Holy Motors

Holy Motors (2012) is Leos Carax's wild shape-shifting fantasy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Across a single day, a man named Monsieur Oscar lives out nine separate lives, none resembling the last.

A white limousine driven by Céline (Édith Scob) ferries him through Paris. The back seat is a makeup table stacked with files marked "appointments." At each stop Oscar steps out as someone new — a stooped beggar woman, a contract killer, a dying old man, a tender father, a feral sewer-dwelling creature who snatches a fashion model (Eva Mendes) from a graveyard shoot. Who commissions these roles, and whether anyone is even watching, Carax leaves wide open. Denis Lavant plays every part himself, disappearing so completely between scenes that the whole strange carnival rests on his shoulders.

At heart it's a film about acting itself, and what performance becomes once the cameras and the audience vanish from view. Kylie Minogue turns up for a full musical number, Michel Piccolo drifts through, and a closing scene of chattering cars seals the absurdity. The movie set Cannes buzzing and still splits viewers between those who call it a masterpiece and those who throw up their hands. If you love cinema that refuses every rule, book this seat. Stream Holy Motors (2012) online on iFILM.