Film Review: Holy Motors (18), (France/Germany 2012)(French, English & Chinese with English Subtitles) (Director: Leos Carax), Friday 28.09.2012 20:30, The Filmhouse, Screen Three, Edinburgh

I went to see this as understood it had caused quite a stir when shown at film festivals. I was further intrigued by finding out that it was made by the same director who made 'Les amants du Pont-Neuf' (1991), and both films share the same lead actor, Denis Lavant.

The film shows an actor being driven to various different acting jobs in one day and the acting he does, and then being returned home to his family of chimpanzees. It does become very unclear whether the time spaces traveling between acting jobs are rest time or jobs in themselves, or whether the driver is also performing in some of the same acting work. The action is preceded by an image of a cinema audience asleep and the films director waking up, going through a door and walking to stand over the sleeping audience. Within the time spent with the lead actor, there is more than one occurrence where he is portraying more than one being, the significance of this is never touched upon and therefore adds further confusion. Each of the acting jobs appeared to be presented as small vignettes. The actor enters, performs and leaves, with no requests to go again or anyone saying cut. Each of the acting jobs appears quite odd, though then we have no context to try understand. This also feels very strange as from what I understand an actor would not have a day of going between nine differing acting jobs, and for this to be set up so he could just go from one to the next. The film lands up becoming an odd collection of quite random bizarre scenes following one after the other.

There was also images used which were quite clearly to just generate controversy. There was no need to have cloth assembled on Eva Mendes to appear as a burka. This being a film from France where the burka is a controversial clothing item due to how French politics has tried to relate to it, makes this use so obviously to stir opinion as to make the use appear infantile. I also have no desire to see a naked Denis Lavant supposedly in the Parisian sewers with his crooked erect member. Though also having Kylie Minogue commit suicide after singing a dreary ditty I found mildly amusing.

The scene of the actor shooting motion capture appeared as though it could be interesting, until it is shown that the performance is being transferred into movements of sexualised serpent creatures, the kind of which a young neardy teenage boy may have on his black bedroom wall, at which point it just appears laughable.  There was only one scene I particularly enjoyed which was about mid way through when a group of accordion players perform while marching around a cathedral.

I had earlier in the day heard the film critic Mark Kermode say that he understood the director's intention had been for it to be a warning against the modern age's over reliance upon technology. From watching the film, I have no idea how this could be seen from what is portrayed. Though then it is hard to have any idea as to what the film is about. I don't think it is about the detachment of the actor have to inhabit the character of others, as there was nothing shown of how the actor's day-to-day life was affected. I genuinely do not feel there was any understanding to be had from the film. It was baffling and muddled, though not confusing in a good way a la David Lynch. I would not recommend this to anyone, and anyone who claims it is great, as some have, I would say that they are being pretentious. The rating given is solely a reflection of the accordion scene.

Rating: 01/10.