Leos Carax Says The Mysterious & Bizarre 'Holy Motors' Began With His "Rage" Of Being Away From Cinema For 13 Years

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by Drew Taylor
October 10, 2012 7:01 PM
2 Comments

One of the many surprising aspects of "Holy Motors," is the performance of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue as another "actor." She sings, she emotes, and it's one of the most nakedly emotional moments in the entire gonzo enterprise. "I knew it would be ghost-like – like two ghosts meeting. Then I thought of a song. I didn't know who would play that," Carax admitted. The suggestion for Minogue came from an unlikely place. "But this film I was supposed to make in London I had trouble casting the woman in the film. Claire Denis mentioned Kylie Minogue and I remembered that when I was looking for this woman. So I met Kylie Minogue that way." That's right folks: the director of "White Material" suggested the singer of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" to Leos Carax. Let's just luxuriate on that for a minute, possibly while listening to "Come Into My World." Okay, good.

One of the other major characters in "Holy Motors" is, of course, the city of Paris itself. And while it occasionally takes on the dreamily romantic version seen in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," Carax seems reluctant to embrace that slant. Instead, he's pretty fed up with the famed City Of Lights. "The last twenty years I've tried to make all my projects away from France. But I've only made one film in Tokyo," Carax explained, the frustration evident in his speech. "I kind of hate Paris. After my other films fell through, I knew that to make a film fast I would have to shoot in Paris on digital." The act of making "Holy Motors" renewed his interest in the city. Sort of. "Actually I rediscovered Paris a bit while shooting this film," Carax added. "I still like bridges in Paris. That's about it."

In fact, much of the Q&A involved Carax shooting down wild theories about "Holy Motors" – no, the Merde character has no connection to birds; there's only one "Eyes Without a Face" reference (an actress from that film appears in "Holy Motors" and at one point dons an eerily familiar white mask); no, the film is not about class warfare ("This is why I shouldn't do Q&As"); and while he'd rather not deal with actors, he had to, given the profession of the main character. Carax came across as a fiercely intelligent and creative man who loved making movies but isn't that crazy about selling them.

At one point Taubin brought up the fact that "Holy Motors" could be read as a kind of love letter but also an obituary to traditional cinema, or, in her words: "an act of celebration and mourning." Carax, unsurprisingly, had some profound thoughts. "It's a miracle cinema exists. It's a miracle it was invented," Carax said, sounding awestruck. "The primitive power of cinema had to deal with this huge machine, three cameras at a time. I still think, when a camera would follow a man, you had the feeling that it was god watching him. If you had the same shot today on YouTube, you won't have this feeling. But that's okay. Cinema has always had to reinvent itself to find that power again."

"Holy Motors" opens in New York on October 17th, and begins to expaned nationally on November 9th and 11th.

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More: Holy Motors, Leos Carax, New York Film Festival, Review

2 Comments

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FilmFAC.com | October 21, 2012 1:06 AMReply

It's good to be warned that it's confusing and frustrating at times, but overall an amazing film. I have an interview with the director here:
http://fromaclearerworld.blogspot.com/2012/10/holy-motors-q-with-director-leos-carax.html
Cde. | October 10, 2012 8:54 PMReply

Holy Motors is such a beautiful film.

Great article.