Luc Besson, heroine and violence. About the film "Nikita"

This term has other meanings, see Besson (meanings).

Luc Besson

(French Luc Besson; born March 18, 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and writer.

Biography[ | ]

Luc Besson was born into a family of Club Med scuba diving instructors and, from childhood, was preparing to continue the family tradition. He spent his entire childhood on the coast of Greece and Yugoslavia, enthusiastically diving and underwater photography. His dream was to become a dolphin specialist. However, the dreams were not destined to come true. At the age of 17, as a result of an accident, he loses the opportunity to do what he loves.

Luke returns to Paris, where he does one thing or another until he becomes attached to cinema. He watches a lot of films, works on film sets, in supporting roles. At the age of 19, he left for Hollywood, but after working there, he returned to his homeland and went to serve in the army. After serving for three years, he returned to cinema, first as a director of music videos, and then as an assistant director in “big” cinema.

Excerpt characterizing Besson, Luc

“Nothing, nothing,” answered Rostov. -Will you come in? - Yes, I’ll come in. Rostov stood at the corner for a long time, looking at the feasters from afar. A painful work was going on in his mind, which he could not complete. Terrible doubts arose in my soul. Then he remembered Denisov with his changed expression, with his humility, and the whole hospital with these torn off arms and legs, with this dirt and disease. It seemed to him so vividly that he could now smell this hospital smell of a dead body that he looked around to understand where this smell could come from. Then he remembered this smug Bonaparte with his white hand, who was now the emperor, whom Emperor Alexander loves and respects. What are the torn off arms, legs, and killed people for? Then he remembered the awarded Lazarev and Denisov, punished and unforgiven. He caught himself having such strange thoughts that he was frightened by them. The smell of food from the Preobrazhentsev and hunger brought him out of this state: he had to eat something before leaving. He went to the hotel he had seen in the morning. At the hotel he found so many people, officers, just like him, who had arrived in civilian dress, that he had to force himself to have dinner. Two officers from the same division joined him. The conversation naturally turned to peace. The officers and comrades of Rostov, like most of the army, were dissatisfied with the peace concluded after Friedland. They said that if they had held out any longer, Napoleon would have disappeared, that he had no crackers or ammunition in his troops. Nikolai ate in silence and mostly drank. He drank one or two bottles of wine. The internal work that arose in him, not being resolved, still tormented him. He was afraid to indulge in his thoughts and could not leave them. Suddenly, at the words of one of the officers that it was offensive to look at the French, Rostov began to shout with vehemence, which was not justified in any way, and therefore greatly surprised the officers. – And how can you judge what would be better! - he shouted with his face suddenly flushed with blood. - How can you judge the actions of the sovereign, what right do we have to reason?! We cannot understand either the goals or the actions of the sovereign! “Yes, I didn’t say a word about the sovereign,” the officer justified himself, unable to explain his temper otherwise than by the fact that Rostov was drunk. But Rostov did not listen. “We are not diplomatic officials, but we are soldiers and nothing more,” he continued. “They tell us to die—that’s how we die.” And if they punish, it means he is guilty; It's not for us to judge. It pleases the sovereign emperor to recognize Bonaparte as emperor and enter into an alliance with him—that means it must be so. Otherwise, if we began to judge and reason about everything, then there would be nothing sacred left. This way we will say that there is no God, there is nothing,” Nikolai shouted, hitting the table, very inappropriately, according to the concepts of his interlocutors, but very consistently in the course of his thoughts. “Our job is to do our duty, to hack and not think, that’s all,” he concluded. “And drink,” said one of the officers, who did not want to quarrel. “Yes, and drink,” Nikolai picked up. - Hey, you! Another bottle! - he shouted. In 1808, Emperor Alexander traveled to Erfurt for a new meeting with Emperor Napoleon, and in high society in St. Petersburg there was a lot of talk about the greatness of this solemn meeting. In 1809, the closeness of the two rulers of the world, as Napoleon and Alexander were called, reached the point that when Napoleon declared war on Austria that year, the Russian corps went abroad to assist their former enemy Bonaparte against their former ally, the Austrian emperor; to the point that in high society they talked about the possibility of a marriage between Napoleon and one of the sisters of Emperor Alexander. But, in addition to external political considerations, at this time the attention of Russian society was especially keenly drawn to the internal transformations that were being carried out at that time in all parts of public administration. Life, meanwhile, the real life of people with their essential interests of health, illness, work, rest, with their interests of thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions, went on as always, independently and without political affinity or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte, and beyond all possible transformations. Prince Andrei lived in the village for two years without a break. All those enterprises on estates that Pierre started and did not bring to any result, constantly moving from one thing to another, all these enterprises, without showing them to anyone and without noticeable labor, were