<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Every Wednesday we show you a great scene from film history you may remember, you may not \u2014 and then we break it down for you.      The best scene in Noah Baumbach&amp;#039;s recent comedy Frances Ha is founded on a reference few in the audience are likely to get: The main character, a young dancer named Frances, played and partly improvised by Greta Gerwig, runs and dances along a busy New York City street to the tune of David Bowie&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Modern Love,&amp;quot; and the result is less homage than outright replica. The source is none other than the centerpiece of Mauvais Sang, the brilliant second film by French director Leos Carax. You may be familiar with Carax from last year&amp;#039;s Holy Motors, a sensation at Cannes that represented his return to filmmaking after a more-than-decade-long absence. But every one of the four features he made between 1984 and 1999 is a joy worth rediscovering \u2014 most of all Mauvais Sang, from 1986, which may in fact be one of the greatest films ever made. Gerwig&amp;#039;s prance in Frances has its charms, certainly, but it doesn&amp;#039;t compare to the manic thrill of watching Denis Lavant, Carax&amp;#039;s long-standing leading actor, take it to the Parisian streets in Mauvais Sang. Lavant is a performer of such unbridled physicality that his every action seems wrenched from deep within himself. His body dominates space, and the camera seems barely capable of containing him: As he sprints full-tilt ahead, Bowie&amp;#039;s horns blaring, Carax can hardly keep up, and when Lavant finally charges past the frame, it seems as though he might be sent hurtling beyond the movie. The act of running has never before looked so expressive, either \u2014 he makes it look like a physical necessity, the only way to deal with some inner turmoil, a release as much for him as it is for us watching. When he kicks into cartwheels and flips, never slowing down, it doesn&amp;#039;t even seem surprising: For Lavant, that&amp;#039;s just how a man keeps moving ahead. What else is there to say? It&amp;#039;s pure cinema. And it&amp;#039;s sublime. Follow The Culture Blog on RSS and on Twitter at @ESQCulture. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a19257/mauvais-sang-scene/>