Holy Motors

"...for the beauty of the act" 

2012
Director/Writer: Leos Carax 
Cast: Denis Lavant, Edith Scobb, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue  

The first film from the French director in over 13 years, Holy Motors is innovative, original and all-out bonkers.  

We follow a day in the life of the mysterious Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) as he travels around Paris in a white limousine for a series of appointments, each requiring a different character transformation. Whether it be a begging old woman, an over-protective father or a dying man, Carax offers no explanations. 

From the beginning clips of the birth of cinema and 

shots of the director himself wondering into a movie theatre, with a boarhound I might add (you get used to unexplained occurrences...), Holy Motors is filled with abundant film references, particularly to French cinema. Kylie Minogue is a tribute to Jean Seberg, Godard’s heroine in the classic New Wave film Breathless and Edith Scobb as Oscar’s chauffer Céline embodies her own character in Eyes Without A Face (keep getting reminded of that film...) when she puts on the very mask from the 1960 horror. Don’t worry, though, Carax slips in a possible reference to the Pixar hit Cars to appeal to the wider audience. 

The style of this film is its best feature as the cinematography are effects often spellbinding: a motion capture suit leaping around a room, the camera swiftly panning around a graveyard, the streets of Paris slowly acquiring a green glow. The music is perfectly paired with scenes and the lyrics of  Minogue’s song (“Who were we? Who were we? When we were who we were back then?”) add to the intrigue and enigma of her character and relationship with one of Oscar’s many identities. 

Many scenes are void of much dialogue but it is the thought-provoking discourses between an alarmingly stern father and his daughter, Oscar and his supposed employer and a dying man and his niece that the film has its most poignant moments. The curiosity that comes with the film’s first half is partly lost during later scenes but Lavant’s brilliant performance of each and every character is so compelling that you cannot switch off. 

It cannot be denied, though, Holy Motors is one strange film. It is perhaps too strange for the average cinema-goer who may not understand the numerous cinematic references and is used to a traditional film structure with explanations of a mysterious plot. Many scenes are shocking, the flower/hair eating fiend that is Monsieur Merde’s (revived from Tokyo) segment is particularly so as he takes the supermodel Kay M (Mendes) into his lair; its peculiarity and lengthy nature easily alienating some viewers. 

Make what you wish of Oscar’s transformations but it is evident that Carax does not want you to over-think this film. You need to forget the conventions of realist dramas and just be transported on this bizarre journey, realising that your questions may never be answered. There is one thing for certain, though: you won’t see another film like it this year.