Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Directing

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Born 1953-09-03 · Roanne, Loire, France

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a French film director and screenwriter known for the films Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children, Alien: Resurrection and Amélie. Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and co-director. They met at an animation festival in Annecy in 1974. Together, Jeunet and Caro directed award-winning animations. Their first live action film was The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (1981), a short film about soldiers in a bleak futuristic world. Jeunet also directed numerous advertisements and music videos, such as Jean Michel Jarre's Zoolook (together with Caro). Jeunet's films often resonate with the late twentieth century French film movement, cinéma du look, and allude to themes and aesthetics involving German expressionism, French poetic realism, and the French New Wave. Jeunet and Caro's first feature film was Delicatessen (1991), a melancholy comedy set in a famine-plagued post-apocalyptic world, in which an apartment building above a delicatessen is ruled by a butcher who kills people in order to feed his tenants. They next made The City of Lost Children (1995), a dark, multi-layered fantasy film about a mad scientist who steals children's dreams so that he can live indefinitely.[3] The success of The City of Lost Children led to an invitation to direct the fourth film in the Alien series, Alien: Resurrection (1997). This is where Jeunet and Caro ended up going their separate ways as Jeunet believed this to be an amazing opportunity and Caro was not interested in a film that lacked creative control working on a big-budget Hollywood movie. Caro ended up assisting for a few weeks, with costumes and set design but afterwards, decided to work on a solo career in illustration and computer graphics. Jeunet directed Amélie (2001), starring Audrey Tautou. Amélie is the story of a woman who takes pleasure in doing good deeds but has trouble finding love herself, was a huge critical and commercial success worldwide and was nominated for several Academy Awards. For this film, Jeunet also gained a European Film Award for Best Director. Jeunet has also directed numerous commercials including a 2'25" film for Chanel N° 5 featuring his frequent collaborator Audrey Tautou. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Pierre Jeunet, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Cinéma… par Albert Dupontel poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Cinéma… par Albert Dupontel

2017

The Original+ poster
6.0

Canal+ Group hosted a live splashy American-style upfront presentation the Olympia in Paris, unveiling their prestige 2026 slate.

The Original+

2025

The Alien Saga poster
6.3

In 1979, Alien burst onto the scene with a strong female lead in the form of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battling the ultimate biomechanical creature. The brilliant and terrifying result reinvented the horror and science fiction genres, creating one of the most successful and celebrated film franchises in Hollywood history. This award-winning, feature-length documentary explores the series.

The Alien Saga

2002

The Extraordinary Voyage poster
7.7

An account of the extraordinary life of film pioneer Georges Méliès (1861-1938) and the amazing story of the copy in color of his masterpiece A Trip to the Moon (1902), unexpectedly found in Spain and restored thanks to the heroic efforts of a group of true cinema lovers.

The Extraordinary Voyage

2011

Riding a Train of Thoughts poster
7.0

A documentary directed by Julien Lecat.

Riding a Train of Thoughts

2014

Alien: Terror in Space poster
7.0

A retrospective look at the global impact of Alien, the science fiction and horror masterpiece directed by British filmmaker Ridley Scott in 1979, exploring the origins of its unique aesthetic and the audacity of its screenplay.

Alien: Terror in Space

2025

One Step Beyond: The Making of Alien Resurrection poster
6.3

The making of Alien Resurrection (1997) is covered in this feature-length documentary, created for the film's 2003 DVD release. The cast and crew tell us how this movie came to be, from it's script which never changed through production, to its initial theatrical release.

One Step Beyond: The Making of Alien Resurrection

2003

The Bunker of the Last Gunshots poster
5.8

A military group of men is locked up in a bunker in an unknown future. All those soldiers are waiting for an eventual enemy. But the discovery of a certain project will cause several catastrophies and will make those men kill each other...

The Bunker of the Last Gunshots

1982

A Day in the Life of French Cinema poster
7.0

Documentary showing one day of work of over 90 actors and filmmakers from French cinema on the same day. On 27 March 2002, 27 teams filmed actors, directors, producers and technicians at work, from Hawaii to Paris and from New York to Lisbon.

A Day in the Life of French Cinema

2002

No artwork available
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Temps mort autour de Caro & Jeunet

Amélie: The Real Story poster
5.3

The truth about the real Amélie Poulain is finally revealed.

Amélie: The Real Story

2023

The Extravagant Little Life of Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus poster
NR

Self-taught magician, transformist at the Grande Eugène cabaret, man of theater, television and cinema, Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus has been dragging his inimitable drawl wherever he wants. Able to play the Diva for Michel Audiard as well as for Werner Herzog. Loubard one day for Gilles Béhat and Duke of Orleans the next day for Rohmer. We often met him with Mocky or Boisset, more mysteriously with Tommy Chong and remains permanently anchored in our memories thanks to his performance in Delicatessen or Marie's ads, depending on the genre. Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus is one of those marginal people, adventurers a bit crazy, often poet and above all a bon vivant, in short, a species on the way to extinction. The directors wanted to meet the character and remember this extravagant little life.

