Subway
Beginning with Diva in 1981, spanning a decade and including the works of three French directors - Jean-Jacques Beineix, Luc Besson and Leos Caras - was a movement in French cinema known as "Cinema du look": a style typified by ultra-chic, visually stylish films, featuring the intense and troubled romance of youth, mixed with other elements such as crime, suspense, and even madness.
Rather than being contextualised within family frameworks, the young characters in these films were depicted with their peers in broad social settings - unanchored, urban wanderers. In many respects, this trend paralleled the youth dramas being made in America at the same time.
However, the more fantastic settings of the French youth dramas, were said to represent the disenfranchised youth of François Mitterand's France. That political element was largely missing from their American counterparts, but can be seen in British dramas of the time, critical of Margaret Thatcher's conservatism.
Subway is an improbable story of a young man living in the Paris Métro, who is attempting to blackmail a woman he's in love with, who, in turn, is associated with some menacing men. Meanwhile, he dreams of setting up a rock band comprising buskers from the subway. It's an unlikely romance in a surreal setting, populated by an array of extravagant characters. But all that adds to its charm.
The success of Subway in France owed a fair bit to the popularity of its co-stars Isabelle Adjani (seen most recently on screen, after a long absence, in La Journée de la Jupe) and Christopher Lambert, who, in this film, sports a mane of gelled bleached hair.
But, as mentioned earlier, the film displayed quite innovative audio-visual elements. Indeed, the production design and sound design were both recognised with César awards. Abroad, the film's ultra-cool cachet bridged the cultural divide and earned the film considerable popularity.
There's an unmistakable "80's vibe" in Subway. The synthesised music in the film's opening and peppered lightly throughout is a dead giveaway. Some of the percussive beats conveying the tension in the film, come courtesy of a very young-looking Jean Reno, tapping drumsticks wherever he goes. Then there's the character played by Jean-Hughes Anglade, who wears a headband and rollerblades. These are hallmarks of 80's culture, yet the film has managed to stand the test of time rather well.
(Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita has also been recently released on DVD)