Seemingly an important man, Monsieur Oscar enters a stretch-limousine off to start another day in his profession. From the early hours of the morning til late at night, we follow Oscar, a strange character, who seems to transform from one life to the next. Oscar's profession seems to be some strange type of performance art, as his various "appointments" resemble roles an actor would typically play. Leos Carax's Holy Motors is a welcome return from a great filmmaker whose absence was sorely missed in cinema. Holy Motors is by far Carax's most cryptic film, going beyond mere plot descriptions it's a film which surely will have many different opinions about its true intentions. Holy Motors is essentially a playground for Denis Lavant, whose free to run through this unpredictable narrative giving a staggeringly, brave performance. The characters which Monsieur Oscar becomes cover the gamut of feelings and emotions like desperation, pain, joy and sadness, with Carax seeming to suggest that our lives are hodgepodge of all these emotions. The line between Monsieur Oscar's actually life and his performances are almost non-existent, with the distinction between art and life being blurred. Carax seems to take this commentary even further, ultimately suggesting that the only difference between the two lies in the viewer. The opening of the film seems to somewhat suggest this concept as we witness a crowded movie theater in which the entire audience lies asleep - the silent film playing out with no one to see. Without the audience any type of art, cinema or not, falls by the wayside with Carax seemingly finding the beauty and despair in Monsieur Oscar, who seems to be the living example of this ideal. There are so many interesting moments in Carax' Holy Motors, with scenes of extreme beauty, both visually and emotionally, and while I cannot say for sure if my interpretation is even accurate to what Carax was trying to say, one could make the argument that simply makes the film even better. 8.75/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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