Directing

Leos Carax

Born November 22, 1960 · Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France (age 65)

Leos Carax (born Alex Christophe Dupont, November 22, 1960) is a French-born film director, critic, and writer. Carax is noted for his poetic style and his tortured depictions of love. His first major work was Boy Meets Girl (1984), and his notable works include Lovers on the Bridge (1991) and the controversial Pola X (1999). His professional name is an anagram of his first and middle names.

Known For

Annette

Annette · 2021

MovieDramaRomance

In present-day Los Angeles, controversial stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and internationally renowned opera singer Ann Defrasnoux form the façade of a happy couple in the spotlight. Ann gives birth to a baby girl named Annette, who possesses an exceptional gift that will change all of their lives forever.

The Lovers on the Bridge

The Lovers on the Bridge · 1991

The Lovers on the Bridge

MovieDramaRomance

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

Holy Motors

Holy Motors · 2012

MovieDramaFantasy

We follow 24 hours in the life of a being moving from life to life like a cold and solitary assassin moving from hit to hit. In each of these interwoven lives, the being possesses an entirely distinct identity: sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes youthful, sometimes old. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man.

Tokyo!

MovieComedyDrama

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

King Lear

King Lear · 1988

MovieComedyDrama

A descendant of Shakespeare tries to restore his plays in a world rebuilding itself after the Chernobyl catastrophe obliterates most of human civilization.

It's Not Me

It's Not Me · 2024

MovieDramaDocumentary

This free-form film is a self-portrait, which revisits more than 40 years of the author’s filmography and questions the major stations of his life, while capturing the political tremors of the time.

Pola X

MovieDramaRomance

A writer leaves his upper-class life and journeys with a woman claiming to be his sister, and her two friends.

Mister Lonely

Mister Lonely · 2008

MovieComedyDrama

In Paris, a young American working as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe, who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin and her daughter, Shirley Temple.

Filmography

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Annette

Annette · 2021

MovieDramaRomance

In present-day Los Angeles, controversial stand-up comedian Henry McHenry and internationally renowned opera singer Ann Defrasnoux form the façade of a happy couple in the spotlight. Ann gives birth to a baby girl named Annette, who possesses an exceptional gift that will change all of their lives forever.

Director

The Lovers on the Bridge

The Lovers on the Bridge · 1991

The Lovers on the Bridge

MovieDramaRomance

Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.

Director

Holy Motors

Holy Motors · 2012

MovieDramaFantasy

We follow 24 hours in the life of a being moving from life to life like a cold and solitary assassin moving from hit to hit. In each of these interwoven lives, the being possesses an entirely distinct identity: sometimes a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes youthful, sometimes old. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man.

Director

Tokyo!

MovieComedyDrama

Three distinct tales unfold in the bustling city of Tokyo. Merde, a bizarre sewer-dweller, emerges from a manhole and begins terrorizing pedestrians. After his arrest, he stands trial and lashes out at a hostile courtroom. A man who has resigned himself to a life of solitude reconsiders after meeting a charming pizza delivery woman. And finally, a happy young couple find themselves undergoing a series of frightening metamorphoses.

Director

King Lear

King Lear · 1988

MovieComedyDrama

A descendant of Shakespeare tries to restore his plays in a world rebuilding itself after the Chernobyl catastrophe obliterates most of human civilization.

Edgar

It's Not Me

It's Not Me · 2024

MovieDramaDocumentary

This free-form film is a self-portrait, which revisits more than 40 years of the author’s filmography and questions the major stations of his life, while capturing the political tremors of the time.

Director

Pola X

MovieDramaRomance

A writer leaves his upper-class life and journeys with a woman claiming to be his sister, and her two friends.

Director

Mister Lonely

Mister Lonely · 2008

MovieComedyDrama

In Paris, a young American working as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe, who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin and her daughter, Shirley Temple.

Renard

Mauvais Sang

Mauvais Sang · 1986

MovieDramaRomance

Two aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit their recently deceased partner's son to help them break into a laboratory and steal the vaccine against STBO, a sexually transmitted disease that is sweeping the country. It's spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of its victims are teenagers who make love out of curiosity rather than commitment.

Director

An Urban Allegory

An Urban Allegory · 2024

An Urban Allegory

MovieDramaFantasy

A ballet dancer is late for an audition for a show inspired by Plato's Allegory of the Cave. She arrives with her seven-year-old son, Jay, and begs the director to give her a chance.

