The Hollywood Reporter Actress Roundtable: 2012 Oscars

Have you watched this year's Film Actress Roundtable from The Hollywood Reporter?  It's a good watch.  What I took away from it is that Amy Adams is very passionate about protecting her daughter from the paparazzi, that her often sweet exterior conceals.  Sally Field had the best stories (but also the most years in the industry), even though she rambled on sometimes.  She definitely had the best moment when she described how she had to fight to keep the role of Mary Todd when (presumably, though he doesn't name him) Liam Neeson  left Lincoln.  Marion Cotillard managed to get a director hired on a small project a few years back, only to learn how inept he was.  Rachel Weisz has avante-garde theatrical routes.  Naomi Watts hates to audition.  Anne Hathaway, the only non-mother in the group, wasn't as annoying as she can be during interviews (perhaps the group element had something to do with it).  She also claimed to have written a spy screenplay written with Field in mind.  I'm also liking Helen Hunt more and more.  I wasn't as excited as previous years, so I waited a few days to see it, but I'm glad to have finally viewed the hour-long segment.

I suppose it had something to do with the top-heavy Supporting Actress group.  Breaking down the numbers, out of the seven women, we probably have four of the likely supporting actress nominees (Anne Hathaway, Helen Hunt, Sally Field, Amy Adams), one of the likely lead actress nominees (Marion Cotillard), one who has a shot at lead (Naomi Watts), and one who has a very faint chance of getting into the lead race (Rachel Weisz).  Usually, the participant profile leans the other direction.  Perhaps it has something to do with some of the lead actress prospects this year not fitting into makeup of the panel.  I can't imagine how a six-year old (Quvenzhané Wallis) would add to the discussion.  And French actress Emmanuelle Riva hasn't done any English-language films, so perhaps her absence is a language-barrier issue.  Eventual winner Natalie Portman was involved two years ago, but last year's winner Meryl Streep was absent, so Jennifer Lawrence may have not been able to schedule it in while doing the Silver Linings promotional tour (which may suggest that an interview like this does very little for The AMPAS or the movie-going audience).  That would leave Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren, both of whom whose films also just opened and are probably actively involved in drumming up press.  Is it suspect that Jessica Chastain wasn't in attendance?  Or Judi Dench, Meryl Streep?  Pauline Collins?  Maggie Smith?  Jacki Weaver?  I'm surprised by Weisz presence over Chastain, only in terms of perception related to the race.  How have the previous years fared on prognostication?

2010
Lead winner Natalie Portman and fellow nominees Annette Bening and Nicole Kidman, as well as supporting nominees Helena Bonham Carter and Amy Adams.  Hilary Swank was also pushing for recognition in Conviction at the time.  Left out: Michelle Williams, Lawrence, Hailee Steinfeld, Weaver, and winner Melissa Leo.

2011
Lead nominees Viola Davis, Glenn Close, and Williams, as well as eventual supporting winner Octavia Spencer.  Charlize Theron was a near-miss for the lead category, as well as I'm sure Carey Mulligan was, as they were both quite brilliant.  Left out: winner Meryl Streep, Rooney Mara, Jessica Chastain, Melissa McCarthy, Janet McTeer, and Bérénice Bejo.

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Movie Spoiler LIFE OF PI (2012)

Master of genre-hopping Ang Lee helmed the $120M adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi, a risky venture considering it's a fantasy-drama based on a novel set in the middle of the ocean starring a boy and a CGI tiger.  Deadline reports that the film is over-performing modest studio expectations in the initial forecast for Thanksgiving weekend.  It could quite possibly catch on and develop legs through the holiday season, which is a rarity these days for wide releases (Argo being a recent example).  Considering it's an original movie with adult sensibilities, I would love to see that happen.  I wasn't really sure what to expect going in, not having read the novel and only seen the trailer, but, like Castaway, its plot squeezes a great deal out of barebones details pitting man against nature.  Pi is framed with a narrative device looking back on events through the eyes of the titular character being interviewed by an annoying novelist (annoying only because he resembles an irksome blogger I know).  After sharing scenes from his youth, he dives into the story proper and tells his extraordinary tale.  The computer graphics are awe inspiring, especially the footage of Pi swimming.  And a oceaniac bioluminescent scene involving a whale and several sea creatures is simply fantastic, especially when viewed through 3D glasses, and while its ship sinking scene isn't as involved as Titanic's, it's certainly spectacular.  I'm not a strong advocate of 3D technology, but there are instances such as Pi and Hugo where they actually enhance the cinematic experience.  My only gripes are a polish to the movie in general that I found only slightly off-putting and the borderline cloying framing device.  For the most part, I embraced the movie, even if it ran a tad long.  Lee's effort was overall solid and he has a magical touch not unlike his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, another otherworldly affair which took audiences where they had never been before.  The film's pantheistic nature may turn off religious hardliners, as well as atheists,  but will likely appeal to the majority who have a belief in a general God with a mild attachment to any one particular worship.  The film makes a strong argument for the purpose of religion as a coping mechanism to endure insurmountable odds that would crush the average person.  Go see this!  And see it in 3D while you can.

