Abstract
If one of the recurrent figures of recent French cinema has been that of the wanderer, what counts as a minor genre within this category are films featuring mobile women. Whereas movies starring males offer a variety of journeys for their displaced heroes, recurrent motifs in the lives of the mobile woman include prostitution, madness and violence. Presenting a different perspective is Claire Denis’s 2002 feature Vendredi soir, which recounts the story of Laure, a 30-something woman who gets caught in a traffic jam the night before she is to move in with her partner. On a freezing Parisian night, Laure offers a lift to the mysterious Jean with whom she has a one-night stand. With reference to the writing of Ross Chambers, this paper will read Laure in the tradition of the flâneuse, one who traces a significantly different path from that of her French cinematic forebears.
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