Holy Motors Review
As I prepare to write this review of Holy Motors, I do so with the proviso that I know nothing at all about its director Leos Carax, who I’m told is something of a bastion of French cinema. The only thing I knew about it at all when I signed up to review it [editor please stop reading now] was that Kylie was in it (really, I didn’t even know it was French…), and that really was a good enough reason for me to settle down to Holy Motors, which swiftly blew my mind.
I really don’t want to give too much away, so I’m going to be fairly vague about Holy Motors’ content: I’ll just say it follows a typical day in the life of Mr Oscar (Denis Lavant) as he keeps his various appointments around the typically artistic backdrop of Paris. An infinitely creative and ingenious man, Mr Oscar turns his talents from everything to participating in a high-calibre photo shoot with the model Kay M (Eva Mendes, no less), to leading an accordion marching band.
Holy Motors is a profoundly visual film. Speech is very limited and carefully used, so tune in when it is for some incredibly apt remarks from these most bizarre of characters. But as I say, it really is in the visuals department where Holy Motors shines. Irrespective of its plot, the look of the film is very much like a tapestry; colours are rich and specific and everything that appears in any given shot seems aesthetically purposeful. It feels like some of the more vivid, outlandish dreams I’ve had and wallows decadently in its own imagination. Sometimes grotesque, more often all the more beautiful for it, Holy Motors makes no apologies for anything it chooses to show you, the audience and its self-assertiveness is quite stunning.
For the most part, this is a one horse show but I would be missing a trick not to pay some homage to the biggest name on the bill, Kylie Minogue. In a French-speaking role (is there anything that woman can’t do??), the Queen of Pop gives a subtle performance with only a tactful display of the usual showgirl extravagance we’ve all come to know and love her for. But the accolade must really go to Lavant, who turns a character with all the sharpness and dedication of a MacDonald’s worker flipping a BigMac: each persona he realizes is meaty, solid and dripping with some sort of allure which I can’t quite put my finger on, but is certainly expertly performed.
As for the point of this film… well, it’s such an open book I’m sure everybody who watches it will have their own view. I can see it being interpreted as a commentary on the fallacies of modern life, the ridiculousness of ‘art’, the shallow nature of man, and any number of other things, but for me, a lover of The Brothers Grimm and Saki, Holy Motors will stay with me simply for its flawless storytelling, outlandish creativity and sheer wildness of spirit.
Dani Singer