MovieChat Forums > Holy Motors (2012) Discussion > What the film means

What the film means

posted 12 years ago by eve_dolluk
9 replies | jump to latest

Well this is my interpretation of what the film means anyway

Overall the film is about Cinema

There is 2 narrations here the first is the overall story ( if you can call it a story ) the story of the actor.

We follow and actors life over the course of a day, we start with the low budget film, he plays a businessman. Its a basic role and a generic one, then we move onto the begger woman role, a small role but a fairly poignant one.

We then have the Motion capture artists, possibly a sideline for extra work and credits e.t.c.

We then move onto his notable performance as the crazy man, this is the film in which he gets noticed and starts his rise to fame. The film appears to quirky and different and a good role to get his teeth into and shine as an actor as well as starring alongside a leading lady. Was this his Oscar moment ??

Then we move onto a more dramatic role for him as the father followed by a part in some sort of musical artsy film where he plays the accordion.

The next step is the blockbuster where he plays the killer and the killed, the blockbuster with a twist, the money maker !!!

After this there is the guy ( the press ) in the car who believes he has become jaded, has he become a sell out ?? this is quickly followed by another killer film where he kills the banker, this seems like a generic film and something he rushed into and his driver even says its a mistake. Has he become pigeon holed and is this the start of his demise as an actor.

The reprise is the death bed scene, pure dramatics and long drawn out dialogue, could this have been Oscar number 2 ??

Then we have the sabbatical, it seems he is jaded and tired and the sleeping represents time out from the business, then by chance and accident he has a role with a previous love, a musical. Is he now just playing himself ?? Can he recognise the difference between his life and his art. It would seem his previous love has also become jaded and she takes her own life while she is playing an air hostess.

Depression, he is now lost as a person and is drinking and smoking and ageing, finally he gets talks to the driver ( who I believe represents the industry ) and they have a small bonding moment, finally he thinks he has it figured out and can reflect on what he has done, as the music suggests as he goes for his final role, would he do it all again differently ???

His final role is generic, A father with his family played by chimpanzees symbolising that anyone could play that role as he is the star that people will go and see.

And that is the actors career played out in a day.

Then we have the Limo and the driver, driving the industry on, seemingly cold hearted but over time shows a bit of heart.

The second story is the directors story and this is told throughout the film in terms of the dialogue and is not as easy to follow, there are small hints about the art of the industry, how everything is becoming generic and losing its eloquence. How Cameras used to be a technical tool but are now everywhere suggesting the technical side of filming has been lost at sea. We then reach the end as the Limo pulls into the building with the Holy... wood ?? no Holy motors sign and the faceless driver gets out leaving the vehicle to discuss there future, is it the end or are they just being cynical ???

This is a cynical film, the director clearly has a cynical view of the industry right now and is trying to portray this on screen in an artistic fashion. He portrays the actor's life but there is the deeper meaning there also. There are plenty of references and homages to classic films in there as well as the overall dialogue of cynicism that overlays the main protagonists story.

So what did I think of the film ??? it had its moments but to be honest I don;t really want to watch a film about the cynicism of the movie industry. I really don't care, I want to be entertained full stop. This film did not entertain me as much as it just made me think, not deeply, it made me think because I had to figure out what it all meant.

It was interesting and mildly entertaining but overall it was to poignant and metaphorical and felt like it was made by someone with a chip on their shoulder who just wanted to have a whinge and moan at anyone that will listen. Well I listened and you bored me, if the future of storytelling an entertainment is in video game or some other future invention then so be it. All this film told me is that people get sentimental and hold on to the past to much, oh how heartbreaking for the actor that made it, who earned all that money and lived a lifestyle we all dream of. Everyone has issues and problems but the actor and performer will always dramatize them more but still their issues are the same as us normal folk so there is no sympathy here I am afraid.

6/10

"Can people handle the truth"

[–] JSFound 12 years ago

Thanks, eve. I just got back from seeing it and I had it completely wrong. At the beginning with his playing the old woman and then the video game actor, I thought about the title and thought he was the Devil or an angel sent to test the compassion of humans--would they give a beggar money, would the beauty fall for the beast, would the daughter lie to her father, how would the niece feel about her dying uncle. Then I thought the Agent was God and the limousine service was heaven sanctioned. It seemed like Wings of Desire except the angels become the people they studied, like in Quantum Leap. Then because of the song at the end of wanting to relive your life, I thought he was an actor trapped by eternity to act, or blessed to do what he loved forever. Your explanation makes a lot more sense and is neat.

[–] missgeek 12 years ago

I understood exactly the same about this film (only the limos at the end got me lost).

You couldn't have spoken my mind better than this!!

[–] gehenna-3 11 years ago

The limos at the end represent the end of cameras with motors recording on film as everything is going digital. The director clearly is against this digital takeover as he feels it cheapens the art.

[–] lightningcows 12 years ago

I tend to think that there is something more going on with the film. I do agree that this is about "acting", or at least inhabiting multiple personas. That would fit in with the first few scenes where we see the audience in the movie theater.

However, what each of the assignments seem to do is to explore, in a very brief fashion, some aspect of life and living. His first assignment is of a wealthy family man, then a poor beggar, then attitudes towards sex (eroticism vs. condemnation / original sin), beauty vs. monster (a slight commentary here on the French ban of the burqa), truth and the lie, the holy and the blasphemous , the killer and the killed ("revenge" possibly), suffering / death, the banker killing may be related to the current eurozone economic woes (perhaps "outrage"?), long lost reunions and broken-hearts, and finally, a family man (though with a taste of the absurd with the chimps).

Anyway, thats how I'm taking this movie. Particularly with the burqa, and the killing of the banker, I see this film as more than just a metaphor of an actor's career. These two instances have very distinct parallels to some recent controversies in French society.

[–] eve_dolluk 12 years ago

Ah well of course there is always more beneath the surface, there were metaphors for many things within the film in the same way that film provides us with an insight to life and vice versa.

"Can people handle the truth"

[–] tinch77 12 years ago

Thanks for sharing your interpretation.
I hadn't thought some things you explained from your point of view, but aside from that, it made me feel exactly the same way. I completely agree with your last paragraph.

[–] NicholasGFerguson 12 years ago

I think the drivers of all the limos would represent the agents for the actors. When he rushes into the one scene and gets shot down, she even says it was a mix-up because she wouldn't have approved. Also, when they get stuck at the corner, they were saying how one person was going one way and the other was going the other way, which could represent both agents trying to direct their respective actor's lives into the same role and ended up fighting. At this point, they seem to branch off on their own and do a musical. At the end of the movie, the woman driver puts on a mask and says she is going home, and I saw this as her retiring, or taking a break, and trying to hide herself from public view.

This was my take on eve_dolluk's interpretation, and I would never have thought of the movie being metaphoric for anything close to this, but this makes sense. I thought on it more, and decided to share it.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

I like your take on the director's story in the film. Not sure I agree with all your thoughts on the actor's perspective.

The film must be a comment on the audience and viewers too. The industry is as much driven by tempting people to watch films as people are fed industry (mainstream) films. The short sequences suggest a critique on attention spans. The vapid photographer Harry T-Bone(!!) who mutters 'beautiful' and then 'weird' repeatedly is like an uncritical viewing mass at their worst. Even the beggar at the beginning who watches stone and feet all day is a comment on the mindless viewing of audiences.

Away with the manners of withered virgins

[–] MoviemanCin 9 years ago

A very interesting interpretation.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, or doesn't.