Wrecked on Road 17

A Feature film of

Luc Moullet

Produced by

Gemini Films

Production year2001

French release29/05/2002

Runtime1 h 21 min

Synopsis

During the Gulf War, the paths of several groups of characters cross in France’s most desert-like region.
The cast is as follows: An astrophysician who works alone with Geraldine in an observatory high in the mountains. He’d like to seduce Geraldine, but she seems to prefer the shepherd who’s been relegated to a shabby hut nearby.
A group of filmmakers stuck in the middle of the countryside after their crew went on strike because lunch never turned up.
A squadron of stupid soldiers who consider even the most minor incident to be proof of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of France.
A maniacal geologist, oblivious of everything, who continues to search for the traces of a tectonic Big Bang in the most inaccessible places.
Hikers who think it’s a disgrace to hitchhike.
A horse breeder who earns his living by digging potholes with the purpose of trapping cars. He comes to people’s aid, using his cows to pull the cars free (Common Market agreements no longer allow him to make a living raising cattle).
A car racing champion, Paul, whose car gets bogged down and who doesn’t want to abandon the vehicle. Instead, he sends his young female co-driver, Anne, a groupie who he treats badly and who is jealous of her rival, the car, to go for help in a nearby town.
The car’s constructor who’s worried about the large shipment of drugs hidden in the trunk. This expensive prototype winds up in flames at the bottom of a ravine, much to Paul and Anne’s delight.
All the women in the story will give into their impulses by climbing the aphrodisiac path that leads to the shepherd’s hut.
The soldiers mistake a microfilm containing the layout of the rally for a strategic map belonging to the Irakis.
Eventually this happy gang find themselves trussed up in straight jackets by the local police whose station wagon can’t can't them all.