Sin #75: Monsieur Jeunet

I’ve never been to Paris but I know about the city mostly through the eyes of the artists who have filled my head with their own wishful view; in a way I think Paris has really been defined by its visitors and fuelled by their own romantic notions. Like Baz Luhrmann’s take on the Moulin Rouge which bears little resemblance with the actual club but certainly represents its vigor and unabashed energy.

For me Paris is a Jean- Pierre Jeunet movie. I can close my eyes and imagine the subway gate opening and Amelie walking by with her big, wide eyes and bubbly smile. The color palette is a warm mixture of yellows and greens and the people are always enthusiastic and slightly eccentric individuals, who have a tender and sad side to keep them company.

My first encounter with the marvelous world of this filmmaker came with the strange “The City of Lost Children” which is a warped and bizarre sci-fi fantasy with some astonishing imagery (his debut film was “Delicatessen”, about a family of cannibals). I loved the tone of the movie but felt a little cold with its themes, as if some warmth was missing from the picture. Warmth came in spades with “Amelie”, which became an international hit and made a star out of Audrey Tatou. The movie is a sweet fairy tale in which our heroine basically uses her endless charm to lift the spirits of the people around her; she also finds love in the process. Audiences fell in love with the film, and also with its whimsical and melodious soundtrack by composer Yann Tiersen (who also made the memorable soundtrack for the German film “Goodbye, Lenin”).

Tatou and Jeunet collaborated once more with “A Very Long Engagement”. An online reviewer called it: “Amelie meets Saving Private Ryan”, which isn’t really a fair statement. The movie isn’t as whimsical as “Amelie” and nowhere near as violent as “Saving Private Ryan”, and while the former had certainly a romantic flavor, “A Very Long Engagement” is a fully explored romance. Here is a film that isn’t for cynics. I confess I felt completely in love with its unabashed lyricism.

Jeunet’s most recent venture is titled “Micmacs” which is all about the whimsy and crazy lives of a group of misfits. The film is so chock full of invention that many will find it a case of “too much of a good thing”. But I believe that too much of Jeunet’s wild imagination is a lot better than 90% of what Hollywood releases every year. There’s always a sense of youthful invention in every one of his movies.

Of late, Jeunet was developing his own adaptation of Yann Martel’s astonishing book “The Life of Pi” but the project never came together, mainly because it’s a harrowing story that requires a lot of special effects for it to be remotely believable (and even though it features a young protagonist, the novel is far from a feel-good children’s parable). Jeunet vision might have been gripping but his only Hollywood film was poorly received (that would be “Alien: Resurrection”, the fourth installment in the series that had its moments but was ultimately deemed unnecessary).

Jeunet is one of the few director’s whose own brilliant style almost because its own substance. All his characters exist in a meta-reality where love and childhood innocence trumps the forces of evil. He seems to be making stories about dreamers and how they ought to stick together in order to survive (like the quirky loons of “Micmacs” living in the sewers along with their offbeat inventions).