Oscar Odds
As far as its Oscar odds, there are some things that just strike me as certain, even if it does end up falling short at the box-office like Hugo: Best Picture, Director (Lee), Adapted Screenplay (David Magee), Cinematography (Claudio Miranda), Visual Effects, having a chance at winning the latter two, maybe even screenplay.  Art Direction and Editing also strike me as being in play for nominations.  I never know about the sound categories, but instinct tells me to throw them in also.  The score didn't strike me as especially memorable, simply because I can't recall it, but what do I know.

Movie Spoiler Summary

Life of Pie opens the credits over footage in an Indian zoo. Flash-forward to the older Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) in Canada being interviewed in his home by a writer (Rafe Spall).  He prepares them a meal as he takes him through various points in his youth via flashback, which include his uncle Mamaji teaching him (Gautam Belur) to swim.  Through montage, he explains how public ridicule in his youth forced him (Ayush Tandon) to shorten his name from Piscine Molitor (his uncle’s favorite Parisian swimming complex) to Pi culminating in a scene during his math class where he writes out the infinite number corresponding to his nickname taking up several chalkboards to his schoolmate's delight. 

Back to the present, the writer explains how he was brought to Pi through Mamaji.  Pi tells more tales from his youth including the Pondicherry, his father opening the zoo, how his parents got together and had him and his brother.  As a boy, Pi harbored an interest in Gods, which expanded as he grew older and included Hindi graphic novels, conversations with a priest (Andrea Di Stefano), and adopting Islam.  His father chose to be an atheist, while his mother believed in God.  During a dinner conversation, the parents have a disagreement where the father (Adil Hussain) advocates for science and fact, but the mother (Tabu) suggests that those elements can’t tend one’s heart. 

*** More Movie Spoilers ***

In another flashback, Pi visits the Bengal tiger Richard Parker at the zoo with a fist full of raw meat.  His frightened father finds him and teaches the boy a lesson by forcing him to watching the tiger devour a goat.  As a teenager, Pi (Suraj Sharma) falls in love with Amandee (Shravanthi Sainath).  Unfortunately, his father decides they must leave India for Canada.  The family boards Japanese freighter Tsimtsum (which may be a Hebrew term) with all of the animals and their possessions and set sail across the Pacific Ocean.  There’s a short scene in the mess hall with a French server (Gérard Depardieu) who chides the family for being vegetarian, leading to a fight that breaks out.  A young Buddhist later provides the hungry family encouragement.  (This scene establishes a spoiler that will become important later in the film.)

In the ship’s hull, Pi’s father tends to the animals as best as he knows how.  A storm breaks out and sends a curious Pi to the deck.  The violent waves force the ship to take on a massive amount of water.  Pi swims through the hallways to locate his family, but their room is entirely filled up.  The crew begins to employ a safety boat, but a falling zebra sends the craft with Pi and the animal into the water.  Pi manages to save Richard Parker, sending himself into the water where there is an amazing shot from underneath of Pi swimming and looking up towards the capsized ship on the surface.  He makes it back onto the safety boat and hugs a pole protruding from the bow with dear life. 

*** More Movie Spoilers ***

The next day, on calmer seas, he draws water out of the boat with a pale.  A hidden hyena reveals itself, and an orangutan floats by on a net full of bananas.  The hyena stirs up some shit, throws up, and methodically attacks and kills the poor zebra.  Pi falls asleep and drops into the water waking himself up.  He opens supplies, gives the orangutan a vest.  Using the extra vests and oars, he fashions a makeshift raft.  The hyena acts up again.  The orangutan gets one sharp audience-pleasing slap in, before the relentless hyena attacks and kills her.  Pi draws out a small axe on the hyena and out pops Richard Parker and devours the little monster.  He starts to advance on Pi, but backs off when he can’t negotiate the canvass covering the bow. 

