Holy Motors (2012)

I've seen a lot of strange films but this might just be the strangest--downright insane. You have literally zero idea what you're watching until about halfway through the movie. And even then, you can only guess. Here's my best guess. Denis Lavant plays an actor, who plays out his assigned scenes not on a set but in the real world, followed by a small unseen camera. He is driven around to the various locations in a limo that doubles as a dressing room. He makes total transformations. Despite the oddness of this movie, it is totally mesmerizing and actually hilariously awkward.

The limo represents the only refuge from the outside world in which he must be someone he is not, even when that is not so obvious. It's a commentary on modern celebrity. Celebrities wear a persona for the outside world. Whenever they exit their limo, they are constantly being watched by unseen eyes. And so they must put on a facade to be the person society expects them to be. It's all fake, dramatized. It's kind of genius.

I just want to pick out a few scenes of note. One follows the character Merde, who also features in Tokyo! We watched this film in Professor Mason's class. It is another crazy character who abducts a silent Eva Mendes. He lives in the sewers and bites a woman's hand. It is probably the most raucously disturbing scene.

Then there are two musical scenes. One is a musical interlude. It is entirely out of place, literally an intermission. Denis Lavant leads an accordion band through a church. It is actually infectious. I've never liked accordion more. His expressions are dispassionate giving nothing away. I'm really unsure what to make of this scene, other than it just being kind of fun. The other musical scene features Kylie Minogue marvelously singing "Who Were We." We are originally led to believe that this is not a scene, but two former lovers meeting by chance. But there is no chance. Everything is scripted, including relationships. Isn't that true in real Hollywood?