The City of Lost Children The City of Lost Children
1995 ‘La Cité des enfants perdus’ Directed by Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Synopsis
The City of Lost Children is a fantasy science fiction film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet about a scientist who kidnaps children and steals their dreams.
Cast
Genres
Popular reviews
More-
The City of Lost Children is a wonderfully dark fairy-tale, spiced up by the visual flair of Jeunet and Caro.
There is something inescapably alluring about a dark tale that is about children but perhaps isn’t suitable for them. Stories like this often reside in between dark fantasy and light-hearted morality tale and this one is no exception. The conceit is rather classic, evil man tries to steal dreams from children. It is therefore not so much the content of the film that makes it so enjoyable, but most definitely the approach the pair of directors take to present it. It is visually as rich as it is grim.
Like their previous collaboration Delicatessen this film has a lovely fluidity…
-
"Top 50 films of the 90's Selection"
"Top 10 films 1995 Selection""Once upon a time there was an inventor so gifted that he could create life. A truly remarkable man."
Jean-Pierre Jeunet The City of Lost Children is a nightmarish fairy tale, that I would love to dream every night.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has an eye for detail and specially and eye for creating immersive worlds, where the line of fantasy and reality is a very thing blurry line.
Jeunet cinematography is beautiful and rich, when you watch The City of Lost Children you get transported to a gritty, nasty place, that you don't want to leave.
Ron Pearlman as Mr. One, is as always great, what can I say…
-
The City of Lost Children's surrealism is both charming and disturbing. A steampunk fairytale from directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, the film is a plethora of peculiar characters and settings. On an oil rig in the middle of an ocean reside an assortment of failed "experiments" belonging to a missing genius. These include a diminutive woman named Miss Bismuth, a brain in a tank nicknamed Uncle Irvin, six clones (played by the brilliant Dominique Pinon), an assemblage of cyclopses with acute hearing, and finally the humanoid Krank, whose despair at not being able to dream is the catalyst for much of the action.
Add to this the former Russian sailor One (whose little brother is kidnapped by Krank), and…
-
Amazing film - the set & costume design just have to be seen to be believed. If you have seen Amelie and loved the look then please, I beg of you, hunt out this movie and watch it as soon as possible.
-
Hadn't seen this in 16 years. Remains a visual treat. Everything is so wet and damp looking. Those eyepieces the Cyclops have are still awesome. Some of the little French kids are too cute when they burp and mug for the camera, but it begins with a Santa nightmare and reindeer poop(!), so a few cute kids are fine.
-
A very clever film full of mystery, cruelty and surprises. 'The City of Lost Children' is incredibly rich in lore and characters, but that is also its burden. A few details won't be analyzed to the maximum and that could leave you wondering 'how this came to be', 'what will happen afterwards' etc, but the plot is still more than satisfactory in its core and very entertaining.
Recent reviews
More-
---
-
"Top 50 films of the 90's Selection"
"Top 10 films 1995 Selection""Once upon a time there was an inventor so gifted that he could create life. A truly remarkable man."
Jean-Pierre Jeunet The City of Lost Children is a nightmarish fairy tale, that I would love to dream every night.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has an eye for detail and specially and eye for creating immersive worlds, where the line of fantasy and reality is a very thing blurry line.
Jeunet cinematography is beautiful and rich, when you watch The City of Lost Children you get transported to a gritty, nasty place, that you don't want to leave.
Ron Pearlman as Mr. One, is as always great, what can I say…
-
A pesar del tema tan surrealista que trata hay algo bastante dinámico, diálogos que me fascinaron y personajes muy auténticos y humanos.
-
The City of Lost Children is a wonderfully dark fairy-tale, spiced up by the visual flair of Jeunet and Caro.
There is something inescapably alluring about a dark tale that is about children but perhaps isn’t suitable for them. Stories like this often reside in between dark fantasy and light-hearted morality tale and this one is no exception. The conceit is rather classic, evil man tries to steal dreams from children. It is therefore not so much the content of the film that makes it so enjoyable, but most definitely the approach the pair of directors take to present it. It is visually as rich as it is grim.
Like their previous collaboration Delicatessen this film has a lovely fluidity…
-
watched it again yesterday. still my favourite. this movie doesn’t suck for one second.
watch it and make sure you have some weed available :) -
I'm not into french spoken films, I'm not into kids as protagonists, so this movie wasn't actually my cup of tea. What I can say is that I'm a huge fan of steampunk. And to be honest, this movie explodes from these steampunk awesomeness!
Besides the perfect steamy, sweaty, blood-boiling good scenery, the storyline is not that exciting. It has a lot of silly parts.
If you like steampunk, please check this film out for its stunning scenery and gadgets! But don't expect too much from the story. It is a great idea, but they fucked it up good.
-
I was about to say that this would make a great video game, but apparently one was made for it, and it sucked! The City of Lost Children sat on my 'to watch' list for three years before I finally watched it today.
I was surprised to see the score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Beautiful music - just like the ones he created for Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive. What draws him to strange movies and the men that make them?
TCLC is a rather slow burner. There's action early on but not excitement, because in the first hour of the movie, the characters weren't in place yet. So the viewing experience for me was a little frustrating, because…
-
Una de mis películas favoritas, llena de fantasía pero no una fantasía común.
-
Green!