In this 1971 film, Roman Polanski followed Jackie Stewart around Monte Carlo during his participation of 1971 Monaco Grand Prix. Polanski and Stewart were able to capture an intimate insight into Stewarts character and the spirit of motor racing in the beginning of the 70’s.

If you don’t know much about Jackie Steward, you will be surprised by his genuine lightheartedness and cheekines. While he is meticulously professional, knowing all the details of the racing track inside out, his effortless charm outshine everything else. He is always in a good spirits, talkative and friendly. He is also extremely good at converting the technical details into captivating conversations, and Polanski skilfully leans into that and makes it the core of movie’s dialog. Polanski acts in the name of the audience, always sitting across the table, listening, asking, remaining curious, as Stewart breaks down the nature of motor racing

Movie was almost lose due to the cleaning of an archieve when someone contacted Polanski if he wants to preserve the movie. There are so many wholesome scenes that I don’t want to spoil too much, but Jackie encounters numerous interactions throughout the weekend, either chatting with Roman, being chased by the fans, talking with his engineer, driving around the track explaining his approach, or entertaining a group of older people who won a meet and greet with him in a local newspaper.

But you are not allowed to forget that death is never far away in the early 70s F1. The tension of the era is there, and the threat of heavy rain makes Jackie uneasy. This is from the years were deaths in Formula 1 were a regular occurrence and Stewart reminds us that he lost most of his close friends in racing accidents. He says that he remians alive because he is determined to take the smoothest racing line, almost looking slow.

Throughout the weekend Jackie has to cope with high pressure and dangerous environment of motor racing, being concerned by the unpredictable weather, the dangerous nature of the circuit and his own performance. The chaos leading to the race even makes him forget to put on second layer of underwear, which in his own words, threw him off his focus and made him nervous.

All of this is contested by the cheerfulness, cheekiness and good spirit of Stewart, who’s light hearted persona makes him a great companion and a very likable character. His level of weirdness is just the right type of character to be racing a deadly Formula 1 car in a deadly era. I guess you have to be some level of weird if you want to race and win in Formula 1.

The movie was actually considered lost for more than 40 years, and is not considered one of the Polanski’s canon work. After a limited European theatrical run in 1972 its negatives were lost, until the Lonodn film Lab had to clear out its archive. They wound the tapes, and contacted Polanski if they should destroy them.

There is a very nice coda added to the movie, where we are transformed back into present day, to the exact same suite in Monace, where older Jackie and ROman are talking not only about the movie, but how the times and racing has changed. A wonderful piece of film, andI really recommend you to check it out! DM me if you want to get a movie, I know a guy.

Jackie Stewart was one of the most successful drivers coming out from one of the deadliest era