Holy Motors

[Jake Gittes]

 

Let's be honest, in reality nobody really knows just what the fuck is going on here.  That being said, this was destined to be the type of film in which hordes of people proclaim they "get it."  Outside of some themes of nostalgia and yearning for the past, I'm not sure there's anything to "get."

I've seen plenty of arthouse films I could say this exact thing about, but I never understood this attitude with regards to Holy Motors. The main theme of the movie is identity, the way all people put on different masks in order to deal with various situations (or "tasks" or "missions") in their life, and, consequently, the way they might lose their one true, genuine self if they accumulate enough of those masks. The brilliance of Lavant's character is that, ultimately, we can't know what his true self is, whether or not he has one, or has lost it, or maybe has never had it. For all we know, he might be putting on acts for 24/7, 365, always performing (incredibly convincingly), never being himself - but then, what if his identity simply *is* that of a performer? It might not immediately explain some of the individual scenes in the movie (personally I'd like it a lot more if it lost the opening, as well as the final two scenes), but I thought the overall theme was crystal clear even before I left the theater. To me it's essentially a philosophical piece that escapes becoming overly serious and heavy and boring by throwing in plenty of entertaining quirky comedic elements and being carried by a fantastic actor in the lead role.

[mattmav45]

I've seen plenty of arthouse films I could say this exact thing about, but I never understood this attitude with regards to Holy Motors. The main theme of the movie is identity, the way all people put on different masks in order to deal with various situations (or "tasks" or "missions") in their life, and, consequently, the way they might lose their one true, genuine self if they accumulate enough of those masks. The brilliance of Lavant's character is that, ultimately, we can't know what his true self is, whether or not he has one, or has lost it, or maybe has never had it. For all we know, he might be putting on acts for 24/7, 365, always performing (incredibly convincingly), never being himself - but then, what if his identity simply *is* that of a performer? It might not immediately explain some of the individual scenes in the movie (personally I'd like it a lot more if it lost the opening, as well as the final two scenes), but I thought the overall theme was crystal clear even before I left the theater. To me it's essentially a philosophical piece that escapes becoming overly serious and heavy and boring by throwing in plenty of entertaining quirky comedic elements and being carried by a fantastic actor in the lead role.

I can understand why you liked it, and your interpretation makes sense.  That being said, there's no real way of knowing if it's correct, there are countless viewpoints and interpretations that differ online.

 

I can see why it's loved by many, but as I stated, I simply didn't dig taking the role of the storyteller to this extent here.  

[luna]

in,ter,es,ting

Edited January 2, 2015 by lisa

[IndustriousAngel]

Missed it in theaters, finally caught it on HV.

About 7/10 on first watching. Terrific acting, and the whole thing seems like a very thoughtful meditation on acting and role-playing (as in: living). Also some nice (but unobstrusive) references to earlier masterworks.

While every scene in itself was good, overall it stayed very detached - you don't feel emotionally close to Mr. Oscar or Céline; there's no story or coherent thread to follow except wonder at the variability of man. So, "only" 7/10 because the rewatch value is not that high, but otoh some of the episodes are really 9/10 and would make terrific shorts.

[bartonfink]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdvBLFI5kIs

 

 

Who really am I? I don't know. As the movie represented, maybe we just keep moving and pretending something. Life is miserable glory or charming curse. Haunting cinematic experience.