The Director

42 One Dream Rush

42 One Dream Rush · 2010

42 One Dream Rush

An omnibus project bringing together acclaimed directors from around the world, each contributing a 42-second short inspired by a dream. Produced by 42 Below vodka, the collection blends surreal, poetic, and experimental visions into a mosaic of oneiric cinema.

Director

The House

The House · 1997

A moving world of spirits and ghosts, condemned to brush against one another without really meeting since they have all emerged from a single perpetual dream: that of a young man who no longer wants to wake up, immersed as he is in this world of fascinating spectres.

Boy Meets Girl

Boy Meets Girl · 1984

MovieDramaRomance

In Paris at night, a young aspiring filmmaker grapples with heartbreak after his girlfriend leaves him for his best friend. After a failed attempt to confront his friend, he wanders the streets and encounters a girl who has just been abandoned. Their paths cross at a party, bringing together two tormented souls.

Director

Sans Titre

Sans Titre · 1997

In 1997, for it's fiftieth anniversary, the Cannes Film Festival asked Leos Carax for a short film, a kind of postcard addressed to the festival, in which the director would give news of himself and of his film project "Pola X."

Screenplay

977

MovieDramaScience Fiction

977 is a coded number relating the attempt to “test the harmony with algebra”, to figure out the mathematical regularities of emotional and spiritual realms of human being. The characters have volunteered for the experiment to be put through not only scientific researching, but also through the everyday trials of friendship, love, attractions, envy and “the strongest of affects” – the curiosity. Thus, the scientific experience turns into human one, and a result is unpredictable…

technician

20 Little Films

20 Little Films · 2012

20 Little Films

MovieDocumentary

Since 1995, the Viennale has invited renowned directors to create short, one-minute films as personal contributions to the festival. Ranging from home movies to political essays, musical sketches to abstract studies, these “little films” form a unique anthology of cinematic moments. 20 Little Films collects a selection of these works, premiering together for the Viennale’s 50th anniversary at the Locarno Film Festival.

Director

Lily May B

Once upon a time, there was a little girl, a young woman and a young boy. They each held a secret too heavy to bear. They met in an end-of-the-world world, and together rode a big motorcycle through empty cities, deserted freeways, immemorial forests. On their journey, they encountered many dangers, but kept going. In search of who they were; in search of a place to B, maybe?

Director

I Did Not Die

I Did Not Die · 2008

MovieComedyDrama

Alix is a woman of 27 looking for the only thing she is incapable of: love.

Moitié d'archange

A gentle and patient travelling camera accompanies sunrise on the Père Lachaise cemetery, and by continual metamorphosis of the visual material shows a break through crossed by a chromatic life inexhaustible variations. A film born from Léos Carax's Holy Motors, with whom I collaborated on a music of Jean-Benoît Dunckel.

Director of Photography

Hymn to Merde

Hymn to Merde · 2009

A clip by Leos Carax, inspired by his film "Merde" (part of the feature film "Tokyo!'), with Denis Lavant singing in Merdogon, the language invented for the film.

Director

Process

Process · 2004

The story of a woman who decides to kill herself. She puts herself through a series of experiences that test the limits of what is humanly bearable in an ultimate attempt to find a reason to live.

A doctor

Strangulation Blues

Strangulation Blues · 1980

Strangulation Blues

A very Parisian night. Paul plays at strangling Colette because she doesn't inspire him a single, damn camera shot. Early in the morning, he takes flight because the future is for those who get up early. Was it too late? It's too early to say.

Director

My Last Minute

My Last Minute · 2006

The last minute in a man's life.

Director

Gradiva

Gradiva · 2014

Rodin's sculpture The Thinker is a sentient being.

Director

Pierre or, The Ambiguities

Pierre or, The Ambiguities · 2001

Pierre or, The Ambiguities

Pierre ou, Les ambiguïtés (Pierre or, The Ambiguities) is a 2001 three-part French miniseries created and written by Leos Carax, an alternate, extended version of his 1999 film Pola X ('Pola' is the acronym of 'Pierre ou les ambiguïtés'.). Both entities are based on Herman Melville's 1852 Gothic novel of the same name. A writer leaves his upper-class life and journeys with a woman claiming to be his sister, and her two friends.

Writer