Sometimes it's an Instinct to Fly...
...I'm not going to feel guilty.
I found this film to be incredibly unique and bizarre. From the moment we see Mariane on screen we are looking at her from the male gaze. Imeediately she gets dressed in her leather riding suit and the audience is given a close-up of the fact that she's wearing nothing underneath. As for the film being liberating, I would have to say absolutely not. I'm still trying to figure out if it was a story about the promiscuity of the subconscious within this woman or a tale on the ups and downs of S & M relationships. There were some very interesting scenes, like the scene where she stops to take shots of vodka....we the audience become just like all of those men watching her from within that bar. Her story is one told completely from the perspective of the male gaze and the motorcycle was the phallic symbol that enabled the story to continue and its ultimately the very thing that ends her journey.