"Posterized" returns for a new season. Every Friday!
by Nathaniel R
If you've followed the career of French director Leos Carax over the years than the response to his latest picture, Annette, which opened Cannes last month and hits theaters today, did not surprise you. He's always been a director who left some scratching their heads while leaving others thrilled or even reverently besotted. If you haven't yet experienced any of his movies we urge you to try them out to see which camp you fall into.
How many of his 7⅓ pictures have you seen? The posters are after the jump...
Act One - The French Enfant Terrible
BOY MEETS GIRL (1984)
MAUVAIS SANG / BAD BLOOD (1986)
Leos Carax was just 24 when he made his first waves in his home country, making a splash at Cannes and receiving a "Best First Film" nomination from the César Awards for his triangular drama Boy Meets Girl. Mauvais Sang, its crazier follow up involving a deadly sexually transmitted virus, made bigger waves at festivals and was nominated for 3 César Awards (but didn't hit the US screens outside of the festival circuit until... 2001.)
Act Two - The International Breakthrough That Wasn't
LOVERS ON THE BRIDGE (1991)
Included three different posters here to reflect how Lovers on the Bridge was sold quite differently everywhere -- look at how misleading and respectable that US Miramax poster was even though this was not a movie that your grandmother would love! This fascinating but troubled-picture about an alcoholic homeless man (Carax's favourite, Denis Lavant) and a girl who is going blind (Juliette Binoche) was an ambitious step-up for Carax but didn't quite put him over. People were somewhat puzzled though the film's critical reputation has most definitely grown over the years.
Further diluting the potential breakthrough of it all was how long it took the film to travel. The movie premiered in France in 1991 (two César nominations), hit festivals and a few countries in 1992 (one BAFTA nomination and three European Film Award wins), opened in some more countries in Europe in 1993. But it wasn't done yet. It finally ended its theatrical run in the United States in... wait for it... 1999 (!!!) long after Juliette Binoche had become an Oscar winner and bankable arthouse star.
POLA X (1999)
TOKYO! (2008)
HOLY MOTORS (2012)
Pola X, arguably his most polarizing picture (I personally love it) was a sexually charged visually bold and enigmatic film filled with mesmerizing beautiful stars like Catherine Deneuve, Yekaterina Golubeva, Laurent Lucas, and the late Guillaume Depardieu (son of Gerard). It opened in Europe in 1999 and hit the States in 2000. Unfortunately afterwards there was yet again a long stretch of inactivity followed by one third of the omnibus film Tokyo! with fellow auteurs Bong Joon ho and Michel Gondry.
And then people were "reintroduced" to Carax's very particular artistry with Holy Motors. It was his first film to open quickly around the world (within the same calendar year) and thus actually capitalize on its bonafides as a critical sensation. It received 9 César nominations and won the LAFCA and OFCS awards for Foreign Film and Best Actor (Denis Lavant) from the Toronto Film Criticis Association.
ANNETTE (2021)
Annette, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, opens in limited release today in US theaters. Cláudio and Elisa have both already reviewed it, here and here, from Cannes. It will begin screening on Amazon Prime on August 20th.
What do you make of his filmography and do you think a poster can ever accurately capture the mood of his movies?