A comic film – as Moullet argues that all his films are comic – about cyclists who climb the renowned gradient of the Parpaillon, a mountain in the French Alps. Moullet based himself on La passion considérée comme course de côte by Alfred Jarry. He also mentions several other influences: La voie lactée by Louis Buñuel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers and the films of the Japanese director Hiroshi Shinizu. With his usual irony, Moullet argues that he has quite likely lifted from Tati’s Playtime, especially because the result is even more insane, grotesque and extravagant than usual in his films.Parpaillon starts as the cyclists are at a modest altitude and follows them almost to the top. They don’t seem to be riding in this fictional race to see who is fastest; some seem to be riding as slow as possible. Probably, according to Moullet, this is not a sporting film, although appearances can be deceptive. In Moullet’s films something can be true and untrue. He uses the contest to provide a picturesque portrait of various people and groups; there are no real differences for him between cyclists and anglers or gamblers or film-lovers. The film can only be regarded as a road-movie in a very metaphorical sense.
