Adapted from the novel by René Barjavel of the same name, Le Chemins De Katmandu or The Pleasure Pit (1969) tells the story of a man who joins a group of hippies who live and travel in Nepal, where they take drugs and practice free love in the belief that it will free them from materialism, only to meet disappointment. The Pleasure Pit (French: Les Chemins de Katmandou, Italian: Katmandu, also known as Dirty Dolls in Kathmandu, The Road to Katmandu and Ways of Katmandu) is a 1969 French-Italian crime-drama film written and directed by André Cayatte.
Oliver is a rebellious socially-conscious young man and activist who despises overt materialism, but dates a model. He tries to convince her to leave her materialistic and exploitative profession, but he can barely support himself, let alone her as well. That's when he decides to leave Paris where he lives with his mother to find his deadbeat dad who moved to Nepal some time ago and made good business as a professional hunter. Oliver wants to try to convince him to help him with his financial situation. Almost broke, Oliver manipulates his friend who works on a relief program in India to get the money to travel to Nepal. Once there, he's picked up by a band of hippies from Europe. One of them is Jane, a beautiful young carefree girl who practices free love. He falls for her immediately, but moves on, since he's not that anti-materialistic. When he finally finds his dad, he discovers that his father is in fact almost broke and working for a sleazy businessman who deals with stolen artifacts. Oliver is forced to steal artifacts for him as well to support himself. On one mission he meets Jane again, now a total drug addict. His new mission becomes to save her, but she doesn't want to be saved. Meanwhile, his dad is openly having an affair with the sleazy businessman's wife which complicates things even more for Oliver and everyone involved.
It stars Renaud Verley (Olivier), Jane Birkin (Jane), Elsa Martinelli (Martine), Serge Gainsbourg (Ted) and Pascale Audret (Yvonne). Large portions of the film were shot in the Katmandu Valley. Serge Gainsbourg did the music to it. This is a psychedelic trash masterpiece.
Directed by: André Cayatte
Written by: René Barjavel, André Cayatte
Starring: Renaud Verley, Jane Birkin, Elsa Martinelli
Music by: Serge Gainsbourg
Cinematography: Andréas Winding
Release date: 1969
Language: French
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