Film 24 (9/12/2005)

The City of Lost Children (1995)

Director(s): Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Marc Caro

Recommended by: D Soler

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

I remember once having seen the first thirty minutes of The City of Lost Children before something pulled me away, and I remember not understanding it very well. This time, however, I did not have the same trouble. In fact the basic plot of this film is not so difficult to grasp, though admittedly the method by which the plot is executed can somewhat easily create confusion.

Visually, this film is extremely artfully done - far more so than most films I see with similarly morose overtones. The sheer gloom and almost hopelessness is exemplified by the fact that there isn't a single truly vibrant color in the film. Yet, at the same time it is a very colorful film by way of contrast and varying color tones with regard to skin, water and brick/stone. The mechanical devices depicted are something of a nice blend between "classic" sci-fi and modern technology and are quite effective in adding depth to the horrific qualities of The City of Lost Children.

With regard to the story, I am currently of the opinion that this film touches on loss, pride, jealousy and "the fountain of youth". With loss, we have the obvious tale of One in search for his little brother - but we also have The Original's loss of his wife which prompted his clone-making. The latter also touches on both pride and the fountain of youth, given that The Original was attempting to make a perfect replica of himself to both prove that he was capable of doing so and also to make it so he and his wife could effectively live forever. The fountain of youth is also represented, a little more obviously, by Krank's obsession with stealing children's dreams in the hope of regaining his lost youth.

There's plenty more to this film than that but to continue would be to extrapolate on particular theories, the discourse of which could very well be pages long. I am giving my personal guarantee that, when this project is over, The City of Lost Children is one film for which I will write a far more thorough, in-depth review.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 4/5. An intriguing tale which was at times in danger of being railroaded by the cinematic artistry.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. Nice artistic work.

Overall Acting: 4/5. Very good quality - not great, but very good regardless.

Score/Soundtrack: 3/5. I didn't care much for the soundtrack, but it did not upset me in any way, either.

OVERALL RATING: 4/5

~Fentablar~