The film is a journey through late 1970s Britain by way of a road trip from London to Bristol, with Robert, a DJ attempting to investigate the suicide of his brother.
There are a number of references to the films of Wim Wenders, who is credited as associate producer. Early in the film, a copy of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game is seen on a table in Robert's flat. Wenders' 1977 film The American Friend is based on this novel. The character played by Sting is called Just Like Eddie. In Wenders' film Kings of the Road, two of the characters sing along to the song Just Like Eddie by Heinz. And Lisa Kreuzer, who plays Ingrid, is looking for her daughter Alice. Kreuzer was married to Wenders for several years, and was in several of his films, notably Alice in the Cities.
Legacy
In his 2022 book Roadrunner[2] Nick Gilbert revisits the film, the route and its resonances 43 years later and includes contributions from Petit and others involved in the film.
