Jean Pierre Jeunet

His hallmark is both the creation of his own visual worlds and the way of presenting those personal universes on screen. His films are seen as stories for adults, stories that never stop being fantastic and even surreal, with bizarre characters and unlikely adventures.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born on September 3, 1953 in Roanne, Loire, France. From a very young age he already liked the world of images and at the age of 17 he bought his first camera. He studied film at Cinémation Studios and it was there that he met Marc Caro , a cartoonist with whom he became very close. At the age of twenty-five, he made his first fictional work with Marc Caro, the animated short film L’Evasion . Two years later he received the César award for best animated short thanks to Le manège . It was clear that the partnership between Jeunet and Caro was working, and the following year they embarked on another short film, but this time with real characters. The two filmmakers wrote, directed and designed the production ofLe bunker de la dernière rafale (1981). It was a science fiction fantasy about soldiers trapped underground. Jeunet’s constants began to be very present, his own worlds, close to surrealism, with strange characters in very extravagant situations.

Without Caro’s collaboration, he later directed the short film Pas de repos pour Billy Brakko (1984), barely five minutes long, and he also made several commercials for television and some video clips, for artists such as Julien Clerc, Étienne Daho or Jean -Michel Jarre . In 1989 he returned to make a solo comedy short film entitled Foutaises , for which he won the César Award. It was on this job that he first collaborated with actor Dominique Pinon . This strange-looking and ugly actor was perfect for expressing Jeunet’s imagery and has since become the director’s most faithful comrade. Since then Pinon has acted in all of his films.

In 1991 Jeunet and Caro met again to give the green light to their first feature film: Delicatessen . Both shared writing and directing credits. Above any other feature, this film drew attention for its dark and gothic production design that recreated a post-apocalyptic world full of surrealism. But he also left his mark for his sinister story beyond power (that of a butcher who sells human meat), narrated in the key of black comedy. The film achieved enormous international success and received many awards and nominations.

The following Jeunet-Caro film, titled The City of Lost Children, circulated along the same paths four years later . It was a rather dark sci-fi adventure about a mad scientist who kidnaps children to steal their dreams. The production design, claustrophobic and surreal, was once again decisive. The film had perfect actors for the threatening world of Jeunet, such as Jean-Claude Dreyfus , Ron Perlman or the mentioned Dominique Pinon. Two years later, Jeunet would sign his less personal film, which was also his first North American adventure. The guy took a risk, since it was about directing the fourth installment of Alien, the eighth passenger , titled in this caseAlien Resurrection , whose screenplay had been written by Joss Whedon ( Serenity ). Jeunet took Perlman and Pinon with him, and the overall result was commendable. However, the director would not return to work in American productions. The best of that year 1997 had to do with his personal life, since he married Liza Sullivan with whom he had worked on the film.

Probably the director’s best film came in 2001. Amelie captivated viewers around the world with its freshness, romanticism, design, and portrayal of the lead actress, a sweet Audrey Tautou who would become an overnight star. and whatever she does, she will always be remembered for that role. The film, which also featured a wonderful score by composer Yann Tiersen , was awarded at numerous festivals and received 5 Oscar nominations. Tautou repeated with the director in his next film, Long Engagement Sunday(2004), although this time it was an uneven film about World War I that had not quite found the tone, between warlike, nostalgic and romantic. Jeunet couldn’t have been very satisfied either and took a break from work before writing and directing his next film five years later: the funny comedy Micmacs , where Jeunet makes a severe criticism of arms trafficking, with a production design very much in his style. and where he has had the comedian Dany Boon for the leading role.