Luc Besson, once considered the most powerful man in French cinema, has been grappling with financial troubles. He is back with an action thriller about a female KGB agent.
With his epic science-fiction movie "Valerian," filmmaker Luc Besson is competing with Hollywood's mega-productions. Here's a look back at the highlights of this unusual director's career.
Image: Studiocanal Film
Spy thriller 'Anna'
Beautiful women, loaded guns — Luc Besson's new movie is no art film for a niche market. The film revolves around Anna Poliaoiva (Sasha Luss), a kind of female 21st century James Bond character. The strong, skilled professional KGB killer adds new features to the female action film genre.
Image: Studiocanal Film
Scriptwriter, producer and director: Luc Besson
For decades, Luc Besson had a reputation as a guarantor of success. His films were always more expensive than the average European production. He produced films directed by colleagues and wrote the script for many of his own films. But Besson has also faced flops in the course of his career.
Image: DW/H. Mund
Early successes
After his dark directorial debut, a black-and-white science-fiction film called "The Last Battle" (1983), Besson gained international acclaim through his second movie, "Subway" (1985). The high-energy action film was set in the underground world of the Paris metro, running through its stations and tunnels. It starred prominent actors Christopher Lambert and Isabelle Adjani (picture).
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New depths
In 1988, Luc Besson dived into deep seas with "The Big Blue," winning more fans throughout Europe. A fictionalized version of a true story, the film follows the rivalry of two free divers fatally competing to set new depth records near the Greek coast. It quickly became a cult classic.
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The action-thriller specialist
Besson's two following films, "Nikita" (1990) and "Leon: The Professional" (1994), featured the director's strong storytelling skills as well as adrenaline-filled action scenes. "Leon" was the feature film debut of then 13-year-old Natalie Portman, who starred alongside French actor Jean Reno in the role of a professional hitman (pictured).
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'The Fifth Element'
An expensive science-fiction epic, "The Fifth Element" demonstrated how well Besson could work with high-budget productions. The movie had loads of special effects and big Hollywood stars like Bruce Willis. Although Besson was often signing English-language works by then, they were always produced in France.
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French history
It therefore didn't come as a complete surprise when Besson then moved from action and science-fiction to a historical drama in 1999, with "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," in which he revisited the life of the French heroine Jeanne d'Arc at a sharp-edged pace, with rapid cuts and bold camera perspectives. Milla Jovovich, Besson's favorite actress, was brilliant in the lead role.
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Fantasy worlds
During the first decade of the new millennium, Besson produced increasingly more movies for other filmmakers, while the works he directed himself during that period, such as "Angel-A" and the "Arthur and the Minimoys" trilogy (pictured), weren't as memorable as his earlier works. Yet as a producer, Besson remained extremely successful.
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A political biography
This choice of film appeared somewhat unusual for Besson: He covered the life of the Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, in "The Lady" (2011). The project was initiated by the main star of the film, Michelle Yeoah. The Malaysian actress is a fan of Besson's films.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Seven Media/Doha Film Institute
Renewed success with 'Lucy'
After filming the mafia comedy "The Family" (2013), Besson directed "Lucy" in 2014, starring Scarlett Johansson. The movie combined action and science-fiction and proved to be a blockbuster. Once again, it was filmed in English, but was produced in France.
Image: imago/Cinema Publishers Collection
Looking straight into the future: Valerian
Luc Besson outdid himself with his 16th film. The filmmaker and producer's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" was the most expensive European film ever made. A great part of the money was invested in the sets and special effects. It didn't do particularly well at the box offices, however.
Image: Universum Film
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Can Luc Besson wiggle his way out of his financial worries with his new work Anna, an epic action film involving a young female KGB agent?
Regarded as a last-ditch effort for the French film director and producer, Besson's film empire, in this case his production company and a film school, have been in serious financial difficulties for years. His EuropaCorp film company, created to counterbalance the Hollywood scene, recently applied for bankruptcy protection at a court in Paris.
To make matters worse, the 61-year-old faces allegations of sexual misconduct raised by nine women in 2018. Besson has always denied the accusations. Several allegations have in the meantime been dismissed by a court, but investigations into the other complaints continue.
Competition with Hollywood: Valerian
His penultimate film, the science-fiction opus Valerian and The City of the Thousand Planets hit the movie theaters worldwide in 2017, but didn't perform nearly as well as expected in France or in the US and China, both major movie markets. The story, based on a 50-year-old comic, is reminiscent of Star Wars — but with a French twist. Besson directed and produced the film that, at about €200 million ($224million) in production costs, is considered the most expensive French film of all times. Besson's movie empire started to flounder.
"Valerian" was not as successful as expectedImage: Universum Film
Luc Besson’s Golden Age
Besson founded EuropaCorp in 2000, consolidating his status as the most powerful figure in the French domestic film industry at the time. Besson’s The Big Blue, Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element were very successful at the box office and received abundant praise by film critics. His success as a director prompted Besson to establish his own production company.
One of the most successful French producers
In the late 1990s, TV series were based on his highly successful films Taxi and Taken, both of which made millions for Besson's production company. No longer at the height of his directing career — with the exception perhaps of Lucy, a film starring Scarlett Johansson that did well in the US — Bresson began to focus more on production, catering to mass audiences rather than the art-house crowds. Bringing French cinema on par with Hollywood films from a commercial point of view seemed to be his goal.
Sasha Luss is KGB agent Anna in Besson's new movie of thwe same name Image: Imago Images/Zuma/Summit Entertainment
For a while, everything went well. Besson seemed to have overestimated Valerian, however. Whether Anna can compensate for his waning reputation seems doubtful. Besson currently only owns about a third of the company he once foundedm, and even if EuropaCorp survives, Besson's future is anything but rosy. The other co-owners of the company seem to agree the iconic director should no longer run the business.
Like Besson's last cinematic success, Lucy, the film Anna is based on the power of an attractive young woman. Russian supermodel and actress Sasha Luss plays a James Bond-Rambo-Lara Croft-type woman in the action-packed movie. It's up to moviegoers worldwide to decide whether Anna has the power to kickstart Besson's directing career again.
Anna premieres on June 20 in Italy, Turkey and Singapore. The US premiere is a day later. In the following weeks, the film will be released in cinemas worldwide.
