Traditionally, French cinema is considered too represents meaningful themes of psychological and social realism. Cinema du look was a film movement through the 80′s and 90′s that excised as both legacy and a rejection of its history. In this presentation I will be talking about what aspects make this film style so unique, the critic attack on this film style and how cinema du look evolved in the history of French cinema.

Cinema du look is a post-modern film making style, which has been influenced by Hollywood films, popular pop and advertising culture. Beineix, Luc Besson and Leos Carax were the three main directors that were involved in the ‘New New Wave’ film movement, which included sharing a similar visual style. The most specific feature of cinema du look films is the privilege visual spectacle they have over narrative substances. Most of these films show absence of social, political concerns and psychological realism. However, they manifest themselves through highly stylish mise-en-scene and strong visual context.

Diva (Beineix 1982) was the primary film of cinema du look, which emerged at a time where many political and social changes in France were being made. One of them was the ‘new new wave’ film movement began by Beineix. He started a cinematographic language which iconographies advertising and sub-cultures in the highly visual mise en scene in his films. The characters within his films (Jules in Diva) represent the marginalized youth of Francois Mitterrand’s France. They connected to contemporary young film audiences and became cult films that created debates with critics about the films lack of ideology.
Even before cinema du look films had a name, this film style was recognised by people such as David Russell in the Sight and Sound magazine, which talks about Beineix films reaching a wide audience with his idiosyncratic approaches to style character and narrative. Beineix believed that his films are defined as a style not technique and it is not a matter of fashion but metaphysics, which makes his films so different.

According to ‘Cinema of France’ book the film surrounds race and multiculturalism presenting a ‘Liberal utopian vision of a world’. This could be considered a French debate that involves a positive view on multi-racial society and being against the traditional republican traditions. Even though there was a firm rejection of public recognition of cultural or ethnic differences in early 80′s, Beineix presented a rebellion against the social and political views.
Mise en scene is highly strong in the Juxtaposition of objects (wrecked cars in Jules apartment, huge empty space in Gorodish apartment with a bath tub in the middle)

Divas ethnicity creates an exotic look of contemporary culture and positivity towards a more democratic society. This links to the Socialist’s return to power and the rise of anti-racial groups such as SOS Racisme in France at that time.
Diva also covers one of the most popular aspects of Cinema du look which is a continuing theme of young lovers in urban and alienated surroundings; they are outside of cosy familiar situations.

Cinema du look films were taken by task by critics because they ‘embarrassed’ traditional French cinema as they were a complete opposite of a films that included plot and a social messages. Academic guide to cinema mentions how critics mocked cinema du look films, stating that they were an ‘embarrassment of consumer culture’ and that they chose ‘advertising over intellectual, depth and art’. Cahiers du cinema (a French film magazine) argued that characters in le look films were represented as ‘objects rather than complex individuals’.

Changing generation created a greater demand on cinema du look films. Luc Besson followed Beineix steps after Philippe Rousselot won the Cesar (French Oscar) for his cinematography in Diva. Besson's style in films also was influenced by aesthetics of the music video and advertisement, which originally came from the speciality of American culture. This is why maybe critics disliked the nature of cinema du look as it was greatly inspired by the Americans. One of Besson's most famous cinema du look films is Nikita (1990) as it emphasises the strong visual context over narrative. However, I am going to be focusing on Le Grande Bleu (1988), also called as (The Big Blue) as I feel like this film is a great example of a film that shows tension between reality and fantasy, which some cinema du look films have. This shows how cinema du look evolved, by capturing different types of outtakes on this postmodern film style.

Le Grande Bleu is a movie, which carries the audience into an extraordinary world of passion towards the sea and diving, which evolves around the characters of Jacques Mayol and Enzo Molinari and their fierce rivalry. This film is different than other cinema du look films as the visual aspects are not over powering and still allow the audience to get lured into the simple plot of Joana sacrificing her happiness for love. This film takes the audience on a thoughtful journey as the characters emotions allow the audience to connect to them.

Besson uses visual effects to emphasise the love Jacques has for the sea and diving (which is this films subject). The scenes underwater hypnotize you into a state of relaxation with the lush scenery; highlighting this films greatest message, which is freedom.
This film almost doesn’t much plot, dialogs are short and rare but the cinematography and mise en scene is enough to create a captivating atmosphere.
The young protagonists are also the specific feature of cinema du look in this film, as the young audience (this films target audience) have a better relationship with these types characters.
However, not all critics saw these types of films as an ‘embarrassment’ .Some critics saw this film as an art form and not a source of advertisement. Steve Macfarlane stated that this film is a ‘primal yearning for minimalism gives the story another layer of autobiographical paint.’

The most popular time of this film style was the 80's and the 90's. However, that doesn't mean that there were no cinema du look films after that era. 'Amelie' (2001) directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet is considered one of the most iconic cinema du look films made, because of its extremely strong visual aspects and mise en scene that play a huge role in the film. This film is a great example when talking about the evolution of this genre as it was made in 2001. This film also clearly shows how one director's work influenced and inspired another.

Amelie is a shy cafà waitress who thinks of schemes which could make other people's lives better. She is an alienated young character who falls in love with a man she has never met, which follows the constant pattern of romance in cinema du look.

Amelie's postmodern style of filmmaking was also recycles from popular pop cultures, films and literature. This film has realistic elements; however it is 'more surreal in the way it plays with received expectations' . The film is considered to be both a heritage and a cinema du look film as they both share the context of visual images being more dominant over the narrative.

Cinema du look features in Amelie:

Dramatic Grades and Colour Filters (greens, reds, yellows, blues)
Idyllic Version of Paris (no graffiti, no traffic, no crowds)
Direct address to camera
Sudden Camera movement
CGI elements ( Amelie melting)
‘ Perfect Paris’well-known locations (Notre Dame, Montemarte, Sacre Couer)
Alienated Characters

You could say cinema du look was influenced by Méliès, who played a huge role in the history of French cinema. He was the first film maker who made films as an art form rather than a documentary. He created first sparks of surreal cinema, filmed in specific ways to create first ever special effects and also used vibrant colures by hand painting each frame of the film. Cinema du look films such as Diva, Amelie and Le Grande Bleu deploy veritable arsenals of motifs and techniques like Méliès. They also share visual images that create great metaphors throughout. Cinema du look created dynamic films such as ‘Nikita’ directed by Besson. This film was manifested into many other films and even Hollywood created a TV series based on this character. This unique film movement evolved rapidly in the 80′s and 90′s but still inspires artists all over the world, till this day.