A welcome antidote to the shark-jumping excess of the Fast & Furious franchise, this French spin on adrenaline junkies is authentic, gritty and properly perilous. Real-life biker and first-time performer Julie Ledru is a screen natural in the role of misfit motocross enthusiast Julia (aka ‘Stranger’), with the whole film revolving around her stunning central turn. Twentysomething Julia is a surly, freewheeling character who wears her attitude like armour and is described as a ‘scavenger’ by one observer. After a run-in with her mum, she’s looking for a place to crash and a sense of belonging; she finds potential for both at an urban ‘rodeo’, falling in with a crew who fix up and steal bikes as her gift for the latter wins some hard-earned respect.

Rodeo is a deeply impressive debut from writer-director Lola Quivoron who has been fascinated with motocross since childhood and picked up a prize at Cannes for her efforts. She captures the macho nature of this scene and the way it tips into misogyny, epitomised by an aggressive rejection of Julia by fellow biker Manel (Junior Correia); but thanks to fluid cinematography, we also sense the exhilaration and freedom Julia feels. Quivoron rewrote the script for her lead and, as a result, the film fits her like a glove, with Ledru showing equivalent amounts of strength and vulnerability under the camera’s penetrating gaze.

There’s a spiritual, almost supernatural dimension which doesn’t quite come off, but through her boundary-breaking protagonist, Quivoron redefines what a woman can be in the motocross world, portraying Julia in stark contrast to the adoring observers. And we see how Julia tries to take other women with her when attempting to liberate Ophélie (Antonia Buresi), the wife of her incarcerated boss, from her own (domestic) prison. This is a heroine for our times. 

Rodeo is In cinemas from Friday 28 April.