Jean-Pierre Jeunet: A Career In World Cinema

World Cinema CMT 369E
10/30/08

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a modern filmmaker born in France in 1953. He is a self taught filmmaker that treats the medium as an art form. His stylized vision shows that form and craft of every detail are just as import as the subject matter, if not more. Even with a short list of films under his belt, he has already established himself as a master of the craft having been nominated for and winning several awards during his career thus far. Jeunet’s films are typically associated with the twentieth century French film style known as the cinema du look, although influences of earlier film styles such as German expressionism, surrealism, French new wave, and poetic realism can be seen
He began his film making with short animations. His hobby soon became a means when he began creating commercials and music videos. His feature film career began when he met Marc Caro at an animation festival. Together they made short films and their first feature, Delicatessen, in 1991. Jeunet’s role was to work with the cinematographer and actors while Caro worked with set design and costumes. It wasn’t a huge success, but had a large enough underground following to allow the making of their second collaborative feature in 1995, The City of Lost Children (La Cite des Enfants Perdus). This film is starting to make its way into many art classrooms and quickly becoming a staple among the film underground elite. Once again their roles remained the same as co-directors. The City of Lost Children was not a huge success at the time, but was well received and gained enough attention that Jeunet was invited to Hollywood to direct the fourth installment of the Alien series, Alien: Resurrection in 1997. Caro was not thrilled with the idea of working under the artistic constraints of Hollywood, but agreed to work with Jeunet as a consultant for set and costume design on the condition that he was not mentioned in the credits. This was the last time the two worked together and they both went their separate ways to pursue different ambitions. Jeunet was thrilled to work with a big Hollywood budget,
Cinema du look films emerged in the 80’s and were characterized by sleek, colorful urban settings, and highly influenced by commercials and music video. Cinema du look films were all about a stylish visual display and rarely developed beyond the surface of the narrative. Jeunet’s background in advertisement and music video naturally predisposes him to the cinema du look aesthetic. Jeunet emerged toward the end of the movement and can only loosely and superficially be associated with it. While cinema du look films may hint at film styles of the past, Jeunet blatantly invokes film movements to create the overall effect of his films. Poetic realism also shows through in Jeunet’s work. Federico Fellini’s films, depicting the surreal underworld of the circus, are clearly referenced in Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children. German Expressionism and French new wave are also referenced, but once again these references show through in the set design and look of the film more than the subject matter and tone. Jeunet could also be tied to and influenced by the cinema fantastique, with its roots in the work of George Melies. All of his films whether set in a post apocalyptic world or the picture perfect Paris can be called fantastic in the sense that the viewer is tricked to believe and accept the visuals they are given as real. All of his films could be categorized as fantasies, but not always