Pi climbs onto the raft.  Later, he locates food in the boat.  Pi finds a rat and throws it at Richard Parker to avoid getting attacked.  He gets back on the raft and cries that night.  The next day he sends a mayday message in a can out to sea. He peers into the boat only to be welcomed by tiger grumbling.  Pi prays, observes map, and reads a survival manual.  He employs a Pavlov method by blowing a whistle while rocking the boat and inciting sea sickness in Richard Parker.  He gets back on the boat and tries to assert his dominance by urinating in front of the tiger, only for the tiger to return his own projection.  (One of the giveaways of the movie is that the manual Pi reads provides unbelievable guidance suggestions that one wouldn’t likely find in such reading materials.)  He blows the whistle and puts out a pail of water for the tiger to drink. 

Pi starts fishing and Richard Parker jumps into the water and begins swimming towards him.  Pi manages to turn the tables and gains possession of the boat, and pulls the raft aboard.  He uses the small axe to threaten Richard Parker, hanging onto ropes on the side of the boat.  Later, he drops the ladder and blows the whistle to allow the tiger back on board.  The next day, Pi takes inventory of the food while it’s laid out precariously on the raft.  He catches a huge fish and prays after killing it, throwing it to the hungry Richard Parker. 

That night, there is bioluminescent scene (the best one!) showing off the sea life.  A whale emerges and jumps out of the water predictably knocking the food rations off the raft and into the sea.  “Hunger can change every idea you’ve had about yourself.”  The next day, thousands of fish begin flying through the air across the boat, many of them landing inside as food prospects.  Richard Parker tries to attack Pi, but eventually turns his attention to the fish.  The next day, Pi boards the boat and tames the tiger with a rod, while rewarding him with fish, sending him acquiescing underneath the bow’s canopy. 

*** More Movie Spoilers ***

Time passes, and Pi has fashioned himself a luxury raft (considering the circumstances), which provides him a little shade.  “Without Richard Parker, I would have died by now.”  They’re visited by dolphins.  Pi spots a ship in the horizon and fires flares into the night without success.  There is a montage of Pi and Richard Parker idling the days away.  There’s a fantasy sequence involving the sea life, as well as the zoo animals.  Both Pi and Richard Parker think back on their lives.  Pi journals some more.  A storm sends him falling into the water.  He prays and then watches the lightning during the rough storm, sending Richard Parker cowering.  He covers the vessel, while the tiger and him swish around in water the boat has taken on.  During calmer seas, Pi comforts a frail Richard Parker and touches him for the first time. 

The next day, he wakes to find a floating island.  He pulls himself ashore and begins eating the moss on the ground, as well as a vegetable he digs up.  He explores and realizes that the island is composed almost entirely of meerkats.   Pi swims in a lagoon and Richard Parker casually consumes a docile meerkat, while the others pay no attention.  Pi sets up camp in a tree and wakes that night to find dead bioluminescent fish swimming in the lagoon.  Richard Parker chills in the boat as a long shot reveals the island is in the shape of a human corpse.  Pi picks a juicy piece of fruit which contains a human tooth. He shares with the writer that the island was carnivorous and he couldn’t stay.  He prepares the boat and alerts Richard Parker with the whistle. 

*** More Movie Spoilers ***

They continue on and reach Mexico.  Richard Parker jumps ashore and disappears into the jungle.  Men rescue Pi.  And he expresses regret to the writer that he was never able to properly say goodbye to the tiger.  In flashback, the insurance report demands of Pi why the ship sunk (which is strange, because he was just a young passenger with a wild imagination).  He then tells a different story, where instead of the zebra, hyena, and orangutan, there is the young Asian Buddhist, the French mess hall attendant, and Pi’s mother.  The events are pretty much the same, only with different characters.  It’s clear, at this point, that Pi made up a story to tell others in order to process and move beyond his traumatizing event.  “So it goes with God.”  The writer reads that the insurance report included mention of the Bengal Tiger (which was actually Pi).  Pi introduces him to his family.  The final shot is of Richard Parker walking into the jungle.  Roll 3D credits. 

For I don’t know what reason, here is the final appearance from Sigfried and Roy from three years ago with the tiger that accidentally mauled Roy Horn.  


