Liberating? Yeah right...
While The Girl on the Motorcycle is an early female-centric road-trip movie, it is far from liberating. On the contrary, it plays into the very theme of male domination that a feminist film should rail against. From the very beginning of the film, it is clear that the manner in which Rebecca is presented is to be viewed as nothing more than an object of desire. She is continually sexualized by the camera, with many shots (especially in the opening dream sequence & the fantasy sequence with the border patrol) of her separated into various body parts (rather than seeing her as a complete whole). Additionally, the shot when she zips up into the leather catsuit again puts her in the place of being objectified by the male gaze of the camera. The sequence in the bar demonstrates Rebecca's scopophilia, as she dreamily imagines all the men at the bar looking at and objectifying her.
In terms of phallocentrism, the film is chocked full of examples of male dominance. Rebecca may have the free will to leave her husband and ride her motorcycle across Europe, but she is depicted as being completely dominated and controlled by her male lover. Daniel tells her exactly what to do and to "shut up," quite frequently -- exercising his dominance over her with ease. Rebecca likens herself to being a self-destructive whore who needs to be hurt in order to feel like she is loved. She even goes so far as to tell her husband, Raymond, "you ought to tell me to shut up and do what you want," plainly indicating her desire to be subservient to her male master.
The theme of liberation is surface level at best. Sure, Rebecca becomes liberated from her marriage and rides solo across the countryside, but her intent (as shown by one of the many fantasy sequences in the film) is to fall straight into the arms of her male lover, who immediately objectifies her, has his way with her, and then discards her as he philosophizes about desire without love. Nothing more than pure objectification. At the end of the film when she has decided to free herself of the bonds of her marriage and liaison (true liberation), she dies in a crash.
Rebecca (and womankind, as represented by her) can have a certain degree of liberation, but still must be put back into her place in the end. This sentiment is far from the liberation that women had hoped for....