski and Leaud manage to capture the mind-set of a fanatic on the subject.
Basically, it boils down to being a dreamer's wish-fulfillment fantasy - which, as often happens in cinema, is never achieved; indeed in the end, just when our hero (who is driven to committing both fraud and theft to satisfy his passion!) seems about to make it, he gives everything up for no apparent reason!
The leads (Leaud and Catherine Dupont) are engaging and the film amusing (particularly the numerous scenes in which Leaud gets into a scuffle), and seems to have been partly improvised (for instance, the mirror sequence that's tinged with surrealism). Racing-cars aren't my cup of tea but Skolimowski and Leaud manage to capture the mind-set of a fanatic on the subject.
Basically, it boils down to being a dreamer's wish-fulfillment fantasy - which, as often happens in cinema, is never achieved; indeed in the end, just when our hero (who is driven to committing both fraud and theft to satisfy his passion!) seems about to make it, he gives everything up for no apparent reason!