Love & Crashes

Lucile Chaufour’s Love & Crashes takes us for an unforgettable ride in partnership. With a mixture of fictional and documentary techniques, the film immerses us in the universe of sidecar racing, paying attention to the peculiarities of a vehicle driven by a magical alliance between pilot and passenger (or as it is known in sidecar jargon, 'monkey'). Aided by a dreamy musical score and Hélène Louvart’s deft cinematography, Love & Crashes explores technique and sensuality, control and spontaneity, the physical and the mental, speed and care.

Leading up to the final race there are interviews with couples, passages devoted to the communal ties between the participants, sequences deploying the minutiae of fine-tuned mechanics, and rehearsals in which we become acquainted with the riding positions and the circuit. Two keywords reappear constantly in this film: trust and symbiosis. And, indeed, it is a veritable joy to see the dynamics of each couple, the tactile vocabulary they’ve invented, and the intense bonds formed between them.

Love & Crashes is one of those rare films where the examination of a very specific subculture becomes a great metaphor for the inner and outer workings – and the mysteries – of any successful relationship.

– Cristina Álvarez López