Movie Spoiler Summary Life of Pi
Movie Spoiler Life of Pi
Movie Spoilers Life of Pi
Spoiler Life of Pi
Spoilers Life of Pi
Life of Pi Movie Spoiler
Life of Pi Movie Spoilers
Life of Pi Movie Spoiler Summary
Life of Pi Movie Spoilers Summary
Life of Pi Spoiler
Life of Pi Spoilers

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Re-Oscaring & Supporting Actress Winners

As I already covered previous lead winners, those who have won both acting Oscars (Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Maggie Smith) or who have won the lead but may have a shot at supporting in their future (Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Kathy Bates) won't be covered here.  Though, with the consistent amount of industry love she has received over the course of her career, with her show Downton Abbey being one of the "it" series of late, a third Oscar for Smith in the next couple of years wouldn't surprise me.  Dianne Wiest, of course, is the modern benchmark in this category, specifically.  The character actress stealthily won hers eight years apart with a nomination in between.  She continues to work in both film and TV, even getting into the pre-release buzz recently for her role as Nicole Kidman's mother in Rabbit Hole.  A third Oscar doesn't seem possible, but I wouldn't rule another nomination somewhere down the line.  While anything can happen, what are the odds that a previous winner will make it back to the Dolby Theater, perhaps even on its stage after the envelop is opened?

Cate Blanchett winning again seems inevitable to me.  She may even eventually collect two more, though one will most definitely be for lead.  After taking home Oscar for her second nod, she went on to gather three more nominations in one calendar year.  She has this effortless ability to choose commercial prospects, while working with the best directors.  She has a tremendous amount of respect in the industry, all the while staying out of the tabloids while raising her three boys with her husband, who serves as co-artistic director with her for the Sydney Theatre Company.  Upcoming films include her participation in The Hobbit series, two Terrence Malick movies, as well as Woody Allen's latest project.  George Clooney will direct her in another World War II film.  She may join forces with Mia Wasikowska in a female-oriented film.  And Barbra Streisand (!) may direct her in the role of famed photographer Margaret Bourke-White.

Vanessa Redgrave is legend.  She has been nominated six times, having won supporting once over three decades ago for her title character Julia.  She hasn't been nominated since Howards End in 1992 (and as an old unsubstantiated rumor has it, she actually did win; see below).  Talk surfaced of possibly getting recognized for last year's Coriolanus, but nothing came of it.  She knows the importance of attaching herself to moneymakers to fuel more passionate projects, which makes me think that she'll be part of the Oscar conversation soon enough.  Next year, she'll appear in The Butler with her Julia costar Jane Fonda.  She'll also star in chilling, tragic Foxcatcher, the baity project that may result in Oscar talk for Steve Carell.

Oscar seems to love Judi Dench.  While they bypassed her for Helen Hunt her first nomination, they quickly made up to her one year later with a supporting trophy and then nominated her four more times.  With a reoccuring role in the Bond franchise, Dench has no intention of her macular degeneration stopping her from plowing forward with her craft.  My favorite performance of hers remains her last nominated role in 2006's Notes on a Scandal, which incidentally happens to be her ONLY nomination out of six, which didn't involve Harvey Weinstein.  It seems she is at least due for a nomination, but can she do it without WTC?  Can Fox Searchlight make it happen for her this year?

Rachel Weisz seems to be going down the road of Jennifer Connelly, but I have faith that she will gather her bearings and get back on track.  She is just way too talented and is probably in a bit of a lull, though some loved her in The Deep Blue Sea. I imagine she will at least make it into the leading category at some point.

Angelina Jolie is currently the biggest star on this list.  It doesn't seem like she will ever be "supporting" anything or anyone again, but her ability to pull a nomination in 2008 for Clint Eastwood's Changeling shows that the AMPAS have no regrets about handing her an Oscar over a decade ago when her star was on the rise.  Although, it's strange to me that they overlooked her the year before for A Mighty Heart, a better performance amongst less competition.

Is it because I see Marcia Gay Harden having a faint resemblance to Wiest that I place her so high up on this list?  She did win a Tony just three years ago.

Whether Angelica Huston is in film or TV, she always seems to be getting a mention for something.  She hit her stride in the mid-80s and kept her momentum going full-throttle for nearly a good decade.  Considering her integral role in the Smash series, she's clearly a force to be reckoned with.

There was that nasty urban legend that Jack Palance read the last name on the screen (Marisa Tomei) instead of the winner's name (Vanessa Redgrave in this instance), which Tomei and the AMPAS have managed to put to rest somewhat thanks to her involvement with In the Bedroom and The Wrestler and the nominations which resulted over the last twenty years.  (Was it too many push-ups on Palance's part?)

Aren't Penélope Cruz and Kim Basinger too beautiful to be rewarded an additional Oscar?  Still, Cruz now has three nominations.

