© Warner Bros France - Bruno Calvo | French Director, Actor, Producer, Screenwriter, Director of photography, Editor, Set decorator, Costume DesignerBorn September 3, 1953 in Roanne (France) |
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With an eye for meticulous detail and a rakish sense of humor, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and writing and directing partner Marc Caro have teamed together for more than 15 years, first in making short films, TV commercials and music videos, then in scoring international successes with the features "Delicatessen" (1991) and "La Cite des enfants perdu/The City of Lost Children" (1995).
Jeunet had established himself as a filmmaker with the acclaimed shorts "L'Evasion" (1978) and the Cesar-winning "Le menage" (1980). The latter led to a meeting with artist and comic book creator Marc Caro and the duo immediately recognized their kindred spirits. Their first collaboration, "Le Bunker de la derniere rafale/The Last Blast Bunker" (1981), which detailed the rising paranoia among soldiers trapped underground, garnered festival prizes in France. It also marked the beginning of a collaboration that demonstrated a keen visual style and absurdist humor. Jeunet continued to direct music videos and featurettes, including the award-winning "Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko/No Rest for Billy Brakko" (1983) and "Foutaises" (1990).
The initial feature collaboration of Jeunet & Caro was an expansion of Caro's short "La Concierge est dans l'escalier/The Concierge Is in the Stairs" (1987). Set in a post-apocalyptic time when meat is scarce, it focused on an apartment-owning landlord who maims and murders residents of his building to feed the carnivorous appetites of other tenants. The film's storyline was faulted as its weakest point, but critics and audiences responded to the exquisite monochromatic production values. Jeunet & Caro divided responsibilities with the former guiding the actors and the latter coordinating the artistic elements. Jeunet & Caro also set about creating an informal repertory company of actors, as well.
With "La cite des enfants perdu/The City of Lost Children", the duo expanded on their themes. Essentially a hybrid of comic books and fairy tales, the film has several storylines that more or less converge. What drives the plot is a mad scientist who kidnaps young children to harvest their dreams. Striking visuals, including a set design that is both futuristic as well as historical, wild costumes (from fashion designer Jean-Paul Gauthier), moody almost painterly cinematography (by Darius Khondji) and a cast that included established players (Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork) and newcomers (Judith Vittet) all combined to create a surreal almost hallucinogenic motion picture. Jeunet managed to elicit strong performances from the cast, notable Vittet, while Caro created the wild world that invoked everything from Dickens to "The Wizard of Oz". While the film was supposed to be suitable for children, some considered it "dark", to which Jeunet and Caro replied that it was no more "dark" than "Pinocchio" or "Bambi".
Jeunet & Caro are noted for painstakingly fine-tuning their work, not rushing their productions and often spending years perfecting story and effects. ("The City of Lost Children" took almost fourteen years to reach the screen.) The international success of "Delicatessen" caught them by surprise and it took them four years to perfect the script for "City of Lost Children". When the latter gained them further attention, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood beckoned. Caro remained in France, but Jeunet accepted the plum assignment of helming the fourth installment in the "Alien" series, "Alien Resurrection" (1997), which brought Sigourney Weaver's Ripley back to life via cloning to once again do battle.
When his experience in Hollywood proved less felicitous than hoped, Jeunet returned to France and spent several years developing projects. His return to filmmaking (as co-writer and director) was "Amelie" (2001), a highly-praised, whimsical tale of a sheltered young woman who discovers the power to change people's lives through simple means. |
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Jean-Pierre Jeunet on the news reel |
| French Lords of War
Warner Bros. have announced that Jean-Pierre Jeunet's next film will begin shooting in April for a 2009 release. 21 November 2007 - Screenrush.co.uk |
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