Cinéma du look
| Years active | 1980s–1990s |
|---|---|
| Location | France |
| Influences | music videos, French New Wave |
Cinéma du look (French:
Style and origins
These directors were said to favor style over substance, spectacle over narrative.[3] It referred to films that had a slick, gorgeous visual style[3] and a focus on young, alienated characters[4] who were said to represent the marginalized youth of François Mitterrand's France.[5] Themes that run through many of their films include doomed love affairs, young people more affiliated to peer groups than families, a cynical view of the police, and the use of scenes in the Paris Métro to symbolise an alternative, underground society. The mixture of 'high' culture, such as the opera music of Diva and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, and pop culture, for example the references to Batman in Subway, was another key feature.[3]
A parallel can be drawn between these French filmmakers' productions and
Key directors and key films
Jean-Jacques Beineix
- Diva (1981) [8][9][10]
- The Moon in the Gutter (1983)
- 37°2 le matin (English: Betty Blue) (1986)[11]
Luc Besson
- Subway (1985) [8]
- Le Grand bleu (English: The Big Blue) (1988)[12]
- Nikita (1990)[12]
Leos Carax
- Boy Meets Girl (1984) [8]
- Mauvais Sang (1986) [8]
- Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991) [8]
See also
- Vulgar auteurism
- MTV
- Neo-noir
- Postmodern film and television
- Auteur theory
- Arthouse action film
References
- ISBN 0-7190-7028-7
- ^ Berra, John (June 2009). "Book Reviews: The Films of Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle". Scope. No. 14. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-05-29.
- ^ ISBN 0-7190-4611-4
- ^ 10 Essential Films For An Introduction To Cinema du Look — Taste of Cinema
- ^ French Cinema in the 1980s - Google Books (pg.109)
- ^ French National Cinema - Google Books (pg.244)
- ^ They've Got the Look–and the Beat|The Current|The Criterion Collection
- ^ a b c d e "Movie movements that defined cinema: Cinéma du look". Empire. August 8, 2016.
- ^ DIVA (1981) — Blu-ray Review — ZekeFilm
- ^ Jean-Jacques Beineix obituary|Movies|The Guardian
- ^ Betty Blue: The Look of Love|Current|The Criterion Collection
- ^ a b Look Again: A Celebration of Cinema Du Look on Vimeo
Bibliography
- Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin (2002). Film History: An Introduction (2nd ed.). ISBN 0-07-038429-0.
External links
- "Window Shopping"? -- Aesthetics of the Spectacular and Cinéma du Look by Patricia Allmer, Loughborough University, 2004
- Nikita and The Assassin: Hollywood vs. European Cinema by Will da Shaman, Netribution Film Network, 2000
- Guy Austin, Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction, A Review by J. Emmett Winn, see Austin pages 5 and 6
- Essays on Luc Besson : Master of Spectacle (review) by William Brown, 2009
- The Cinéma du look and fantasy films by Guy Austin, in Contemporary French Cinema, Manchester University Press, 1996, p. 119
- Diva, Jean-Jacques Beineix in The Cinema of France, by Phil Powrie, p. 154, Wallflower Press, 2006
- Luc Besson : The Cinema du Look or the Spectacle-Image in Cinema after Deleuze by Richard Ruston, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, p. 132