Tilda Swinton's win will go down as one of those rare instances where the AMPAS actually made a cool decision by awarding the best artist in what was an undecided race.  I doubt she will ever win again, let along get nominated, if her mesmerizing performances in 2009 (Julia), 2010 (I Am Love), AND 2011 (We Need to Talk About Kevin), went ignored.  Hello.  We get it Academy, you're not interested in her and her win was a fluke.  But, we're glad it happened.  Juliette Binoche is another international star who doesn't seem like she can be bothered by the dog-and-pony show.  She genuinely thought she was going to lose to Lauren Bacall when she ended up taking the stage for a role that might as well have been a lead in The English Patient.

Renée Zellweger's Oscar felt like a consolation prize, "Now, go away, shoo!"  She went from awards circuit fixture to pariah.  After using up her good-will on the likes of Ron Howard and George Clooney, her rom-coms and Oscar-baiting failed to pan out commercially or critically.  After a long dry spell, suddenly, she's turning to directing.  Zellweger's former costar, the talented statuesque Catherine Zeta-Jones had accumulated her own set of hits before winning for Chicago.  She continued to attract A-list talent for a short while, before she started signing on to franchises she wasn't previously part of like Ocean's Twelve and Red 2.  Jennifer Connelly started to attract big talent right before she won for A Beautiful Mind.  It appeared her win would springboard her to leading lady status, but nothing stuck.  Still, she keeps herself pretty busy in features.

Mira Sorvino built her four subsequent years on her win, until Hollywood learned that audiences weren't going to just show up because she was an Oscar winner.  They still didn't know who she was, and it's not like everyone follows Woody Allen films.  To greater effect, Geena Davis used her win to catapult herself into hits like Thelma & Louse and A League of Their Own.  When she started running out of gas, she tried to reinvent herself as an action heroine.  Over the years, she has tried her hand at TV star. Look for her in 2013 in a film that was written and directed by Lake Bell, of all people.

Consider Yourself Rewarded

Melissa Leo fought tooth and nail for her Oscar.  "Consider" ... many probably have had enough of her off-screen.

Eclectic mix of character actors who were one-hit wonders with the awards circuit once upon a time when the stars aligned and never gained much traction with subsequent roles: Mary Steenburgen, Mercedes Ruehl.  There are those that just come and go like lightning flashes.  Brenda Fricker has a pretty low-key profile compared to the year when My Left Foot came out, although do you remember her as the bag lady in Home Alone 2?  Who knows what the future holds for Octavia Spencer, but I certainly didn't know who she was before The Help.  Singer Jennifer Hudson doesn't appear to be having a very good go at keeping her film career as relevant as the promise of Oscar might suggest.  The diminutive Linda Hunt has a very special set of skills that probably won't see her repeating a meeting with Oscar.

Consider Dancing with the Stars

Some legends have taken their Oscar to television and haven't looked back.  Cloris Leachman and Rita Moreno do quite well for themselves.  Why not Shirley Jones?  Screen legend Goldie Hawn is having a good time getting drunk in Paris, so she doesn't need to work on the small screen, or that silver one.  She needs not be bothered by Oscar.  Estelle Parsons managed an additional nomination a year after winning her Oscar, which comprised most of the extent of her industry recognition.  While she enjoyed a long reoccurring run for her bat-shit-crazy performance as Roseanne (and Jackie's) mother, she logs quite a bit of time on stage.

This category is a bastion for child actors who never quite develop the feature film career as an adult to match their head-start in movies.  Tatum O'Neil hasn't even had the good fortune Patty Duke and Anna Paquin have enjoyed in TV during various points in their life.

Consider Your Own Talk Show

Whoopi Goldberg is one of the few winners who had a commercial career both before and after her Oscar.  After her amazing debut in The Color Purple, she had a series of critical flops, which still made a dime at the box-office.  Her Oscar-winning role in Ghost would lead to the Sister Act movies that would keep her going well into the 90s before she spent all of her film capital on crappy material.  Right now, she looks content sharing the set of The View.  Mo'Nique, on the other hand, has her own talk show, thank you very much.

Eve Marie Saint is still kicking, but she hasn't been part of any awards talk since winning an Emmy over two decades ago.  Lee Grant took to directing, even appeared in Mulholland Dr., but I imagine she may have entirely all-together retired.  Dorothy Malone is done, having taken her final bow with a sly cameo in one of my favorites, Basic Instinct.

Thanks for reading.  I hope you enjoyed this.

