Holy Motors
‘Completely bonkers’, ‘barking mad’ and ‘certifiably nuts’. That’s how film critics at the Cannes Film Festival described Holy Motors, an insane film trip from French genius/lunatic Leos Carax.
These are not strange qualifications when you list the ingredients list of this delightfully surreal cult film: talking limousines, chimpanzees, a musical number featuring Kylie Minogue as a suicidal flight attendant, latex, lycra and accordion music. We follow one day in the life of Monsieur Oscar. Or we should rather say lives, because Oscar regularly changes guises: from rich businessman to begging gypsy, hitman and worried father. Eleven different guises he assumes throughout this modern odyssey through Paris. The meaning of the film could be debated for a long time, but at least it seems clear that Carax is commenting on the malleability of our identity and the different roles we play in life. Life as performance, with French actor Denis Lavant as the ultimate transformation artist. (mv)