carried out by Prince Andrei. He had, to a high degree, that practical tenacity that Pierre lacked, which, without scope or effort on his part, set things in motion. One of his estates of three hundred peasant souls was transferred to free cultivators (this was one of the first examples in Russia); in others, corvee was replaced by quitrent. In Bogucharovo, a learned grandmother was written out to his account to help mothers in labor, and for a salary the priest taught the children of peasants and courtyard servants to read and write. Prince Andrei spent half of his time in Bald Mountains with his father and son, who was still with the nannies; the other half of the time in the Bogucharov monastery, as his father called his village. Despite the indifference he showed Pierre to all the external events of the world, he diligently followed them, received many books, and to his surprise he noticed when fresh people came to him or his father from St. Petersburg, from the very whirlpool of life, that these people, in knowledge of everything that is happening in foreign and domestic policy, they are far behind him, who sits in the village all the time. In addition to classes on names, in addition to general reading of a wide variety of books, Prince Andrei was at this time engaged in a critical analysis of our last two unfortunate campaigns and drawing up a project to change our military regulations and regulations. In the spring of 1809, Prince Andrei went to the Ryazan estates of his son, whom he was guardian. Warmed by the spring sun, he sat in the stroller, looking at the first grass, the first birch leaves and the first clouds of white spring clouds scattering across the bright blue sky. He didn’t think about anything, but looked around cheerfully and meaninglessly. We passed the carriage on which he had spoken with Pierre a year ago. We drove through a dirty village, threshing floors, greenery, a descent with remaining snow near the bridge, an ascent through washed-out clay, stripes of stubble and green bushes here and there, and entered a birch forest on both sides of the road. It was almost hot in the forest; you couldn’t hear the wind. The birch tree, all covered with green sticky leaves, did not move, and from under last year’s leaves, lifting them, the first green grass and purple flowers crawled out. The small spruce trees scattered here and there throughout the birch forest with their coarse, eternal greenness were an unpleasant reminder of winter. The horses snorted as they rode into the forest and began to fog up. The footman Peter said something to the coachman, the coachman answered in the affirmative. But apparently Peter had little sympathy for the coachman: he turned on the box to the master. - Your Excellency, how easy it is! – he said, smiling respectfully. - What! - Easy, your Excellency. "What he says?" thought Prince Andrei. “Yes, that’s right about spring,” he thought, looking around. And everything is already green... how soon! And the birch, and the bird cherry, and the alder are already starting... But the oak is not noticeable. Yes, here it is, the oak tree.” There was an oak tree on the edge of the road. Probably ten times older than the birches that made up the forest, it was ten times thicker and twice as tall as each birch. It was a huge oak tree, two girths wide, with branches that had been broken off for a long time and with broken bark overgrown with old sores. With his huge, clumsy, asymmetrically splayed, gnarled hands and fingers, he stood like an old, angry and contemptuous freak between the smiling birches. Only he alone did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun. “Spring, and love, and happiness!” - as if this oak tree was saying, - “and how can you not get tired of the same stupid and senseless deception. Everything is the same, and everything is a lie! There is no spring, no sun, no happiness. Look, there are the crushed dead spruce trees sitting, always the same, and there I am, spreading out my broken, skinned fingers, wherever they grew - from the back, from the sides; As we grew up, I still stand, and I don’t believe your hopes and deceptions.” Prince Andrei looked back at this oak tree several times while driving through the forest, as if he was expecting something from it. There were flowers and grass under the oak tree, but he still stood in the midst of them, frowning, motionless, ugly and stubborn. “Yes, he is right, this oak tree is a thousand times right,” thought Prince Andrei, let others, young people, again succumb to this deception, but we know life - our life is over! A whole new series of hopeless, but sadly pleasant thoughts in connection with this oak tree arose in the soul of Prince Andrei. During this journey, he seemed to think over his whole life again, and came to the same old reassuring and hopeless conclusion that he did not need to start anything, that he should live out his life without doing evil, without worrying and without wanting anything. On guardianship matters of the Ryazan estate, Prince Andrei had to see the district leader. The leader was Count Ilya Andreich Rostov, and Prince Andrei went to see him in mid-May. It was already a hot period of spring. The forest was already completely dressed, there was dust and it was so hot that driving past the water, I wanted to swim. Prince Andrei, gloomy and preoccupied with considerations about what and what he needed to ask the leader about matters, drove up the garden alley to the Rostovs’ Otradnensky house. To the right, from behind the trees, he heard a woman's cheerful cry, and saw a crowd of girls running towards his stroller. Ahead of the others, a black-haired, very thin, strangely thin, black-eyed girl in a yellow chintz dress, tied with a white handkerchief, from under which strands of combed hair were escaping, ran up to the carriage. The girl screamed something, but recognizing the stranger, without looking at him, she ran back laughing.

