My initial reaction to Holy Motors (Carax 2012) was that the film created an uncomfortable and unnerving experience for its audience. My secondary thought was about Carax’s creative process, as I wondered what could have inspired the writing and directorial decisions that came together to form a piece that felt shocking, vulgar, and mystifying. One perspective I did not consider was that of those who acted in the film. However, an interview I read with Eva Mendes, who played the fashion model kidnapped in the cemetery, motivated me to further consider the experiences of those who were on screen.

Unlike with traditional narrative cinema where protagonists, antagonists, and supporting roles are characterized through their actions and dialogue, an experimental film does not necessarily define individuals in a specific manner. Mendes notes that when Carax first posed the role to her, he presented it as a non-speaking character, a fact she found intriguing. Mendes defines herself as “the anti-actress. . . in the sense that [she] love[s] getting rid of dialogue.” This meant that all of her acting would be done through her psycicality, via facial expressions or body language. I remain curious as to what the process is like for actresses like Mendes in deciding how exactly to react to the events happening around her in a film as unexpected as Holy Motors. As we have studied in class, what the actor does, or their blocking, is decided by the director and is an element of the mise-en-scéne. In this particular instance, Mendes’s reaction to being licked, kidnapped, and brought to a sewer was fairly nonchalant. Who is this model that she is so unafraid of her kidnapper? We see everyone else in the cemetery react fearfully to Lavant in this moment. Why is she different?

Mendes provides some insight into hown Carax instructed her to act, noting that “it was almost like a meditation. . . [as she] had to be so still and so quiet.” What remains unclear, however, is if Mendes knew Carax’s exact reasoning her for reaction. As a viewer, I felt her stoic dipoistion was designed to increase the audiences’ discomfort with Lavant, as well as juxtapose his actions, highlighting their eccentric nature. However, Mendes’s lack of reaction is inhuman as well, just in a different manner.

In the interview, Mendes also addressed one of the film’s central themes: the changes associated with digital filmmaking and advancing technology. Mendes stated that she was supportive of these developments, as it removes an element of elitism from the world of film, making it a more accessible media for storytelling.

Article:

Formo, Brian. “A Conversation with Eva Mendes: The Dreams and Nightmares of Holy Motors.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 16 Jan. 2013, www.huffpost.com/entry/eva-mendez-holy-motors_b_2139685.