A Belgian teen hitchhikes south and every man she meets is THE WORST — somehow still a comedy?
Agathe, 18, dreams of change. Gone are her vacations on the rainy beaches of Belgium! She decides to hitchhike down to the South of France, where she'll have many happy and less happy encounters. On the way to Paris, men of various ages offer to shorten her wait by the roadside. Some try to take advantage of her, while another, in a fit of madness, tries to stab her. Despite these assaults, Agathe continues her journey, heading for Valence and then Aix-en-Provence.
Direction
Jacqueline Audry's sardonic eye on male behavior.
Acting
Arletty steals every scene as the hotel owner.
Writing
Darkly comic tone that doesn't coddle its heroine.
Director
Jacqueline Audry
Agathe Aems
Agathe, la jeune auto-stoppeuse belge
Arletty
Gabrielle, maîtresse de Rameau et patronne de l'hôtel
Gilbert Bécaud
le pilote d'Air France
Francis Blanche
le douanier belge
Bernard Blier
Mr Rameau, le provincial en 2 cv
Pierre Brasseur
Achille Pipermint, l'homme d'affaires radin à Orly
Jean-Claude Brialy
Jean-Claude, le marchand de brosses
Darry Cowl
le journaliste sportif au parapluie
Daniel Gélin
le comédien qui répète "Cyrano"
Robert Hossein
Edouard, le fou
Pierre Mondy
André, le manager de Bobby
Noël-Noël
le baron conduisant sa calèche
Andréa Parisy
l'autostoppeuse, qui flirte avec le champion de tennis
François Périer
l'homme de 40 ans
Claude Rich
l'homme de 30 ans
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Directed by Jacqueline Audry, one of few women making commercial French cinema in the 1950s-60s; her films often centered complex female protagonists navigating patriarchal systems.
The film's uncomfortable tonal whiplash — sexual threat as slapstick — reads differently post-#MeToo; some critics argue Audry was exposing male behavior, others that she was trapped by industry expectations.
FR
