Jean-Pierre Jeunet

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...?

Filmography

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