It’s difficult to know where to start with Leos Carax’s bizarre French Art Odyssey, a film which is as lively and inventive as it is wilfully obtuse.
The premise, if you can call it that, is essentially a ‘day in the life of’ story, following the mysterious Mssr. Oscar (Denis Lavant) as he his chauffeured through Paris in a Limo-cum-Dressing Room. Throughout his day, he has ‘appointments’ – sequences that see him don make-up, prosthetics and wigs to play different characters – an elderly beggar, a motion capture artist, a thugish hitman and, in what is probably the oddest scene, a mad Supermodel-kidnapping French Leprechaun… thing.
What you get out of Holy Motors will probably depend on your feelings on Art-house cinema. If you know your Jean Luc Goddard from your Jean Luc Picard then you may get a lot out of it, but it feels at times that the film’s ‘art’ qualities are manufactured – with almost deliberate pretension. That’s not to say it’s not worth seeing – some sequences are astonishing, notably the motion capture scene which develops into a pseudo-CGI sex scene the likes of which you just don’t see in Hollywood cinema.
One thing that everyone should agree on is the incredible central performance from Lavant. He inhabits each character absolutely, transforming both physically and characteristically with each change. Even if you find Holy Motor’s journey through Paris arduous, he is impossible to ignore.
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