Personal life[ | ]

In 1986, Besson married actress Anne Parillaud, who played the main role in his film Nikita (1990). Their daughter, Juliette, was born in 1987. The couple divorced in 1991.

Besson's second wife was actress Maiwenn Le Besco; at the time the relationship began, she was 15 years old, and Besson was 31 years old[1]. They married in 1992 while Le Besco was pregnant with their daughter Shanna, born on January 3, 1993. According to Le Besco, their relationship inspired Besson's film Léon (1994).[1] Their marriage ended in 1997 when Besson began a relationship with actress Milla Jovovich while filming The Fifth Element (1997). They married on December 14, 1997; Jovovich was 22 years old and Besson was 38 years old. Jovovich and Besson divorced in 1999.[2]

On August 28, 2004, Besson married producer Virginie Sylla. The couple has three children - daughters Thalia and Satin, and son Mao[3].

TOP 10

10. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)

imdb rating: 6.5

In 2700, special agents Valerian and Laureline find themselves in a very complicated story. The main roles were played by Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, with Clive Owen and Rihanna also playing roles.

Luc Besson has long dreamed of making a film based on the French comics “Valerian and Laureline” (Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières). To highlight the original idea of ​​the French authors and show it to the whole world, the director specially shot the film in English and with the participation of English-speaking actors.

Some ideas from the original comic also formed the basis for the film The Fifth Element and the Star Wars films.

9. Subway (1985)

imdb rating: 6.6

The story of the thief Fred, who accidentally became the owner of very important documents. The owners of the documents immediately begin to hunt for him, and as a result, Fred ends up on the subway, where he meets the subculture of strange people living there.

8. Atlantis (1991)

imdb rating: 6.8

A magnificent underwater world through the eyes of one of France's most famous directors. An unusual documentary film shows all the beauties of the underwater world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4iNdULeIoo

7. The Last Battle (1983)

imdb rating: 6.9

There is no more civilization, people express themselves using primitive gestures and signs, live in the ruins of once great cities and are simply trying to survive.

The film is based on Besson’s own short film “The Penultimate” (1981) and became the director’s directorial debut in big cinema.

The film does not use human speech, since according to the plot, people have forgotten how to communicate with each other in words.

One of the roles was played by Jean Reno.

6. Lady (2011)

imdb rating: 7.1

Political games are becoming a real test of love between Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband Michael Ayres. A beautiful story about the fate of a woman thanks to whom democracy appeared in Burma.

5. Angel-A (2005)

imdb rating: 7.1

Andre owes money to many bandits and the time of reckoning will soon come. Having contacted the police and the American embassy, ​​he receives no help, so he sees suicide as his only option.

But at a fateful moment, he notices a girl who is also trying to commit suicide by jumping into the Seine. Andre saves the girl, and she begins to help him get money to pay off his creditors. But this is only the beginning of the story...

4. Nikita (1990)

imdb rating: 7.4

The difficult fate of a young girl leads her to robbery and murder. But the government gives her a second chance and sends her special agents to school. Now she's a secret agent...

Another film by Luc Besson, in which the main role is played by a girl. This time the role of the main character was played by Anne Parillaud.

In preparation for the role, Parillaud constantly disassembled and assembled a model of the pistol. One day, this attracted the attention of the police, who forced the actress to get out of the car with her hands raised.

3. Deep Blue (1988)

imdb rating: 7.6

The story of the two main characters is based on the real-life friendship of the Frenchman Jacques Mayol and the Italian Enzo Mallorca. With the only exception that one of the main characters received a different surname - Molinari, and they never competed with each other.

