I absolutely love weird and unconventional movies. I went into “Holy Motors” thinking it’d be one of those slow, artsy French films people only pretend to understand. Instead, I got a total mind-melter.
Star Denis Lavant manages to live a dozen different lives in one night throughout this fever dream of a film, and somehow makes every single one feel real. One minute he’s a motion-capture actor in a skintight suit, the next he’s a sewer-dwelling goblin eating flowers and licking people.
There’s a limo, a weird accordion break, a Kylie Minogue musical number, and absolutely no explanation for any of it. And for all of those reasons and more, it couldn’t be cooler.
It sounds like chaos, and it is — but it’s also weirdly emotional and kind of beautiful. You won’t totally get it (no one does), but you’ll feel it. If you’re into movies that make you question reality a little, “Holy Motors” is a trip worth taking. And it’s streaming for free on Tubi for a very short time before it’s set to be removed. So if you want to check it out, you don’t have much time left.
What’s ‘Holy Motors’ about?
Monsieur Oscar (Lavant) is a mysterious man who spends his day riding around Paris in a white limousine, taking on a series of wildly different “assignments.” Each stop transforms him into a new character. That might be a dying father, a beggar woman, a hitman, a sewer monster, or anything really. All complete with makeup, costume, and a new identity.
Oscar throws himself into each role like it’s life or death. He’s not acting, though. He’s living these lives, one after another, with no break in between, if you can believe that.
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One minute, Oscar is stabbing a man in a suit; the next, he’s comforting a dying daughter; then, he’s a wild-eyed troll eating flowers and kidnapping models.
There’s no explanation for who he is or why he’s doing this, and you shouldn’t really look for one in the film. His driver gives him quiet prompts, but no one ever asks questions. The world around him just rolls with it. Even when it makes no sense, which is often, everyone still seems at peace with what’s happening on-screen.
You start to wonder: Is he an actor? A puppet? Is this all for someone’s entertainment? Or is it just the way he exists, constantly becoming someone else, because staying himself is too much?
By the end, “Holy Motors” keeps quiet about its true intentions. It just leaves you with a strange, lingering feeling that maybe performance is the only thing keeping Oscar (and the rest of us) going.
Why you should stream ‘Holy Motors’
You should stream “Holy Motors” because there’s truly nothing else like it, and Lavant gives one of the most insane, committed performances you’ll ever see.
He doesn’t just play a character. He plays like 10, back-to-back, without a second to breathe. And somehow, each one feels totally real. You stop trying to figure out what’s going on and just get pulled along for the ride. That alone makes it worth catching before it’s no longer available to check out for free.
It’s weird, yeah. But it’s the kind of weird that sticks with you. Lavant goes all in, and it’s clear it’s all-encompassing: physically, emotionally, everything, and you kind of forget you’re watching a performance at all. That’s what makes it so good. Once you’ve seen “Holy Motors”, you’ll get why people won’t shut up about it.
But if you don’t want to miss out, you’re going to have to act fast, as it’s set to leave Tubi soon. It’s going to get even more difficult to find to stream, so make sure you catch it while it’s still super simple to track down.
Watch “Holy Motors” free on Tubi
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