By Joshua Cornelius

“…take ‘myself’, subtract ‘movies’, and the result is zero.”
-Akira Kurosawa

The term “auteur” gets thrown around a lot these days.  In essence, an auteur director has created an identity that is so synonymous with their work as to become indistinguishable.  Cubism is to Picasso as Italian-American cinema is to Scorsese.  The work, and the artist, are one.

While there have been many auteur directors emergent over the history of cinema, relatively few rose to acclaim in such a stylistically belligerent decade as the 1980s.  However, by 1985 Luc Besson had clearly and effectively established his own cinematic brand with his second feature film, Subway.  Over the ensuing decades, that style would blossom and eventually form an identity for the filmmaker that would make his films universally recognizable.

Opening Shot: Moving Towards Something, Then Tilting Up

Some filmmakers labor over their filmic openings the way an author gives thought to that indelible opening sentence of a book.  More than a few of Alfred Hitchcock’s films were accompanied by one of Saul Bass’ ultra-mod animated title sequences, often accompanied by Bernard Herrmann’s bombastic score.  This opening set the tone.  You start to feel the presence of Hitchcock from the very first frame.

Similarly, Besson’s films have largely opened with the camera hurtling towards something, looking down and then tilting up to reveal a setting or the protagonist.  In Le Gran Bleu, the film opens with the water rushing at us, as if we are looking down from a speed boat.  We don’t see a boat though, only the water, and the camera is rushing towards its destination with the intensity of a disembodied spirit.  The reasons for this type of opening are not apparent, though it’s no secret that Besson was a seafaring young man and may have spent many a day looking out at the world from this vantage.

The result however, is an immediate bond between image and audience.  It’s a simple setup, but establishes the momentum and editing rhythms inherent in most of Besson’s films.  We are drawn to attention from the opening scene, whisked into the unknown and deposited into the world of the story.

Use of Wide Angle Lenses

More filmmakers than Besson have been known for their use of wide angle lenses.  Most notably, Stanley Kubrick and Wes Anderson (though many believe it’s a stylistic decision Anderson “borrowed” from Kubrick, along with his use of his titles font, ‘Futura’).  The effect of the lens is simply a kind of fishbowl look.  The use of which is instantly recognizable in scenes where normally straight lines (doorframes, ceilings) will appear bowed or curved.  Wide Angles have been used for many different scenes, in large and small productions and at various rates of spheric distortion for years.

The difference between Besson and so many others is that most filmmakers are loathe to create the “presence” of the camera in a scene.  The prevailing thought has always been that to distort the image is to distort the truth you are trying so desperately to conjure in peoples minds.  Wide Angle Lenses reveal the trick and put the camera in the room.  It’s as simple as that.

The benefit to Wide Angle shooting is the ability to create a sense of scale from apparent normalcy.  A Wide Angle Lens is simply able to capture more of the image, and is incredibly useful for shooting in tight quarters.  The lenses also tend to have a greater focal length, meaning that a character and their surroundings can both be simultaneously captured in clear focus.  This has been used to great effect, particularly by Kubrick, to create a richness of scene and compound the relationship between actors, performance and art direction.  Given the choice, the eye is free to wander and soak up the detail of setting.

Regardless of it’s success, such stylistic embellishments helped to label Besson a member of the “cinema du look” movement in the 1980s; a group of filmmakers said to favor visuals to narrative.  One only needs to see the brief opening scenes of Léon to understand the ability these visuals have to create understanding in the audience.  Bessons’ use of Wide Angle helps establish a kind of gothic and maze-like, wholly cinematic New York City, bulging with life.  Our grasp of this setting, of this alternate reality, is wordless but impacts our ability to accept the heightened reality of the film.

A Score by Eric Serra

Eric Serra has scored every Besson film to date, with the exception of Angel-A.  Besson and Serra were first united on the set of Le Dernier Combat, a film that also marked Besson’s first pairing with Jean Reno.  Combat would seem an unlikely catalyst for the continuation of their union, as it contained no dialogue and only an exceedingly spare soundtrack.  Besson apparently thought enough of Serra to recruit him again for soundtrack work on Subway and to have him play the character of “The Bassist”.

Characteristics of his work are the juxtaposition of pseudo-industrial beats and woodwinds.  His scores often contain vaguely middle-eastern or Mediterranean elements.  Paired against the more mechanic percussive elements, a Serra score becomes almost as unmistakable as the work of Besson himself.  Serra’s work is often characterized by this easy blend of electronic and analog elements.  His experimentation with the elements of synthesized and organic sounds however, never comes at the cost of elegance.  His work is both it’s own entity and an incredibly integral and supportive element in Besson’s storytelling.  Serra simultaneously projects a sense of the otherworldly while also helping to ground the narrative.

Themes

To this point, our article has focused intently on the stylistic elements that have earned Besson both ardor and vitriol.  These elements, while immediate and entirely surface, are the indelible hallmarks of the visual and audial director.  Such a cursory examination would neglect thematic elements in Besson’s work.  In essence, what kinds of stories is Besson compelled to tell?  Who are the characters who inhabit his worlds?

As such, this article will conclude in Part 2; a video deconstruction of the themes inherent in Besson’s films by Stuart Fernie of Invergordon Academy of Scotland.  Fernie expertly dissects the commonalities between the plot and characters of Besson’s work in his nearly 40 minute long investigation of the French auteur’s cinematic intent. ✪