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Movie Spoiler HOLY MOTORS (2012)

You know how you go into a movie and you just *know* you're going to love it no matter what? How much of a bonus is it when that happens coupled with the reality that what you just witnessed was truly bold and visionary separate from your personal bias? I just snuck in a viewing of Leos Carax' Holy Motors at the last minute. It was playing for a week-long limited engagement ending Thursday at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica. This was basically my only chance to see it. So strange that it opened in New York a few weeks before and this is all the City of Angels gets. Perhaps, it will hop over to a Laemlee or Arclight. I doubt it, though, considering its PSA is shrinking down to nothing. So, I had to go, not knowing if and when this film was ever going to get released on DVD. And, I'm so glad I did. This French head-trip is still settling inside of me and, due to time constraints, I'm going to eke out what I can of a reaction and perhaps whatever I can't, I'll save for my Top Ten Films of 2012. That is, if there is one, considering the trouble I'll probably have making one. But, if I do, Holy Motors will surely be on it and it just might make it to the very top. 

If one were to reduce this movie to a plot-line and judge it purely on its surface elements, it's about an actor Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) whose driven around Paris in a white limousine by Céline (Edith Scob) where he prepares for each role and basically shows up at random places and employs his next character. It's very David Lynch, but it's also accessible (closer to Blue Velvet and further away from his later films) in that oftentimes there is little explanation for motivation, but a great deal begins to make sense as the film plugs along. With its esoteric nature, this tale speaks to larger universal themes about love, morality, and life. And, while I can't exactly articulate what was happening all the time, my instincts certainly knew what I was feeling. Carax says a great deal about the human condition and he does so in a way that is fresh and exhilarating. With Caroline Champetier's cinematography, Anaïs Romand's costume design, and Florian Sanson's production design, among others, the technicals are simply engrossing.  Did you enjoy the trailer? Well, then, quite simply, you are going to LOVE the film. You can ream me later if you don't.  The spoiler summary has a few minor revelation that are nice surprises if you go into the film blind.

Movie Spoiler Summary
After Holy Motors' opening credits, Carax’ camera observes an audience watching a black and white movie. A blond man wearing glasses and PJ’s (possibly director Carax as Le dormeur) wakes up in a room that may be near an airport. He feels around the walls and finds a portal to another world, with his dog in tow. While there are sounds of seagulls, he walks onto a balcony overlooking the moviegoers. A dark beast of some sort that, on first glance looks like some sleek breed of Mastiff, but is something entirely different, perhaps not even canine, languidly moves down the aisle towards the screen.

Le banquier
Daylight, a young girl or la petite fille (Nastya Golubeva Carax) looks out a window from a modern designed home. Her father is leaving. While he may be playing the role of parent, he is, at the very least, the protagonist of the movie who goes by the name of Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) when he’s not in character. Céline (Edith Scob), his driver, picks him up for his next assignment. Oscar’s job is to play an assortment of characters around Paris, and Céline drives him to every gig in a white limousine. On the way to each assignment, Oscar prepares for each role by changing his hair, makeup, and wardrobe, assuming a completely different identity with their own name and personality each time. Everyone plays along.  Over the phone, as the character he last played, Le banquier or banker, he and Serge discuss business, as well as stepping up security and that night’s meeting at Fouquet’s. 

La mendiante

Oscar combs through a wig. They arrive in Paris and pull alongside la Seine by another car. He steps out as La mendiante or the beggar, a decrepit old (wo)man who uses a cane and has a gait suggesting an unfortunate physical disposition. S/he stands on the street seeking alms, while her/his mind goes over an inner monologue.

L’OS de Motion-Capture

He steps back into the limo, and takes his wig off and decaying teeth, in preparation for his next character. Céline debriefs him on the assignment. He opens his trunk and she drops him off at a large building. He’s dressed in a motion-capture suit (the solid colored getups with several balls attached to various points on their bodies) actors wear while being filmed for those computer-generated movies that Robert Zemeckis loves to produce. He identifies himself using this complex machine, which allows him access into a room. He opens a briefcase, removes the contents, and a man over the loudspeaker touches base with him. Oscar’s L’OS de Motion-Capture in action is actually L’acrobate Mo-Cap (played by Reda Oumouzoune).  The talented performer begins practicing an acrobatic routine, which includes flips, kicks, and twirling around guns. He then brandishes a semi-automatic weapon and begins running on a treadmill in front of a green screen, which produces various images. He falls off and a woman, La cyber-femme (! love it !) (Zlata) arrives, also dressed in a motion-capture-suit. Their interactions with each other quickly take on an erotic nature. At one point, their bodies begin to twist in a distorted fashion, before we’re treated to the animated version of their work which resembles two reptile-like creatures wrapped around each other in some kind of netherworld. 

