I may have missed someone else noting this - but Oscar reads a file before entering the Chimp family house. He gets 'his key for the night' This is an assignment - not his home. He has NO home. His entire life is assignments. Even the 'daughter' scene must be an assignment. This is the saddest and most profoundly moving film I have seen in decades.
And being an actor - of course his name is Oscar!
I thought this was a great movie too. Loved it. Absurd and deep at the same time -- like in the chimps scene. Funny and deep!
shareI agree that it is a tragicomic, painful scene.
shareFor me the chimps were representative of trained monkeys as in anyone could play that part and is suggesting that many actors these days are just trained monkeys.
"Can people handle the truth"
For me the chimps were representative of trained monkeys as in anyone could play that part and is suggesting that many actors these days are just trained monkeys.That's a good observation.
Away with the manners of withered virginsshare
One thing the OP implied but didn't say explicitly: the fact that he ends his day with an overnight with a "family" tells us that the start of his day (as we saw in the movie) was very likely the end of another overnight performance.
HAIL TO THE CHIMP! http://i35.tinypic.com/1zoxa4m.gifshare
I thought (even though it was contextualized as an assignment) that maybe someone who spent all day building deceptively seamless surfaces for others would want some time interacting with simple, guileless creatures just to decompress. I mean, chimps can be clever but their capacity to deceive and understand deception is very limited.
The thing that really threw me for a loop is, the driver puts on a mask and then calls someone. Who is she going home to?
Absolutely. This also explains why he passes a number of sports and luxury cars on his way down the driveway to ultimately get into the limousine. None of those things are his. He is literally a traveling performer. The only person he truly has any sort of kinship with is his driver.
sharewhen the cars were talking to each other, they mentioned about a "rolling stone", most likely a reference to the phrase from the bible "a rolling stone gathers no moss" - generally interpreted (according to wikipedia) to be a phrase about how folks who move from place to place generally doesn't grow "moss" or, for a better word, "roots."
Oscar goes from assignment to assignment, living out parts of a life, without really growing "moss" or roots in the parts that he plays. At the end of the assignment, he just goes on to the next one.
very interesting
Bill is not dead.
"a rolling stone gathers no moss"
Interesting perspective but I don't think this is a bible verse though.
Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. - Mr Glass
Absolutely agree. It was incredibly moving.
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My Top Animated: http://www.imdb.com/list/zyDiSPMGtuM/
The film was full of pathos mixed with nostalgia and anger. I found the scene with Kylie Minogue the most moving. I'm not sure why but it was so sad.
Away with the manners of withered virginsshare
I thought, maybe, that was the only true scene in the movie. That they had met before and had a child together that died. The reason they walked about so pointlessly is that, via the assignments, they did not know who they were anymore, in the days when he bought her bras 20 years ago. 20 years ago Holy Motors may have not been in existence, since we do not know the back story of it or how long the characters have been working for it. Or why.
It reminded me a lot of a David Lynch film.
Hello scarletminded, there's a username I've not encountered for a while. :)
I agree that the interchange between them might have been real and sincere. I'm not a fan of Kylie Minogue but I liked her in this scene. I need to watch the film again but I'm not sure if it reminded me of Lynch because his films tends to be emotionally disturbing in a way that I didn't find Holy Motors to be.
I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.share
Yeah, I don't understand why people think the chimp home is his real home. He reads an assignment paper, and Celeine gives him the key for the night. In the beginning of the movie he likewise left a family house early in the morning dressed as the businessman, a home which probably was just an overnight assignment as well. His home is that limo.
share