Discounting anthology films Tokyo! and 42 One Dream Rush, French filmmaker Leos Carax hasn’t put his name on a feature since 1999′s Pola X; that’s changing this year. Sometime during 2012 — the specifics are still to be determined — he’ll be unveiling Holly Motors, an unusual-sounding drama that stars Denis Lavant, Kylie Minogue, and Eva Mendes. Unusual because the story centers on an actor, named DL, who jumps into the consciousness of different people over the course of a 24-hour period, from man to woman to “monstrous creature.” So it’s like an arty version of The Change-Up, I presume?

That is, in all seriousness, a fascinating concept — which new production photos don’t give off. (It’d be unfair to expect them to in the first place, yes, but maybe my own intense interest in what this could bring forth leaves me a little impatient.) But, moving on, said photos, which come from Wild Bunch‘s website (via ThePlaylist), still manage to please on a level that’s purely aesthetic — something I would always like from items of these sort. Fans of Tokyo! might also be interested to hear that the character Lavant played for Carax in that film might be coming back, if one of the shots is legitimate. And, on top of this, some set photos from IMDb feature Mendes in archery gear. No idea what that’s about, but let’s just go with it.

See them above and below:

Synopsis: We follow 24 hours in the life of a being (DL) 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 to the point of dying; sometimes destitute, sometimes wealthy. By turns murderer, beggar, company chairman, monstrous creature, worker, family man…