M. Merde (the segment with Eva Mendes)
In the limo, Oscar reads up on assignment #3: M. Merde, who is the red-headed freak dressed in green with the glassy eye that you may or may not recall from the trailer. He applies spirit gum on his face to attach his facial hair and when he’s fully costumed, he sits with a meal before him while watching the monitor showing passing footage of the outside. Céline notifies him that they are running late. Oscar yearns for a previous job which took place in a forest. Ready for showtime, he steps out of the limo barefoot and climbs down a manhole and navigates his way through the Parisian sewer system, which is populated by many others. There’s a panoramic shot of the city, which then hones in on M. Merde creeping out of another manhole located in a cemetery. He begins a tirade stomping through the premises vandalizing graves and consuming flower bouquets. He puffs on a cigarette and scares visitors, even attacking one of them.

He stumbles upon a fashion shoot as Le photographe Harry (Geoffrey Carey) captures multiple images of the emotionless model Kay M (but, might as well have shared the name of the actor playing her, Eva Mendes) towering over a large group of onlookers, taped off. An enthralled Harry giddily takes photos and keeps commenting “beauty” as M. Merde barges in and makes a scene. He requests his L’assistante photographe (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) to ask M. Merde if he would be willing to have his photo taken with Kay M for Wave magazine in a kind of a Beauty & Beast theme. He responds by biting off her hand and carrying a completely unfazed Kay M off into the French sewers ala Phantom of the Opera. All the while, Harry is taking pictures until they part ways.

While down in the sewer, they find a corner and sit. M. Merde empties her purse, lights one of her cigarettes, and starts eating her money. Her response is to rip her hairpiece off. He tears some of her outfit and redresses her in the gold fabric, completely covering her, even placing a veil over her face, all the while mumbling and grunting to himself. He has her do a runway walk and then takes off all of his clothes, exposing a full-on erection (wow, not sure if I've ever seen one in a legitimate film before). As she sits upright, fully clothed, he lies at her side and covers himself in crumpled flowers. She sings him to sleep with a lullaby. Fade out.

La père

In the limo, Oscar prepares for his next character. He parts ways with Céline and takes off in a red hatchback as Le père or the father, picking up his daughter Angèle (Jeanne Disson). There is a shot of her at a party hiding in the bathroom. Le père smokes and listens to the radio and pulls up to an apartment building, where the party is taking place several stories up. Upstairs, people enjoy Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” blasting from the balcony as Angèle enters her father’s car. She lies to him and tells him that her friend Sonia went home with her boyfriend, but they both had a good time at the party. They discuss the evening’s events and she ignores a call from Sonia (her ringtone is also the Minogue hit from the early 2000s), who then calls the father. He realizes his daughter has lied to him and they get into an argument. She doesn’t believe that she is attractive, which is why she stayed in the bathroom the whole evening and then lied to her father about it. He drops her off at home and takes off, listening to music, and meets up with Céline.

L’accordéoniste (Intervel)
There’s a short black and white clip denoting an Intervel. Oscar walks through an old building, possibly a church, playing an accordion. He’s joined by an army of other accordion players aka Musicien à l'église (Elliot Simon, Quentin Auvray, Doctor L, Bertrand Cantat, Alexandre Leitao, David Nzavotunga Kiala, Johann Riche, Clément Robin, Yao Dembele, Yves Abadi, Miguel Saboga, Grégoire Simon, Viviane Amoux, Hugo Boulesteix, Eloi Miehe), composed of the young, old, men, women; the group also includes a guitarist and drummer amongst others. As the accordion player, he leads a procession from room to room featuring the upbeat, driving song you may recognize from the trailer.

Le tueur 
In the limo, he learns that his next assignment has a victim (Théo) and weapon (a knife). The limo enters the garage and Céline lets Oscar out. As Alex the serial killer, he’s dressed as a thug and casts suspicious glances everywhere he goes. Madame Ling greets him in a warehouse where he goes looking for Théo. They look similar (and may both be played by Lavant is my guess). Alex stabs him and opens his briefcase. He shaves Théo’s head clean and dresses him in his clothes. He even uses the knife to mark him identical to Alex’ previous wounds. Just as he’s finishing, Théo procures a weapon and stabs him in the same area which Alex cut him, resulting in a profound shot of their two bodies lying by each other. Alex (or perhaps Théo?) manages to escape, but collapses. Céline arrives in the rain and drags his body into the limo.

