Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jeunet at Deauville, 2009
Born 3 September 1953
Roanne, Loire, France
Occupation Film director, screenwriter, film producer
Years active 1978–present
Spouse(s) Liza Sullivan

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (French: [ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ ʒœnɛ]; born 3 September 1953) is a French film director and screenwriter[1][2][3] known for the films Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurrection and Amélie.

Life and career

Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and co-director.

Together, Jeunet and Caro directed award-winning animations. Their first live action film was The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (1981), a short film about soldiers in a bleak futuristic world. Jeunet also directed numerous advertisements and music videos, such as Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook (together with Caro).

Jeunet and Caro's first feature film was Delicatessen (1991), a melancholy comedy set in a famine-plagued post-apocalyptic world, in which an apartment building above a delicatessen is ruled by a butcher who kills people in order to feed his tenants.[4]

They next made The City of Lost Children (1995), a dark, multi-layered fantasy film about a mad scientist who steals children's dreams so that he can live indefinitely.[5] The success of The City of Lost Children led to an invitation to direct the fourth movie in the Alien series, Alien: Resurrection (1997).[6]

Jeunet directed Amélie (2001), starring Audrey Tautou.[3] Amélie continued the surrealist vibe of his earlier films, but was happier in tone and added romantic and comedic elements. This story, about a woman who takes pleasure in doing good deeds but has trouble finding love herself, was a huge critical and commercial success worldwide and was nominated for several Academy Awards. For this film, Jeunet also gained a European Film Award for Best Director.

In 2004, Jeunet released A Very Long Engagement, an adaptation of the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. The film, starring Audrey Tautou and Jodie Foster, chronicled a woman's search for her missing lover after World War I.[7]

In 2009, he released Micmacs.[1]

Jeunet has also directed numerous commercials including a 2'25" film for Chanel N° 5 featuring his frequent collaborator Audrey Tautou.

In 2013, Jeunet released The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet an adaptation of Reif Larsen's book: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet that starred Kyle Catlett. The film was shot in English at various locations in Canada and in Washington, DC. It was released in 3D.[8]

Influence

The Europe List, the largest survey on European culture established that the top three films in European culture are

  1. Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful[9]
  2. Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others[9]
  3. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amélie[9]

Filmography

Year Film Director Producer Writer
1991 Delicatessen Yes No Yes
1995 The City of Lost Children Yes No Yes
1997 Alien: Resurrection Yes No No
2001 Amélie Yes No Yes
2004 A Very Long Engagement Yes Yes Yes
2009 Micmacs Yes Yes Yes
2013 The Young and Prodigious Spivet Yes Yes Yes

Collaborations

Delicatessen The City of
Lost Children		 Alien:
Resurrection		 Amélie A Very Long
Engagement		 Micmacs The Young and
Prodigious Spivet
Aline Bonetto
No
No
No
No
Urbain Cancelier
No
No
No
Marc Caro
No
No
Jean-Claude Dreyfus
No
No
No
Bruno Delbonnel
No
No
André Dussollier
No
No
No
Madeline Fontaine
No
No
No
No
Ticky Holgado
No
No
No
No
Mathieu Kassovitz
No
No
Darius Khondji
No
No
No
Serge Merlin
No
No
Yolande Moreau
No
No
Ron Perlman
No
No
Dominique Pinon
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Rufus
No
No
No
No
Hervé Schneid
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Audrey Tautou
No
No

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jean-Pierre Jeunet.