{"id":988,"date":"2024-11-13T16:22:46","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/?p=988"},"modified":"2024-11-13T16:23:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:23:03","slug":"i-think-i-caught-a-cold-killing-the-banker-method-acting-to-a-fault-in-holy-motors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/2024\/11\/13\/i-think-i-caught-a-cold-killing-the-banker-method-acting-to-a-fault-in-holy-motors\/","title":{"rendered":"“I think I caught a cold killing the banker”; Method Acting to a Fault in “Holy Motors”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that was a trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holy Motors<\/em> follows the multiple lives of Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant). A businessman, a beggar woman, a motion-capture performer, a deranged, cannibalistic, exhibitionist leprechaun named Monsieur Merde (in case it\u2019s not clear, that life particularly disturbed me), an iron-fisted father of a teenage girl, an accordionist, an assassin, a dying man, and a family man\u2026to chimpanzees. I\u2019m purposefully omitting his life as a friend or lover to a woman played by Kylie Minogue because I interpreted their scene as a liminal space, which I will explore more later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the first half hour of the screening, I resonated with the Wave magazine model: frozen. Though I would not have remained as calm or complicit in being abducted and draped in a burqa-like shroud, I was trapped in my seat, forced to watch it all unfold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar traveled from appointment to appointment in a white stretch limousine, his cocoon and dressing room. During the first couple moments of pause and preparation, he appeared relatively emotionless. However, he grew increasingly manic and volatile as the day(s) progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked \u201cwhat makes you carry on, Oscar?\u201d he simply replied, \u201cthe beauty of the act.\u201d While this may be true, the act where he assassinates a banker and then proceeds to, essentially, act<\/em> as a mortuary cosmetologist, looked alarmingly unscripted, so-to-speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of Oscar\u2019s acts end in death\u2014whether he or another person physically<\/em> dies, or because the life he\u2019s inhabiting, along with those around him, ceases to hold narrative relevance\u2026then cue C\u00e9line (\u00c9dith Scob) arriving with the limo. Still, I did not view the decision to cast his own likeness onto the banker\u2014and then stab himself in the same spot\u2014as part of the act. Despite finding \u201cbeauty\u201d in it, he is, understandably, fatigued by his job. This improvisation was a subconscious attempt to confuse C\u00e9line into picking up the banker instead of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the limo, Oscar is noticeably shaken up\u2014a stark contrast to the immediate disassociation characteristic of his previous curtain calls. I am unsure what the onset of this spiral was, but I can only imagine that the physical and emotional depth necessary to complete each act is exhausting, and can gradually erode one\u2019s sense of agency over their own life. The lines between Oscar\u2019s own identity and those of his other lives have blurred beyond recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most important moment in the film is Oscar\u2019s interaction with Minogue. I actually found that the inclusion of her song Can\u2019t Get You out of My Head<\/em> did a better job at capturing the theme of duplicitousness than her live performance of Who Were We?<\/em>\u2014too on-the-nose. I mean, just read the former song\u2019s lyrics: \u201cI just can\u2019t get you out of my head\/ Boy, it\u2019s more than a dare to think about\/ There\u2019s a dark secret in me\/ Don\u2019t leave me locked in your heart\/ Set me free.\u201d These can subtly be attributed to the motions of harboring the fears, desires, and general anxieties inherent in adopting a new identity. Oscar\u2019s method acting gives Daniel Day-Lewis a run for his money. Oscar, huh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minogue is also an actor living nine, or fifty-seven, lives. After their limos nearly collide (it\u2019s almost as if they are no longer under supervision), they slip away into a surreal space filled with mannequin-like corpses\u2014the location of Minogue\u2019s next act. To me, this felt like the first time Oscar was outside the limo, appearing, presumably, as himself. The two bonded over their shared disdain for work. Therefore, when she pursues her act\u2014which, unsurprisingly, ends in suicide\u2014Oscar screams. He is horrified not by the gore, but by seeing someone who, despite just validating his inner conflict, still succumbed to external responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crying in the limo\u2014yes, he has officially broken character\/his general stoicism\u2014Oscar approaches his final act. To my delight, the viewers are not given as detailed a picture of this final act\u2014we cannot hear what he is telling the chimpanzees because of how amped up the music is. This rupture of rhythm suggests that Oscar is either taking a pause or sullenly surrendering to his fate. In which case, the tears represent the painful realization that his dream of breaking free from this cycle is, indeed, a pipe dream.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, that was a trip. Holy Motors follows the multiple lives of Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant). A businessman, a beggar woman, a motion-capture performer, a deranged, cannibalistic, exhibitionist leprechaun named Monsieur Merde (in case it\u2019s not clear, that life particularly disturbed me), an iron-fisted father of a teenage girl, an accordionist, an assassin, a dying […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9229,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-viewer","category-week-12-11-12-11-14-experimental-art-film","tag-holy-motors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":991,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/introtofilm2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}