Leos Carax's latest Cannes-selected film is a reflection on 40 years of directing. Boasting an eclectic visual style and fully embracing various ratios and formats, it is chock-full of references and influences, from F.W. Murnau to Jean Vigo to Godard himself, whose trembling voice is heard on a message he once left for the director.
I tried to make this without any mirror. A self-portrait seen from behind. Or, like in a dream dreamed many years ago: how come I can see myself in that mirror, even though my eyes are closed?—and when I check in the mirror, my eyes are indeed closed.
It’s a film I had to build and break down alone. A little film, made in bed and at the editing table (even though such tables no longer exist). A film born of night and day. During my insomnias, two or three images would come to me —digressions, correspondances. In the morning, at my table, I’d use the editing software to try and orchestrate it all. With images from my archives, or found on the Web, later replaced (or not) by images filmed with my cell or a crew. In the evening, I’d record my voice on my cell.
“A self-portrait and cinematic essay… perhaps the most accurate impression of a late-era Jean-Luc Godard experiment anyone has ever attempted.” — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety
“If one is to believe that his latest movie is not, in fact, him (c’est pas moi). But they’re what we love about a great filmmaker, and still very much an enfant terrible at age 63, who’s always put the whole of himself into his work.” —Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