In the limo, Oscar is greeted by L'homme à la tache de vin (Michel Piccoli) who comments on his lack of passion for his craft. Oscar responds that cameras are getting smaller and lighter. “Beauty, they say is in the eye of the beholder,” is met with the question, “And if there's no more beholder?” Later, Céline and Oscar chat while the camera briefly filters the city through a translucent green similar to the title credit in the trailer and in various publicity materials. 

Le tué 
Time passes and Oscar begins speaking to himself and then asks Céline to pull the car over. As the assassin, he runs out shirtless and hooded and shoots a banker. There is a shootout and one of the gunmen shouts, “Aim for the crotch!” Oscar takes some serious hits and Céline rushes through a crowd of people to his side and guides him back to the limo. They drive off.

Le mourant 
A bellhop greets him (instead of Céline getting the door like she usually does) in front of his character M. Vogen’s posh apartment residence. He takes an elevator up to his home where his dog waits for him patiently. He spritzes himself and goes to bed. The Dying Man speaks about Théo, as a young woman, his niece Léa (Elise Lhomeau), played by a woman named Elise, tends to him. She leaves and undresses in her quarters. She returns fully clothed and they talk some more as she sits by his side. They discuss dying and he says, “Nothing makes me feel more alive than to watch others die.” She expresses regret over her husband, whom she believes only married her because her uncle willed her his entire fortune. After some tears, she falls asleep. Finished with his role as M. Vogen, Oscar gets up. They both have to attend to their next assignments and express a desire to see each other soon.

L’homme au foyer (the segment with Kylie Minogue)
Céline picks Oscar up. He’s now coughing from, he believes, his job as Le tuere (or Le tué?).  Céline turns on a simulated burner in the back and Oscar prepares for his next character. They drive down a lonely, scary road at night and the footage of the outside begins to bleed together. Céline gets into an accident with another limo right in front of La Samaritaine. “Ectoplasm on wheels” she calls the other driver. While Oscar waits, he recognizes the actor Jean (Minogue) in the other limo. They take a walk and Jean explains how she is already in character for her next role, Eva Grace, as Oscar is already partially in character. A man greets them and they enter the La Samaritaine, which used to be an old department store that is now being converted into a luxury hotel. He comments how he used to buy her bras from that store. They walk up a few levels and reach a floor scattered with old mannequin parts. He picks her up and carries her a flight of stairs. She begins singing a melancholic song from the trailer (the one that starts “Who are we, who were we, when we were who we were ... back then …” and sounds like David Bowie’s version of “Nature Boy” from Moulin Rouge!). He violently kicks a mannequin head. They arrive on the rooftop and talk some more. After they part ways, she takes off her wig and jacket to get into Jean’s complete character, revealing a flight attendant outfit and steps on the edge of the roof between the large “A” and “I” letters titling the building. She talks of Henry and a man arrives looking for Jean. Oscar arrives downstairs where their bodies are splattered side by side next to Céline and the limo, having both committed suicide.

There’s a darkened neon effect on the outside footage and Céline implores Oscar to eat. They drive through a tunnel and Oscar continues to drink. The two of them softly sing a song at one point. Céline speaks of her days as a dancer and a pigeon startles her driving. They share a laugh. He looks at his house, wife, and daughters of final assignment. They arrive and there’s a short clip of some old black and white footage. Céline asks Oscar about his status. He finally wakes up and she lets him out of the limo for his final assignment (on this particular day anyway). She gives him a key and drives off, as a song (“Make the long journey once more”) plays. He walks slowly to his front door, and once he enters we discover through the windows, to much comical effect, that his relatives Luce and Aude are played by chimps. Upstairs, the three of them look out the window as the song continues.

Céline drives to Holy Motors, where you can find all of the other white limos in France. She parks the car, lets her hair down, and puts on a mask. She makes a call that she’s headed home and leaves. In an overhead shot of the limos lined up parked, the lights go out. The brake lights start blinking in conjunction with various voices speaking in English and some French (Carax, Carey, Laurent Lacotte, David Stanley Phillips, Michel Delahaye, Leslie Palanker, Camille Rutherford, Adrien Guitton, Johanna Nizard, Kester Lovelace). There is talk of how people don’t want visible machines anymore, which ends in a chorus of, “Amens.” Roll credits.

Movie Spoiler Summary Holy Motors
Movie Spoiler Holy Motors
Movie Spoilers Holy Motors
Spoiler Holy Motors
Spoilers Holy Motors
Holy Motors Movie Spoiler
Holy Motors Movie Spoilers
Holy Motors Movie Spoiler Summary
Holy Motors Movie Spoilers Summary
Holy Motors Spoiler
Holy Motors Spoilers

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