The Extravagant Little Life of Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus

2021

Une année au front : dans les coulisses de "Un long dimanche de fiançailles" poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Une année au front : dans les coulisses de "Un long dimanche de fiançailles"

2005

No Rest for Billy Brakko poster
6.5

On a winter evening Billy Brakko buys a paper and reads: "The famous Billy Brakko is dead!" An early short film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.

No Rest for Billy Brakko

1983

Behind the camera

Amélie poster
7.9

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

Amélie

2001

Amélie poster
7.9

At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to become the star of her very own love story?

Amélie

2001

Alien Resurrection poster
6.2

Two hundred years after Lt. Ripley died, a group of scientists clone her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the new Ripley is full of surprises … as are the new aliens. Ripley must team with a band of smugglers to keep the creatures from reaching Earth.

Alien Resurrection

1997

The City of Lost Children poster
7.2

A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

The City of Lost Children

1995

The City of Lost Children poster
7.2

A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

The City of Lost Children

1995

Delicatessen poster
7.3

In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher's daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.

Delicatessen

1991

Delicatessen poster
7.3

In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher's daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.

Delicatessen

1991

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet poster
6.9

A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

2013

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet poster
6.9

A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

2013

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet poster
6.9

A 10-year-old child prodigy cartographer secretly leaves his family's ranch in Montana where he lives with his cowboy father and scientist mother and travels across the country on board a freight train to receive an award at the Smithsonian Institute.

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

2013

A Very Long Engagement poster
7.3

Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone. But she refuses to believe he's gone forever — and she needs to know for sure.

A Very Long Engagement

2004

A Very Long Engagement poster
7.3

Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone. But she refuses to believe he's gone forever — and she needs to know for sure.

A Very Long Engagement

2004

A Very Long Engagement poster
7.3

Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone. But she refuses to believe he's gone forever — and she needs to know for sure.

A Very Long Engagement

2004

Micmacs poster
6.7

While standing in the doorway of the video shop where he works, Bazil is inadvertently shot in the head. Now homeless and jobless, he is taken in by a troupe of misfits who live in a giant mound of trash. There Bazil begins his quest for revenge against the people who produced the gun that shot him.

Micmacs

2009

Micmacs poster
6.7

While standing in the doorway of the video shop where he works, Bazil is inadvertently shot in the head. Now homeless and jobless, he is taken in by a troupe of misfits who live in a giant mound of trash. There Bazil begins his quest for revenge against the people who produced the gun that shot him.

Micmacs

2009

Micmacs poster
6.7

While standing in the doorway of the video shop where he works, Bazil is inadvertently shot in the head. Now homeless and jobless, he is taken in by a troupe of misfits who live in a giant mound of trash. There Bazil begins his quest for revenge against the people who produced the gun that shot him.

Micmacs

2009

Bigbug poster
5.3

Set in the world of 2045, where communities have robotic helpers, a group of suburbanites are locked in for their protection by their household robots, while a rogue, self-aware AI android revolt uprising takes place outside.

Bigbug

2022

Bigbug poster
5.3

Set in the world of 2045, where communities have robotic helpers, a group of suburbanites are locked in for their protection by their household robots, while a rogue, self-aware AI android revolt uprising takes place outside.

Bigbug

2022

Bigbug poster
5.3

Set in the world of 2045, where communities have robotic helpers, a group of suburbanites are locked in for their protection by their household robots, while a rogue, self-aware AI android revolt uprising takes place outside.

Bigbug

2022

Casanova poster
8.2

Exiled from his beloved Venice, Giacomo Casanova flees to Paris at the dawn of the Enlightenment in hopes of putting his reputation as a playboy behind him. But old habits die hard, and temptation is everywhere as Casanova finds a wealth of new opportunity and trouble.

Casanova

2015

The Carousel poster
6.2

An early stop motion animated short film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet. With puppets by Marc Caro.

The Carousel

1981

The Carousel poster
6.2

An early stop motion animated short film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet. With puppets by Marc Caro.

The Carousel

1981

Violette poster
NR

Violette Toussaint, a cemetery caretaker in a small town in Burgundy, is a unique observer and a compassionate listener. Her peaceful life is filled by conversations with quirky cemetery workers and the many visitors who share their stories of love, loss, and life. However, her routine is disrupted when a local police chief arrives at her door with an unusual request. As they grow closer, Violette comes to understand that the truth behind long-buried mysteries in her past must be uncovered if she wants to take another chance on life and, against all odds, love.

Violette

2026

Violette poster
NR

Violette Toussaint, a cemetery caretaker in a small town in Burgundy, is a unique observer and a compassionate listener. Her peaceful life is filled by conversations with quirky cemetery workers and the many visitors who share their stories of love, loss, and life. However, her routine is disrupted when a local police chief arrives at her door with an unusual request. As they grow closer, Violette comes to understand that the truth behind long-buried mysteries in her past must be uncovered if she wants to take another chance on life and, against all odds, love.

Violette

2026