1980s

Cinéma du Look

A stylised, urban French movement of the 1980s whose directors favoured striking images, neon colour, pop music and young outsiders over social realism.

In the 1980s a group of young French directors turned away from the talky, realist cinema of the time and made films of bold images, saturated colour and fast, music-video rhythm. The critic Raphaël Bassan named the trend Cinéma du Look. Jean-Jacques Beineix's Diva and Betty Blue, Luc Besson's Subway, The Big Blue and La Femme Nikita, and Leos Carax's Boy Meets Girl and Mauvais Sang put young outsiders, night streets and love at the centre. Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro's Delicatessen, with its handmade design, is often linked to the group. By the early 1990s, high costs and critics' impatience had ended the trend, but its influence stayed.

Where: France, above all Paris
When: About 1981 to 1991
Key figures: Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson, Leos Carax, with Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro
Landmark films: Diva (1981), Subway (1985), Betty Blue (1986), Mauvais Sang (1986), La Femme Nikita (1990), Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991)
Legacy: Gave French cinema a bold visual style, shaped Besson's later popular career and Jeunet's Amélie, and influenced music videos and advertising