This post is a part of an ongoing project in which I watch one movie from a different country every week. 

PLOT: Like most works of surrealism, Holy Motors’ plot is difficult to describe and is (in some ways) besides the point. The film follows an actor, Mr. Oscar (Denis Lavant), as he travels through Paris in his stretch limo. Over the course of a day and evening he plays nine different characters. However there are no visible cameras or audience.

MEMORABLE MOMENT: I’m not the first person to say that the most memorable moment in the film is when Mr. Oscar dons the guise of a violent madman rampaging through a cemetery, pushing over mourners and devouring flowers. The gleefully bizarre sequence culminates with him terrorizing a super model’s photo shoot.

ACCORDING TO IMDB

• Edith Scob, who plays the chauffeur, Céline, starred in the French horror classic Eyes Without a Face (1960). The mask Céline puts on at the end of the film is a direct reference to the movie.

• The Director, Leos Carax, offered the part of Mr. Oscar’s lost love to his own former girlfriend, Juliette Binoche. According to Carax, they couldn’t get along and he rewrote the part for Kylie Minogue.

• The opening scene was inspired by a story by E. T. A. Hoffmann, about a man who discovers a secret door in his bedroom leading to an opera house.

WHO IS THIS MOVIE FOR?: Like last week’s movie this is a film for fans of David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky and other filmmakers who specialize in surrealist cinema.

Holy Motors does technically have a plot. It also has characters and a direction, but this is not a movie for anyone seeking logic. No matter how much we analyze the film, we’re not going to find a down-to-earth explanation, and that’s part of the joy of the ride. I enjoyed Holy Motors the most when I stopped trying to rationalize the events and accepted the film for what it is – a strange, funny, tragic, musical, and sometimes offensive odyssey into the absurd.

DIRECTOR: Leos Carax

WRITER: Leos Carax

STARING:
Denis Lavant
Edith Scob