The city of lost children

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Movie
German title The city of lost children
Original title La Cité des enfants perdus
Country of production France , Spain , Germany
original language French
Publishing year 1995
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Marc Caro
script Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Marc Caro
Gilles Adrien
production Claudie Ossard
music Angelo Badalamenti
camera Darius Khondji
cut Hervé Schneid
occupation

The City of Lost Children (original title: La Cité des enfants perdus ) is a French fantasy film from 1995. The multi-award-winning black comedy was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro , who had already celebrated a success with Delicatessen four years earlier as in 2001 with The fabulous world of Amélie . Several actors from the Delicatessen were also in front of the camera for The City of Lost Children , and both films have the same bizarre, ailing atmosphere, captured by cameraman Darius Khondji . The film opened in German cinemas on August 17, 1995.

Jeunet and Caro also wrote the script together with Gilles Adrien . The implementation cost 18 million dollars and some scenes - such as the representations of the clones - already had computer support.

action

Children disappear in a gloomy port city: They are kidnapped by completely blinded members of a cultic order, only to be sold to Krank (name also in the French original). In return, the friars receive artificial eyes for the left half of their face. Sick then takes the children to a platform in the sea, a kind of oil rig , on which he lives with six childish clone brothers and the small, child-woman Mademoiselle Bismuth. Irvin also vegetates there, a seeing, hearing and speaking brain in an aquarium that suggests - as a counterpart to Ill's supposedly soulless body - to have a soul, but not a body. Ill, who attributes his rapid aging to the fact that he cannot dream, tries in his own laboratory to get to the children's dreams. But in his head they turn into nightmares .

When Denrée, the little brother of the gigantic chain sprinkler One, is kidnapped, he goes in search of him. Among the children of an orphanage who are forced to steal by heartless Siamese twins, he meets the girl Miette (French for "crumbs"). Miette is fascinated by the strong One and touched by his grief. She decides to help him find him. Meanwhile, the members of the cultic order One and Miette try to murder, but they fall victim to the poison - it is transmitted by trained fleas and puts the victim into an intoxicating killing mania - the victim of the flea trainer Marcello, whom the malicious twins have hired. Marcello only manages to save One, while Miette falls tied up into the harbor basin. She only escapes death thanks to a strange diver who seems mentally deranged: He collects rubbish from the harbor basin and can no longer remember his past. But the diver turns out to be a former scientist, creator of Krank and the rest of the island's inhabitants. He is therefore "The Original" and the six clones are copies of him.

Shortly afterwards, Miette and the diver receive unexpected help from "brain" Irvin, who has sent a container with a nightmare to the port city to put an end to the cruel goings-on on the island. The nightmare contains clues and helps the clone original to find his mind again and shows Miette where the island is. While "The Original" is already heading to the island, the girl decides to look for One and thus escapes another murder attempt. The vicious twins wanted to use the flea poison to force One to kill Miette - but instead find their own death with the help of repentant Marcello. One assures the disappointed Miette that she will be adopted as a "little sister".

Then One and Miette also reach the artificial island. "Das Original" has already prepared the island to be blown up there, but is not thinking of saving the children. He kills Mademoiselle Bismuth when she tries to shoot her, but brings the six clones to a lifeboat. Miette frees her little brother Ones from a shared nightmare with Krank, at the end of which Krank dies. Miette and One then lead the children to another boat, while Irvin sets off a first explosion on the island, but can still reach the clones' lifeboat. “The Original” remains (packed with bombs and singing madly) on the island; when it finally wakes up from the madness and calls the clones for help, the platform explodes.

Awards

The film took part in the 1995 Cannes International Film Festival for the Palme d' Or, but had to admit defeat to Emir Kusturica's Underground . The film was nominated for the bronze horse at the Stockholm Film Festival .

The City of Lost Children won the César in 1996 in the category Best Production Design . The film was also in the categories of Best Original Score , Best Costume Design and Best Cinematography nomination.

The US Motion Picture Sound Editors drew Vincent Arnardi , Pierre Excoffier and Laurent Kossayan with the Golden Reel Award in the category Best Sound - Alien movie from. At the Independent Spirit Awards 1996, the film received a nomination for Best Foreign Film , but could not prevail against Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain . The film was nominated for the Saturn Award in the categories of Best Horror Film , Best Young Actor ( Judith Vittet ) and Best Costumes . For the most important Spanish film award, the Goya , The City of Lost Children was nominated in the category Best Special Effects.

criticism

“A gruesome fairy tale characterized by exuberant ideas, a lust for tales and grotesque characters, which burns off a furious fireworks display with pitch-black humor. Ultimately, however, the film relies too much on effects, which increasingly produces idle. "

- Lexicon of international film

Other participants

The costumes were designed by the famous French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier . Angelo Badalamenti , the regular composer of David Lynch , was responsible for the music .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The City of Lost Children. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 27, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used