David:
Shakespeare
famously wrote, “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely
players.” Leo Carax’s exhilarating and beguiling Holy Motors dares
to explore just how isolating this concept is. By creating a futuristic
dystopia in which the work of actors is to take on bizarre “assignments,”
performing increasingly peculiar and dangerous acts for an undefined audience,
Carax plumbs the troubling effects of the facades so many of us wear in futile
attempts to find worth and purpose. Carax’s film pulls out the rug,
succinctly showcasing that such attempts will ultimately leave only disconnect
and despair. If we are all performing under the assumed identities we
create for ourselves, and searching for entertainment by peering into the lives
of others, how could we ever truly know ourselves?
Rather than preaching these themes overtly, Carax’s film forces us to
experience them, presenting a series of mysterious and striking vignettes
designed to bring viewers further into a place of strange alienation –
everything from family strife to sexuality is stripped down to be nearly
unrecognizable due to its odd new context. Indeed, acting out someone
else’s life and never being able to find meaning or comfort in personal
circumstance and identity would surely be torturous. In the end, the film
is an indictment of pretension – a call to stop this madness before it goes too
far. These themes are complex and messy, and could easily have been
handled carelessly, but Carax stunningly searches his subject through the lens
of skilled expressionism and refreshing playfulness, both communicating the
dread of loneliness and the excitement, but ultimate emptiness, of new
experiences. For some, the film will be too obtuse, but for this
reviewer, it was an atmospheric and thematic tour-de-force that was
simultaneously thrilling, perplexing, and deeply affecting.
A very strong ***1/2 out of ****
Chelsea:
Deliberate in its disorientation, Holy Motors requires full engagement
from its audience, a daring proposition for any film. However, this
intense engagement never feels like a chore, as Carax skillfully moves from
genre to genre, scene to scene, building tension throughout. Holy
Motors not only tackles the isolating concept of living life through a façade
as if on a stage, but on some level, the nature of art itself. As we know
not who the audience of each scene is, we begin to ask if there is, in fact, an
audience. Thus, we ask: is art still art without an audience?
 |
| An increasingly weary Denis Lavant. |
Enough cannot be said of the brilliant lead performance of Denis Lavant, who
portrays an actor playing about ten different parts throughout the day.
There is little dialogue, but he beautifully captures the weariness of this
life, these “appointments”, in his eyes, his movements, and his stature, which
become increasingly tired through the course of the film. It is truly an
incredible performance. The film, in general, is one of the most
ambitious films I saw from last year (right up there with The Master, my
favorite film of 2012), but Carax deftly handles the subject matter and
themes. He creates gorgeous images, and I felt as though I was perhaps
viewing something great. I’m hesitant to do this, but I think I will in
the spirit of the late Roger Ebert, who was always generous in his praise.
**** out of ****
David:
I
do not find a four-star review to be reaching here, as the film was a truly
ambitious undertaking and achieved surreal heights few films have
attained. Indeed, I very nearly gave the film this rating. In the
end, however, I found some digressions a bit too confusing to be helpful or
supportive of its larger themes. In some ways, I think Carax wanted such detours
to keep his viewers off-balance to further enhance the overall aesthetic and
discomfort inherent to the ever-shifting landscape of the film. Alas, I
thought they did more harm than good, but even in these befuddling moments, the
film was strongly compelling. It was simply impossible to be anything but
absorbed with the ride.
 |
| One of the oddest sequences in the film. |
As
you said, the film addresses the topic of art-as-performance as well, and does
it adeptly. I find it interesting that the first question viewers are likely
to have is, “For whom are these actors performing? Who is assigning them
these appointments?” Because there is no clear answer, the film uses
these themes to point back to its larger themes of modern disconnect. In
one scene, our actor laments that he misses seeing his audience. Art may
indeed be art without an audience, but it is ultimately without meaning or
purpose, for performers act with the impulse to connect with others through
their work.
Chelsea:
Certainly,
Carax willfully made the film confusing, and it did enhance the overall
aesthetic and feeling of discomfort. This is especially important as we
dig deeper into other ideas the film brings up, namely the loss of humanity and
the significance of technology. This is something I’m still trying to
figure out as I analyze some of the final sequences of the film, which I won’t
spoil, but which point to the problem of overvaluing technology as it continues
to advance, perhaps leading to the death of true human connection altogether.
The film becomes increasingly tense and morbid in each sequence as the
protagonist longs for something very human.
David:
 |
| Laughter is the best medicine. |
Hearing you discuss the themes of technology in this film reiterates how
superbly multi-faceted and insightful it is. It is hard to imagine more
relevant themes than these in today’s world, filled with many relationships
existing solely through computer screens. I’m sure there are more themes
to discuss as well – it is a film that undoubtedly would reward repeat viewing.
Chelsea:
Which is why, perhaps, those scenes that you thought did more harm than good will reveal themselves later in more conversations and with more viewings to be something entirely new and great.
Let’s
talk about the great scene in which the lead reconnects with someone with whom
he clearly once found meaning and purpose. I loved the scene in the old
department store. I found it enthralling and poignant. What did you think of
it?
David:
I
also appreciated the scene in the old department store. Just thinking about it makes
me truly awed by how Carax plays with film tropes and genre (music plays a
large role here) to both build up and deconstruct the emotional ties we have to
our pasts. The film dares to ask how we interpret our own lives, and
whether the art we consume affects, in some unconscious way, how we perceive
the world around us and tell our own stories. It is an impressively
nuanced sequence, for though it is one of the few, short glimpses into our
actor’s deepest desires for human connection, it also leaves the possibility
that this connection was, also, constructed from the fabric of pretention.
Chelsea:
 |
| The motion-capture sequence. |
It
is incredible that a film so delightfully absurd and surreal would speak so
well to the heart of humanity. There are other scenes in the film as well
that were brilliant. I quite enjoyed the (more sensual) sequence that
nears the beginning of the film in which Oscar dons a suit to do some sort of
green screen work. It is somewhat of a visual marvel.
David:
Tell me more about what you thought of the motion-capture scene. I
thought it to be both disturbing and hypnotic – the act of motion-capturing was
gorgeous, but the image created from it was grotesque. Perhaps this was a
comment on how even sexuality (or perhaps especially sexuality?) can become
grotesque if performed impersonally, solely to fulfill the demands and social
norms of the modern world.
Chelsea:
I
completely agree. I also found it disturbing and unsettling when the
created images were revealed. On the other hand, the actual sequence of
capturing the motion was entrancing, specifically the action work done with
weaponry. When he was jumping and twirling and running, I was completely
hypnotized by the light show. Simply stunning. We could go on and
on. There is so much to dissect here - a brilliant film with many layers
of fascinating themes, and although it rewards repeat viewings, requires your
attention, and is extremely surreal, the film is well-paced and never
boring. I would say that Holy Motors, in fact, has almost no pretension about it. This is quite impressive, considering its wonderful reception at Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world.
It’s fun, exciting, and actually quite humorous. If you are up for the
challenge, it is not to be missed.
Two-as-One Rating: ***3/4 out of
****
P.S. I would caution everyone who is interested in
seeing this film that there is a fair bit of frontal male nudity and
sexuality. It is also fairly violent, and the violence is disturbing.
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