The film became one of the most popular in France in the 80s, during the year of release it was watched by 9.2 million French viewers.

Jacques Mayol advised the filmmakers.

The film was shot without stunt doubles, so Jean Reno, Jean-Marc Barr and other actors dived themselves. Luc Besson appeared in the film as one of the divers.

Many famous actors were invited to play the main roles: Christopher Lambert, Mickey Rourke, Gerard Lanvin and Mel Gibson. But they all refused to film for various reasons.

2. The Fifth Element (1997)

imdb rating: 7.7

The fantastic action film with comedy elements brought together such world cinema stars as Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm and Chris Tucker. The alien Lilu literally falls from the sky on taxi driver Korben Dallas, and now the main character played by Willis has to become a hero who will save the whole world.

Director Luc Besson wrote the film's script while he was still at school.

The alien language was invented by the director, but Milla Jovovich also improvised. By the end of filming, they could already talk to each other in an invented language. By the way, the full name of the main character Lilu is “LiluminAi LekatAriba LaminachAi Ekbat De SebAt.”

The film broke several budget records at once - the most expensive film in France, the most expensive special effects at that time ($80,000,000). And to this day the film remains the most expensive film not made in Hollywood.

Gary Oldman gave his consent to filming without even reading the script. The actor became such close friends with the director on the set of another legendary film, Leon.

1. Leon (1994)

imdb rating: 8.6

Professional hitman Leon falls in love with his neighbor Matilda, whose parents were killed by corrupt police officers.

Great cast: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman.

Natalie Portman's debut feature film. She was cast at the age of 11, but she did not pass her first audition. But when she came for the second time, she gave such a performance that the director no longer doubted the actress.

Mel Gibson and Keanu Reeves wanted to play the role of Leon, but Besson exclusively considered Jean Reno.

French actor Sami Naceri had a tiny role in the film, but impressed the director so much that he wrote the script for Taxi (1998) especially for him. The director's chair in this film was given to Gerard Pires.

But that's not all!

Add this article to your bookmarks, as very soon his new films will take their place in the ranking of Besson’s best films. For example, in 2020 the film “Anna” is expected to be released, where he will again act as simultaneously director, screenwriter and producer.

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Recognition and awards[ | ]

Luc Besson received his greatest recognition after the release of his third film, Underground, for which he was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the British Academy Film Awards in 1986.

Luc Besson is the creator of the film corporation “EuropaCorp”, the so-called “European Hollywood”. For all of Besson's films (except for the films "Angel-A" and "Malavita") the music was recorded by film composer Eric Serra. Besson created an association primarily dedicated to organizing exhibitions of photographs from Africa and charity for Africa. [ source not specified 3382 days

]

Luc Besson now

In 2020, Luc Besson announced that he was starting a film adaptation of the French comic book “Valerian,” which has been published since 1967. The film “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” was released in Russian cinemas in August 2020. The plot centers on the characters of Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, space special agents who, by chance, find themselves drawn into an intergalactic conspiracy.

Luc Besson at the premiere of Valerian (2017)

Filmography[ | ]

Notes[ | ]

1. ↑ 1 2 Liptak, Andrew
   .
   Valerian director Luc Besson accused of rape (English), The Verge
   (20 May 2018).
2. Chang, Kee
   .
   Film Critic: Maïwenn's "Polisse" (English), Anthem
   (5 May 2012).
3. Besson Becomes A Father For The Fifth Time (English), Contact Music
   (29 September 2005).
4. Luc Besson: French film director accused of rape (English), BBC
   (19 May 2018).
5. Keslassy, ​​Elsa
   .
   Luc Besson Accused of Rape by Actress in France (English), Variety
   (19 May 2018).
6. Baynes, Chris
   .
   Luc Besson: French director under investigation over rape allegation (English), The Independent
   (20 May 2018).
7. Roxborough, Scott
   .
   Luc Besson Accused of Sexual Assault by Second Woman (English), The Hollywood Reporter
   (10 July 2018).
8. Chrisafis, Angelique
   .
   Film director Luc Besson faces new allegations of sexual assault (English), The Guardian
   (10 July 2018).
9. Five more women make sex-offence blaming against Luc Besson, The Guardian
   (28 November 2018).