This brooding director is back with a more personal project than ever: C’est pas moi, now in theaters

“Are you there, Leo Karaks?“

For an exhibition that ultimately did not take place, the Musée Georges Pompidou asked filmmaker Leo Carax to answer the question with images: “Where are you, Leo Karaks?”

With C’est pas moi, the filmmaker tries to answer questions full of questions. On him, “his” world. “I do not know. But if I had known, I would have answered that…“

Dive into the intimate psyche of the legendary filmmaker

In 2012, he was awarded the Youth Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by the 2021 Director Prize for Holy Motors and Annette, a film director, respectively. Lions Carax Back on the Croisette this year to date this is not me.

A 40-minute medium-length film originally intended for the Musée Georges Pompidou, this new project is the most personal of all, despite its length. Indeed, it answers a question both existential and dizzying: “where are you leo ​​karaks“.

his answer this is not me, is a “self-portrait seen from behind,” as he describes it. Proliferating references to his world, as well as dream-like images, even quasi-prophetic, as he tries to depict the society in which he develops, Lions Carax trying to define the framework of his life, to contextualize his existence from birth to consecration. Losing himself in the archives of parents, children, making connections with his own works to meet his characters, the filmmaker gives this inner journey the appearance of a vivid dream, halfway between documentary and pure fantasy.

“The world I found when I was born (Hitler’s dark shadow, my sisters and parents, etc.). The world I discovered later: friends, loves, companions and work companions. My daughter. My dogs. And everyone who invited me to travel. Thinkers, artists, resistance fighters who were always preparing the ground for the island to rise in the open sea. A short film shot in bed and at the editing table (even if those tables no longer exist). A film born day and night. During insomnia, two or three images came to me, correspondence, connections, cock-donkey. And in the morning, at my desk in the editing software, I tried to put it all to music. With pictures from my archive, or pictures found on the Internet, which I may or may not replace later with others, taken with my phone or team.”

Fans of the filmmaker’s work will appreciate his reunion with one of his most recurring and elusive characters, the mysterious Mr. Merde, played by the great Denis Lavant. Nominated for a César for his extraordinary performance Holy Motors, the actor returns to his friend’s side, or rather, in front of him, like a reflection of reality in a mirror. As a guide and accomplice in this ultra-sensory and personal exploration, this multi-faceted character further blurs the lines between reality and fiction to allow the viewer to find their own answer to the question “Who is Leo Carax?“

A cinematic experience both personal and universal, Leo Carax’s unscripted C’est pas moi is now available in cinemas.