Biography: life and films
Jean-Pierre Jeunet may not be the most productive of film directors - in
the last twenty-six years he had made only seven full-length films for the
cinema - but his impact has been phenomenal. Most of his films have
been international box office hits, and two became classics almost straight
after their release. Completely self-taught, Jeunet has developed a
style of cinema that is entirely his own, with the landscape of a child's
fantasy in which the frighteningly bizarre and the comfortingly familiar
are weirdly juxtaposed. As Jeunet has matured as a filmmaker, so the
magic of his art appears to have dissipated. He was at his most engaging
whilst he was learning his craft, taking gambles that no established mainstream
filmmaker would ever dare and allowing his fertile imagination to run riot.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born on 3rd September 1953, in Le Coteau, Roanne in
central France. After working as an engineer for France Télécom
he began making publicity films and music videos. He then teamed up
with graphic designer Marc Caro to make a series of highly innovative short
films including
L'Évasion (1978),
Le Manège (1980)
and
Foutaises (1989).
These they exhibited at various film festivals, where they frequently won
awards. By 1990, Jeunet and Caro were sufficiently confident to attempt
their first feature,
Delicatessen.
This surreal post-apocalyptic black-comedy was unlike any other film that
had been seen before and it brought instant fame to both of its directors,
as well as its lead actor Dominique Pinon. The film attracted an audience
of 1.4 million in France and was nominated for ten Césars, winning
in four categories, including Best First Work and Best Screenplay.
After this promising start, Jeunet and Caro took four years to complete their
next film, the equally fantastic
La Cité des enfants
perdus (1995). This eerie, dreamlike fairytale was noted for
its leading edge special effects and was another international hit.
It was to be the duo's final collaboration. Not long after its release,
Jeunet was invited to Hollywood to direct the fourth instalment in the Alien
series -
Alien: Resurrection
(1997). Despite some damning reviews, a dodgy storyline and some less-than-convincing
effects, this was another commercial success. Jeunet could no doubt
have stayed in Hollywood if he had wished, but instead he returned to France,
to direct what would be his biggest hit.
Le Fabuleux
Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) is easily Jeunet's best
film, a seductive blend of classic rom-com and surreal fairytale that partnered
Mathieu Kassovitz, the director of the acclaimed urban drama
La Haine
(1995), with a doe-eyed newcomer, Audrey Tautou, who became an overnight
star. The film drew an audience of eight million in France and was
just as popular abroad. It was nominated for 13 Césars, and
won four, including awards for Best Film and Best Director. Tautou
teamed up with the director for his next film, playing a young woman on a
desperate search to find her missing fiancé after WWI. Based
on a novel by Sébastien Japrisot,
Un long dimanche
de fiançailles (2004) was another box office winner, nominated
for 12 Césars, and winning five, including the Most Promising Actor
award for Gaspard Ulliel.
After five hits in a row, Jean-Pierre Jeunet was hot property, so it is hardly
surprising that invitations were soon coming his way to direct blockbusters
in Hollywood. After declining to direct
Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix, Jeunet accepted an invitation from Fox to helm
The
Life of Pi. Alas, during the film's lengthy pre-production, Fox
lost faith with Jeunet and replaced him with another director, Ang Lee.
Bruised but not defeated, Jeunet returned to France to direct his sixth feature
Micmacs à tire-larigot
(2009), another eccentric comedy cut from the same cloth as his earlier hits
Delicatessen and
Amélie. Unfortunately, this whimsical
satire on illegal arms dealing struggled to find an audience. Undeterred,
Jeunet jetted off to Canada to direct
The Young and
Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013). Despite its prestigious cast and
a strong concept, this film proved to be another box office disappointment
- Jeunet's least successful film to date. Two year on, Jeunet was back
in America directing the television movie
Casanova (2015). Who
knows where his art will take him next. Is it time for a sequel to
Amélie...?
© James Travers 2017
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