Posted By Steve Harcourt on January 25, 2013

Having made films such as Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, and Mauvais Sang, the director of Holy Motors, Leos Carax is one who likes to deliver innovative, visually striking work, pushing boundaries where he can, while at the same time retaining and commenting on the central human element.  With Holy Motors being a ‘pseudo-science fiction’ drama with fantastical elements and also his first feature film for 13 years, his viewer will not be quite sure what to expect.

The film follows Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant – Beau Travail, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf), a mystery figure, through one day as he attends a series of ‘appointments’, driven around Paris in a limousine by the equally mysterious Celine (Edith Scob).  These ‘appointments’ play out as interconnected, sometimes surreal vignettes, where Monsieur Oscar inhabits different roles, traits and lives.

However annoyingly brief the above paragraph is, to describe this film or to attempt to write a simple synopsis would do a great deal of injustice to it as something to be experienced and explored; this, to the film’s credit, is its strength, as the reward for delving into the film is high.

Entering into the world of Holy Motors is confusing, surreal and unsettling, starting with an opening segment where a man, played by the director himself, wakes and finds a hidden passageway leading to a cinema, filled with symbolic sounds and visuals; therefore, even before you encounter Monsieur Oscar and his travels, you are initially wrong footed, looking to ascribe meaning to those ideas even though the context has yet to be revealed.  The hunt for meaning continues throughout the film, and you explore its twisted world looking for context, especially in sections where dialogue is sparse or even superfluous, and meaning is given through other avenues.  As the film progresses, you begin to piece together the principle ideas Carax is trying to get across, and with each revelation you can reassess previous scenes, deducing new ideas and thoughts. In this regard, I am sure that repeated viewing will reward an audience with fresh depth.

To me, the central themes of the film revolve around cinema itself, with references from the birth of cinema all the way to modern techniques and everything in between (Breathless, Les Yeux Sans Visage for example), as well as the nature of performance, beauty, identity, perception, and analogue vs digital (or old vs new).  Other films have dealt with identity and perception before, such as A Scanner Darkly (2006, based on the Philip K. Dick book), Gattaca (1997), or Memento (2000), but none of those left it as open, where the viewer is left to consider what they’ve seen and how they interpret it.  Similarly, perception was an interesting area raised by the film, as it explored the actor/viewer relationship, raising the questions of ‘who is the viewer?’, ‘in any given situation, who is this action for?’, and ‘how are they interpreting this?’

In the central role(s), Denis Lavant is outstanding, with a performance that should really have been recognised by more awards, as he uses his entire being to bring all the roles to life.  If you haven’t seen Lavant before, then you will no doubt wonder why he isn’t more well known, such is the level of his performances.  The support from Edith Scob is excellent, a brief appearance from Kylie Minogue works well, as does an almost silent performance from Eva Mendes, and an illuminating cameo from Michel Piccoli is a welcome appearance.

Visually, the film is beautifully shot, with cinematography, set design and location choice being exceptional.  Cinematographer, Caroline Champetier (with Yves Cape) has created a rich, full, dramatic world of light and dark, shifting effortlessly between the different vignettes, giving each their own style. This is well supported by some interesting sound design, which maintains the strange world they’ve created.  Make-up design is similarly well done, with Lavant being transformed several times into convincing characters of many differing ages, without ever looking obviously fake.

What may be problematic for some viewers is that there is not a traditional narrative with backstory for central characters or any exposition, so initially you are ‘all at sea’ as the film begins and it is not until a little while into it that you find your bearings.  Despite this lack of an obvious ‘anchor’ for the audience at the beginning, the film does have a linear narrative, as it runs through Monsieur Oscar’s day, although there isn’t the same linearity in the conceptual elements, leaving the viewer to piece together the histories, motivations & connections between events, characters & emotions later. On reflection, this is actually more rewarding having seen the whole film, than in the early stages, where it could be frustrating.

It really is a crazy, odd, challenging film, and I’m not sure any review could do it justice, but it is well worth your time.  Truly, Carax has managed to pack in lots to think about, and the film will stay with you, revealing more as you think about it and time passes So, while some people may well be put off by the dream-like nature of some of the film or the initially confusing sections, the film rewards those who succumb to the ride and let themselves sink into its world.

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Categories: Movies, Reviews
Tags: art, Cannes, Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, film, French, Holy Motors, Identity, Kylie Minogue, Leos Carax, Life, Limo, Michel Piccoli, movie, perception, pseudoscience fiction, review, Surreal