When Leos Carax first appeared on the French film scene in 1984 with his debut Boy Meets Girl, he was touted as both the “enfant terrible” and “prodigious savior” of the medium. Nearly 30 years later, a look back on his work thus far—most recently 2012’s art house hit Holy Motors—indicates that he is simultaneously both and neither: a creature impossible to classify. The TIFF Bell Lightbox is presenting a Carax retrospective from Aug. 9 to 13, featuring rare Q & A Talkbacks with the Carax himself (oh come, all ye film buffs!). And in preparation, SDTC writers Tess Degenstein (TD), Lisa Amerongen (LA), and Shauna Wootton (SW) dove headfirst into his catalogue of films to give you a preview of what to expect from the enigmatic artist (spoiler alert: the unexpected!). Note: this was an introduction to Carax for all of us.  We’re excited for you to discover (or rediscover) him, too!

Boy Meets Girl

Credit: PhotoFest

I suggest you check in with yourself before you watch Boy Meets Girl. If you’re feeling joyful and breezy, you might be able to get through it and feel slightly less joyful and breezy by the end of it. If you’re feeling rejected or love-lost, I might suggest you watch something like Despicable Me 2 instead. Because Boy Meets Girl is not the fun rom-com that its name suggests. It is slow and it is “artsy” in an, “Oh, I guess I’ll draw my own conclusions” way (which just means whatever’s bothering you will then inform your viewing of the film). And its black and white colouring has an isolating quality. Boy Meets Girl is the kind of movie that will leave you wondering if love is real or possible or if you should just give up the game all together. These are all good things if you WANT to be introspective and forlorn, and hopefully all art makes people introspective in some way, but just be careful. Make sure there’s some sunlight outside for you to step into once the movie ends. Or friends you can hang with and not try to strangle. Or a lover who you won’t suddenly be terribly suspicious of. Or just some ice cream. Maybe get some Bubble Gum ice cream. Bright, colourful, friendly. Eat it, sigh, and think about life for awhile. LA

Mauvais Sang

Credit: PhotoFest

Ok, first off, suuuuper French. Everyone is smoking cigarettes and staring at each other constantly AND it features both a young Julie Deply and Juliette Binoche. The plot (which is minimal, and I’m pretty sure is there as a courtesy so that the whole film isn’t actually just one continuous shot of Juliette Binoche’s lips) revolves around the planned heist of a bio-chem research lab that’s trying to cure—get this—an STD that can be contracted by anyone between the ages of 16 and 30 who makes love without being in love. Guys. This is some mid-twenties quarter-life crisis what-even-is-love SOUL SPEAK. It’s silly, it’s super watchable, and I highly enjoyed it. Also: interpretive dance sequence feat. An Actual Baby. So. Recommended. SW

Les Amants du Pont-Neuf

Credit: FRL

I knew very little about Les Amants du Pont-Neuf going in, but since watching it, have discovered that it is apparently infamous for its excessive budget and massive sets (Fun Facts!). The film stars Juliette Binoche and Denis Lavant as vagrant artists, living on the titular bridge, here represented by one of the above-mentioned behemoth sets. The action hurtles through a Paris that is as beautiful and damaged as the central star-crossed lovers, weaving in and out of scenes that feel oddly familiar to the romance/melodrama genres (see: a very cracked “meet cute,” a dramatic chase in the underground) then into realms of the absurd, spectacular, and undoubtedly original.  I found some of the grittier material hard to stomach, but when the switch was flipped to the fantastical, I was transported, and giddily so. In particular, a sequence involving firearms, fireworks, and waterskiing is electrifying movie magic. TD

Pola X

Credit: PhotoFest

Pola X is a nutter of a film: sweeping and decadent, with lines like, “That girl…I have to go…I’ll meet you at the chateau.” Visually, it plays like a ’90s love ballad music video, with a lot of billowing white slacks and silk robes, melodrama for days, and a protagonist who kind of looks like The Beast after he’s been transformed back into The Prince. Based on Herman Mellville’s novel Pierre or The Ambiguities, the film tells the riches to rags story of an author who gives up his life of privilege to expose “the great lie behind everything” after meeting his long-lost sister-turned lover. The novel was apparently heavily censored in its day, and Carax fully embraces the sexual content (just a fun heads-up: some of the sexxx is explicit enough to feel weird watching while your brand new roommates, for example, are within ear/eye-shot). And although I really dug the Ladies Fashions, all in all the women are dealt a pretty rough hand in this tragic tale. However, some of the decadence is thrilling: Catherine Deneuve riding a motorbike through a forest, anyone?  Yes, please. And if you’re a fan of tempestuous 19th Century novels where passions rage, artists live predominantly in garrets, and adult men operate under the pseudonym Aladin, then this may be the film for you. TD

Holy Motors

Credit: Wild Bunch

With all of the “in-crowd” hype surrounding Holy Motors, I was excited to watch it a) to feel like a part of that crowd!, and b) to actually watch the movie, and fer real draw my own conclusions. Now that I have, let me tell you: Holy Motors lives up to the hype (and I don’t think I’m even saying that to fit in!). It is wild, energizing, and insanely captivating. It’s the first film in a long time during which it didn’t even occur to me to check my messages (my attention span is in a sad state, my friends). The story follows Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant, a Carax fave) a man whose job it is to shape-shift—to live many lives over the course of a single working day, all facilitated by Celine, his driver. The film is structured so that we watch his transformations in their limo, and then see him enact a subsequent vignette as a new character. As the film progresses, this simple structure deliberately begins breaking down: lines are blurred and reality clashes with artifice in the neon Parisian night. In terms of the vignettes, all are fascinating, although my favorites cast Oscar as a beloved, dying uncle; an erotic motion capture artist; and a troll crashing a cemetery fashion shoot featuring Eva Mendes (yes, you read all of that correctly). And aside from giving the viewer plenty of food-for-thought re: the nature of art, artifice, and authenticity, Holy Motors is also infused with a wicked sense of humor. Yes, it’s undoubtedly “art-house” and “strange,” but it’s also wildly beautiful, poignant, and a hell of a lot of fun. TD

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