Roving Woman: A Female-Centered Modern Road Movie Journey

I’ve always had a thing for road movies, and it all started with the noir classic Detour. In the 1970s, road movies often explored the lives of those cast aside, traveling the forgotten edges of society’s highways, away from the orderly paths leading to civilization. Roving Woman, the debut feature by Polish filmmaker Michał Chmielewski, fits comfortably into this tradition. At its core, it is undeniably a road movie, following the journey of Sara, played with empathy and subtlety by Lena Góra, as she navigates the vast and isolating California desert in search of freedom from a life she didn’t choose.

The film begins with Sara’s abrupt eviction from her boyfriend’s Los Angeles home—an action that comes without explanation. Left to fend for herself, she impulsively steals a car and embarks on a spontaneous road trip. Along the way, she encounters a series of strangers—some kind, others not so much. For Sara, the experience is both thrilling and unfamiliar, and through it, she starts to reimagine her existence.

What makes Sara so compelling is her elusiveness; she remains enigmatic throughout the film, yet the audience is invited into her most intimate thoughts. Whether through the stories she fabricates for the people she meets or the deeply personal reflections she shares with herself while driving, Sara embodies a character that feels both relatable and unknowable. She mirrors the contradictions many of us hold—our desire to be understood, yet our need to remain a mystery.

As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that life outside the bounds of cities and societal norms is precarious, often with the potential for things to go wrong. Still, Roving Woman stands as more than just another road movie. It offers a fresh, singular vision from an emerging auteur and marks a worthy addition to the rich tradition of female-centered road narratives.

Michał Chmielewski is a film director, screenwriter, civil engineer and photographer from Poland. His short fiction, documentary and experimental films, and music videos have been internationally awarded and screened at multiple film festivals around the world. Roving Woman is his debut feature.