A Brief History Of Cinéma Du Look

In the 1980s a French film movement flared into life, baiting the critical establishment and enthralling audiences before burning out. Will Webb presents a brief history of #CinémaDuLook through the work of three filmmakers who are as controversial as they are celebrated: #LucBesson, Jean-Jacques Beineix and #LeosCarax.
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[@v5q211]

I watched Les amants du pont neuf(the lovers on the bridge) just out of curiosity and instantly fell in love with the style! Seriously those were one of the best films in the history of cinema.

[@syntheticsilkwood2206]

Its been a favorite of mine since childhood Seeing it back then was even more magical

[@goosebumpsemiliano9104]

I saw Diva with my father a year ago. I really want to see it again. It was one of those very inspirational movies that you dont reolize how good it is until few days later with some thought. Now it has inspired me to write my own stories. Love to see more of these films

[@em-dashman4404]

I have totally lost count of the number of times I have watched Dive over the years. Saw it in the cinema when it first opened, and have been hooked ever since!!

[@goosebumpsemiliano9104]

@@em-dashman4404 Its a real inspiration to my writing! I love the Zen scene

[@joonamato]

Never even heard of it. I want to start a cinematic movement

[@lwlies]

Let’s do it!

[@paulpips2742]

its pronounced Ni ta

[@AyoHues]

Thank you! That was painful to listen to.

[@alexmajo2216]

RIP JJ Beneix

[@ethansloan]

Great piece. I love the cinema du look films. And I'm glad you mentioned the sexual assault allegations against Besson. You've gained a new subscriber.

[@fearghadecleirnichiannaigh3345]

thanks for the video! I watch Diva for the first time last night and didn't know anything about Cinema du Look, thanks for providing such great context to one of my favourite films I've seen this year

[@forevrrich]

Leon is one of my all-time favorites films. I recently watched John Cassavetes Gloria (1980) and was amazed at just how heavily Luc Besson borrowed from it. Leon is basically a remix of Gloria. To be honest, it's nearly a remake. I still love Leon but after seeing Gloria I definitely feel differently about it.

[@justinnicoflocco2698]

Amazing video. These films often feel indulgent in the best way. Love em.

[@gageadrien9429]

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[@juliusjaxxon4411]

@Gage Adrien Instablaster =)

[@gageadrien9429]

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[@gageadrien9429]

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[@juliusjaxxon4411]

@Gage Adrien You are welcome :)

[@gstuffgans7713]

Thanks Gee

[@gustavsofija]

I watch all of them and love it

[@alik5895]

Utterly ignorant comment about "monthly mood swings". Beneix was being ironic about those with chauvanistic attitudes.

[@jackflash8567]

In "Trent sept degree la Matin..." Okay buddy we get it.

[@cameronpaterson1999]

Is the room shown at 1:12 from 'boy meets girl'?

[@mohammadmahdi203]

Yes

[@AyoHues]

Not bad but quite a few errors and omissions. Firstly, it’s impossible now to recreate the impact these films made on younger people at the time. They blew away everything that had come before especially in terms of what was considered worthy: slow build up, grimy realism, pedestrian values. These films were gorgeous to look at and edited for impact & pace in a completely new way. With sly humour and above all, attitude. Their biggest influence were the underground bandes dessinés from the 1980s which culminated in commercial compilations like Metal Hurlant. Worth also mentioning other non-French directors were doing similar things - such as Run Lola Run. Nowadays they just seem very dated but that’s because their style was taken up by Hollywood (Michael Mann in particular), pop videos, TV series & adverts. Suddenly everyone wanted the camera to circle the actors in dialogue scenes instead of cutting back and forth. And digital colour grading could push saturation levels beyond what was possible simply with film stock. A lot of these films would benefit from smart, sensitive remakes or at least digital remastering. It’s sad to see how fuzzy and woolly they look now. When they came out they were anything but.

[@benjamindeharo314]

5:35 Besson moved to Hollywood Not at all, Besson continued to work with Gaumont on movies like Leon, and The Fifth Element, he then created his own production company, Europa Corp, with which he produced his next movies like Lucy and Valerian. Luc Besson has never worked for Hollywood, and he never made an American movie.

[@YolaResa]

my two favorite movies are directed by French men: Besson and Gondry

[@louduva9849]

Who wrote them?

[@hnyuu6675]

Great video. Do you have a favourite Cinema Du Look film?

[@juju10683]

oddly I see how this influenced Chungking Express

[@1shot2soju]

Merci pour l’analyse, mais non merci

[@efdidier]

Not too sure about the links you are making connecting the three directors. Apart from a greater attention to cinematography design, to me Carax is more an heir of Godard and older B&W films, while Besson tries to copy Asian cinema, and Beneix is more of a guy whose esthetics was coming from advertising.

[@a.g.m8790]

Luc Besson is the man. I haven’t seen one of his movies I didn’t like

[@jeandubois8810]

He is a French Tarantino. They both are too binary for me, with not enough nuance, too much excess and unrealistic scenarios where I can't relate to nor root for the protagonist. It's just "popcorn cinema", nothing more. My reference are Barry Lyndon, Blade Runner, 400 blows and Italian neorealism. I prefer Bertolucci and Kubrick.

[@AdAstra78]

​@@jeandubois8810 Leon is 'popcorn cinema'...(?) Very much beg to differ.

[@jeandubois8810]

​@@AdAstra78 Leon is actually not that bad, but still, too violent for me and I can't really relate to any of the characters to find an interest. I like "The square" by Ruben Ostlund or "Manathan" by Woody allen.... it's quite far from anything that Luc Besson has done. Mr Besson lacked a qualitative formal academic education during his formative years in my opinion.

[@AdAstra78]

@@jeandubois8810 I wouldn't say Leon is necessarily 'high art', but there's a very interesting subtext going on nonetheless. There is a fair bit of depth. It's certainly not vapid 'action cinema'. I'm in agreement with you regarding. 'Manhatten' and, to a lesser extent, 'The Square' though, for sure. The latter of which I felt had some exceptional moments but ultimately wasn't greater than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, the director's latest film 'Triangle of Sadness' didn't work for me AT all. Which I'm still annoyed about as I'd been really looking forward to it.

[@jeandubois8810]

​@@AdAstra78 Same, I found "Triangle of Sadness" very disappointing, the first 20 min of the film starts well but all the rest is nonsensical to me.

[@yb32]

3:55 what aspects of the sexual politcs of these films has aged poorly? Would love to hear more about that, if anyone understood better what he meant.

[@sadie159]

What I think of is the age gap between betty and zorg, the woman who sexually assaulted zorg, and zorg groping betty while unconscious in the hospital

[@yb32]

@@sadie159 Good point, I hadn't thought about that. To be fair, french cinema has always been more relaxed about sexual politics. They have many films in which sex with a minor is not an issue. Even the movie Leon (made by a french director) which was very successful internationally, was about the love between a 12 year old girl and a grown man.

[@alejoparedes2388]

Leos Carax est Dieu

[@NagoyaHouseHead]

Like all art cinema, its all really nothing more than high brow porn

[@bigwilliestyle8643]

That’s awesome

[@AdAstra78]

​@@bigwilliestyle8643 Brilliant response!

[@FantasticOtto]

You don't seem to understand the meaning of either genre. Directors such as Kurosawa, Truffaut, Fellini, Bergman and Lynch were all film makers from the art cinema movement, and helped expand the possibilities of film as an art form. Their narrative, visual style and thematic content are unmatched, especially compared to commercial directors.