Linear

Saïd Taghmaoui plays a motorcycle cop whose night in Paris braids into a broader odyssey. The city hums with rain-slicked streets as he rides, and the moment seems to carry a restless energy that hints at what lies ahead. On a wall, a stark graffiti message catches the eye, a blunt street-level refrain that sets a defiant tone for the journey: > Fuck the Police. The scene shifts with the dawn, and the officer mounts his own bike again, the asphalt giving way to open country as he heads into the French countryside and then crosses into Spain, his eyes fixed on Tripoli, where his girlfriend waits. The road stretches endlessly, and the landscape itself feels like a character in the film, moving with him as if urging him onward.

As the miles accumulate, a quiet moment arrives when he sprawls on his back to watch the sky. A cloud forms above him, and the image of the African continent takes shape, a fleeting sign of the miles traveled and the uncertain future ahead. He wakes with the sun rising and resumes his trek across Spain, the road narrowing and widening like a pulse that won’t settle. The journey continues toward Cádiz, where the air tastes of salt and possibility, and the pace slows enough to notice details that would otherwise vanish in the rush of movement.

In Cádiz, the ride pauses as the officer steps into a small café to refuel more than his bike. The cafe is nearly empty, save for the waitress Lizzie Brocheré, who flicks on the TV and greets the day with a casual presence that somehow anchors the scene. A music video by U2 fills the room, its beats echoing in the quiet space and giving the moment a dreamlike, almost ritual quality. The cop’s attention drifts as the video plays, and the ordinary act of drinking and watching becomes a window into the broader rhythm of his mission.

Leaving the café, he heads into the countryside again, until Cádiz gives way to a more coastal landscape and a new sense of direction. He finds himself drawn to a local bar, where the atmosphere tightens and a dancer glides into the spotlight. The Lone Dancer/Senor-Ita Dancer, portrayed by Marta Barrio(/actor/marta-barrio), moves with a precision that contrasts with the weariness in the cop’s eyes. The barman, Francisco Javier Malia Vazquez, serves him several drinks, his presence grounding the moment in a tactile reality. The cop’s gaze drifts again, and through a door or peephole he spots others—several women with moustaches dancing—moments that blur the line between reality and a fevered dream. With the night closing in, he leaves the bar and walks the streets alone, the sea calling to him as a soft soundtrack to his solitude.

He finds the shore and settles on the sand, the sea’s breath cooling his skin as dawn returns. The next morning, he rents a rowboat and begins to paddle across the Mediterranean toward Tripoli, the water stretching out like an endless sentence he must finish. A musical thread—the mood carried by Cedars of Lebanon—accompanies the crossing, a lyric cue that seals the film’s sense of longing and pursuit. The voyage is less about a destination and more about the act of moving forward, through landscapes, through memories, and through the quiet, stubborn conviction that the journey itself is the point.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:02