MovieChat Forums > Mauvais sang (1986) Discussion > David Bowie scene gets your blood pumpin...

David Bowie scene gets your blood pumping...

posted 11 years ago by Mother_Of_Two
4 replies | jump to latest

David Bowie scene in this film = the firework scene in 'The Lovers on the Bridge' = the creepy industrial band scene in 'Pola X' = the accordion scene in 'Holy Motors'.

I madly love these trademark music sequences that Leos Carax puts into almost all of his films. All of these scenes get your blood pumping. All of them involve characters reacting to music:

- in 'Bad Blood', a character runs as fast as he can to a song of David Bowie;

- in 'The Lovers on the Bridge', two characters dance like crazy to a mix of different songs they hear in the street; there's also a short scene where they walk the streets of Paris to another song of David Bowie;

- in 'Pola X', two characters watch some creepy industrial band play some even creepier music;

- in 'Holy Motors', MANY characters play music in a church and this is the first time that everyone involved in a scene participates in playing the music (in 'Pola X', some of the characters were playing it while some of them were watching them play).

I haven't seen 'Boy Meets Girl' yet. Is there such a sequence?

"Stupid f...ing white man!"

Dead Man (1995)

[–] graver-jarrett 9 years ago

Perhaps you've seen it by now, but yes, there is a nice musical set piece in "Boy Meets Girl". The Lavant character takes a lonely, atmospheric walk along the Seine at night with a tape recorder and headphones while a very early Bowie song called "When I Live My Dream" plays. He comes across a strange silent couple who share a stylized kiss and revolving embrace. He stares at them for a bit before pitching some coins at their feet and walking away with his eyes closed and hands held out in front of him. The tap dancing feet of the girl he has a crush on are superimposed over him and then the scene ends on her finishing the routine in her apartment.

I agree the Bowie scene in "Mauvais Sang" is sublime!

[–] burthelukyman 9 years ago

It is SO good (and influential) that is has been paid tribute to in quite a few artsy films, most famously in FRANCES HA last year. (and less famously (but even more faithfully) in a little-known independent Canadian film called DOUBLE HAPPINESS starring a very young Sandra Oh).

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] PoppyTransfusion 9 years ago

"Modern Love" in Mauvais Sang didn't play for long enough to outdo the equivalent scenes in Lovers on the Bridge. But I agree they're great scenes.

A bird sings and the mountain's silence deepens.