Luc Besson: One of the Best French Directors
Thesis: Luc Besson is one of the best French Directors of this century. His works can either be viewed as mere action packed thrillers or the viewer can go in depth and question society and morality. Besson wishes to make the viewer question the importance of individualism, the role of each individual in society and whether the individual should follow the norms of society or follow his heart. Besson’s humor, sense of pathos and his reflections on life deserve credit. Besson draws on his own life in some movies. Besson lacks presence of family and religion and in his movies the protagonist has to sacrifice one love so as to attain another, which he feels to be of greater importance to his life.
Introduction
Luc Besson was born in Paris on March 18, 1959, and spent most of his childhood living in the idyllic settings of various Mediterranean hideaways between Yugoslavia and Greece where his parents worked as diving instructors. A tragic diving accident when seventeen, put an end to his dreams of a career in marine biology and he diverted his interest to films and directing. He dropped out of school and moved to Hollywood at the age of nineteen where he spent three years working on and learning about American films. There was a time when he used to watch a dozen films a week so as to understand filmmaking.
Considered the French equivalent of Steven Spielberg, Besson is popular for creating fast–paced stylish and hugely budgeted films. What are noticeable in Besson’s movies are the visual style, humor, pathos, and sense of direction, reflections on life and declination of modern society. (Susan Hayward, 1998)
The Movies
Luc Besson’s movies can all be viewed not just as movies but movies with a meaning. One of his major themes in all his movies is social existentialism - the decline of society and morality. The protagonist develops his own sense of morality and what is right and wrong in relation to their decline in society as a whole.
What are noticeable in his movies are the absence of family and the demise of the community, which he brings out with great sophistication. His childhood spent near the sea and his passion for it and diving also had a profound effect even on his work as can be seen from his movie – The Big Blue.
Although Kipling supports the objective of imperialism, he identifies several flaws associated with it. Firstly, he refers to the duties of the empire as a “burden,” which portrays the negative aspects of imperialism. Secondly, he warns the reader that if he “take[s] up the White Man’s burden” (Kipling line 34), “the blame of those [he] better[s]” and “the hate of those [he] guard[s]” will haunt him. Even though he will supposedly be helping the uncolonized by imposing British rule upon them, they will blame him and hate him. Kipling tells the reader that the White Man’s burden is in fact a “burden”: it is a hardship that he takes upon himself for the sake and goodness of the uncolonized peoples.
Perhaps an even stronger testament to the deepness of cinema is Darren Aronofsky’s stark, somber Requiem for a Dream. Centering on the drug-induced debasement of four individuals searching for the abstract concept known as happiness, Requiem for a Dream brims with verisimilitude and intensity. The picture’s harrowing depiction of the characters’ precipitous fall into the abyss has, in turn, fascinated and appalled, yet its frank, uncompromising approach leaves an indelible imprint in the minds of young and old alike.
Canadian filmmaker and cinephile, Guy Maddin once said, “I do feel a bit like Dracula in Winnipeg. I’m safe, but can travel abroad and suck up all sorts of ideas from other filmmakers… Then I can come back here and hoard these tropes and cinematic devices.” Here, Maddin addresses his filmmaking saying that he takes aspects from different film styles and appropriates them into his own work. In The Saddest Music in the World (2003), Maddin uses a combination of French Surrealist filmmaking and classical American Hollywood cinema, specifically melodrama, to create his own style. In an article by William Beard, Steven Shaviro talks about Maddin’s filmmaking, and he links Surrealism and melodrama together saying, “Maddin’s films are driven by a tension between romantic excess [melodrama] on the one hand and absurdist humour [Surrealism] on the other.” In regards to The Saddest Music in the World, the relationship between Surrealism and melodrama is not one of tension, as Shaviro suggests, but one of cooperation. This paper will analyze two films by filmmakers Maddin was familiar with —Un Chien Andalou (1929) by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali on the Surrealist side, and All That Heaven Allows (1955) by Douglas Sirk on the melodrama side—to showcase the important elements of each, concluding with an analysis of The Saddest Music in the World in conjunction with both film styles. Ultimately, it will be shown how Guy Maddin combines French Surrealist cinema and Hollywood melodrama in The Saddest Music in the World, to create his own unique film style.
It can be argued that the economic hardships of the great recession began when interest rates were lowered by the Federal Reserve. This caused a bubble in the housing market. Housing prices plummeted, home prices plummeted, then thousands of borrowers could no longer afford to pay on their loans (Koba, 2011). The bubble forced banks to give out homes loans with unreasonably high risk rates. The response of the banks caused a decline in the amount of houses purchased and “a crisis involving mortgage loans and the financial securities built on them” (McConnell, 2012 p.479). The effect on the economy was catastrophic and caused a “pandemic” of foreclosures that effected tens of thousands home owners across the U.S. (Scaliger, 2013). The debt burden eventually became unsustainable and the U.S. crisis deepened as the long-term effect on bank loans would affect not only the housing market, but also the job market.
What caused the Great Recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 in the United States? The United States a country with abundance of resources from jobs, education, money and power went from one day of economic balance to the next suffering major dimensions crisis. According to the Economic Policy Institute, it all began in 2007 from the credit crisis, which resulted in an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble (n.d.). This said by Economist analysts to attributed to the collapse in the United States. Even today, strong debates continue over major issues caused by the Great Recession in part over the accommodative federal monetary and fiscal policy (Economic Policy Institute, 2013). The Great Recession of 2007 – 2009 enlarges the longest financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929 – 1932 that damaged the economy.
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