Editing Luc Besson (section)

===Cinéma du look===
Critics such as Raphaël Bassan and Guy Austin cite Besson as a pivotal figure in the [[Cinema du look|Cinéma du look]] movement—a specific, highly visual style produced from the 1980s into the early 1990s. His early films ''[[Subway (film)|Subway]]'' (1985), ''[[The Big Blue]]'' (1988) and ''[[La Femme Nikita (film)|La Femme Nikita]]'' (1990) are all considered of this stylistic school.

The term was coined by critic [[Raphaël Bassan]] in a 1989 essay in ''La Revue du Cinema n° 449''.<ref>Translated into English: "The French neo-baroques directors: Beineix, Besson, Carax from Diva to le Grand Bleu" (pp. 11–23), in ''The Films of Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle'' (Under the direction of Susan Hayward and Phil Powrie), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|0-7190-7028-7}}</ref> A partisan of the experimental cinema and friend of [[French New Wave|New Wave]] ("''[[nouvelle vague]]''") directors, Bassan grouped Besson with [[Jean-Jacques Beineix]] and [[Leos Carax]] as three directors who shared the style of ''"le look".'' These directors were later critically described as "favouring style over substance, and spectacle over narrative".<ref>Austin, Guy (1999) ''Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction'', Manchester University Press, pp. 119–120, 126–128. {{ISBN|0-7190-4611-4}}</ref>

Besson, and most of the filmmakers so categorised, were uncomfortable with the label. He contrasted their work with France's [[French New Wave|New Wave]]. "[[Jean-Luc Godard]] and [[François Truffaut]] were rebelling against existing cultural values and used cinema as a means of expression simply because it was the most avant-garde medium at the time," said Besson in a 1985 interview in ''The New York Times''. "Today, the revolution is occurring entirely within the industry and is led by people who want to change the look of movies by making them better, more convincing and pleasurable to watch.

"Because it's becoming increasingly difficult to break into this field, we have developed a psychological armor and are ready to do anything in order to work," he added. "I think our ardor alone is going to shake the pillars of the moviemaking establishment."<ref>Tremblay, Anne (21 July 1985) [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/movies/france-breeds-a-new-crop-of-auteurs.html "France Breeds a New Crop of Auteurs"], ''The New York Times'',.</ref>