Cinema du Look. Besson.

1. Subway (1985)
Directed by Luc Besson
In 1985, the French Academy of
Cinema deemed Luc Besson's Subway
worthy of three Cesars for actor
Christopher Lambert, production
design, and sound.
Today, it can be difficult for
modern audiences to determine
exactly what they saw in the film to
reward it so.
Some would think that few films
have aged as poorly as this one. The
music, the hair, the clothes, the
electronic score, the arch humour—
Subway is in all ways a product of
the 1980s.

2. Fred grabs some important
papers from Helena's safe after
inviting himself to her birthday
party, which leads to a chase
through the streets of Paris and
down to an alternate world...
On the surface
it’s a love story;
Fred, a wannabe
musician with
safe-blowing up
fetish (played
by Christophe
Lambert) and
Helena, a bored
socialite/housewi
fe who feels
trapped in a
loveless marriage
(played by
Isabelle Adjani).
... that of
the Metro.

3. There we meet an eclectic group
of people who, for whatever
reason, choose to live in an
underground society. The main
plot centres around Fred
attempting to persuade Helena
that he loved her at first glance,
which she goes along with because
she has nothing better to do.
One sub-plot involves the frantic attempts of
Helena's husband and henchmen to get the stolen
papers back; another pits two bumbling officers
(Batman Jean-Pierre Bacri & Robin Jean-Claude
Lecas) against a bag-snatching Roller, seedily
played by Jean-Hugues Anglade.

4. 26-year-old director Luc Besson created this tongue-
in-cheek look at filmmaking and at the denizens in the
tunnels of the Paris Metro - a new kind of underground
movie.

5. All the while Fred
blackmails rich woman
Helena with whom he is in
love.
Meant as a tongue-in-cheek
commentary on urban life,
the film works best as a
light freewheeling
entertainment, with well-
constructed fast-paced
action sequences and a
breezy sense of humour
about itself. Subway is an
intriguing diversion and a
chance to see the cutting-
edge of contemporary
French moviemaking.
80s Cinema
Besson Bio
This is an early work
from director Luc
Besson, Subway is a
dark and highly stylised
picture.
One sub-plot is Fred’s
whimsical desire, whilst
living in the underground
and eluding both
gangsters and Metro
police, to start a rock
band with a group of
colourful and quirky
subterranean inhabitants
he meets.

6. Characters and Themes in Subway (and "The
Big Blue", "Nikita" and "Leon“).
Main characters and society I
The principal characters in "Subway", "The Big Blue",
"Nikita" and "Leon" all have at least one thing in
common – they are all loners or outcasts from society.
They do not fit easily into the conformist society that
is the experience of the majority of citizens, but then
the societies depicted in the films may also be
considered extreme and outside the experience of most.
BESSON

7. Main characters and society II
The worlds explored in these films (with the possible
exception of "Big Blue") are dark and uncertain places
where conventional views of what is right and wrong are
challenged, and indeed where only the principal
characters (in spite of appearances) show any real
"integrity". It is in the conflict between these
characters and the societies in which they live that we
witness interesting and challenging observations on life,
morality, and personal development. These worlds are
extreme, as are the actions and reactions of the
characters, but then that is the basis of drama, and
extremity may lead to greater clarity.
BESSON

8. Grey reality beneath the surface
In each of the films it is worth noting that we are led
below the surface of society. This is true quite literally
and also metaphorically.
In "Subway" we are taken into the underground system
in Paris where Fred encounters a group of misfits who
clearly have no desire to lead a conventional life, but
whose "integrity" is beyond question. Like Fred, they
are true to themselves and do what they feel they
have to do to survive. They do not doubt or question
themselves. They lead their lives as they see fit, even
if this means breaking society’s laws. While we do not
approve of their actions or admire them, we may have
some respect for their refusal to lie down and conform
to society’s expectations of them.

9. PLOT!!
In no particular order, the following things transpire:
1) Fred hides from armed men apparently in the employ of Helena
's husband;
2) Fred eludes slow-witted and slow-footed policemen wearing those
silly cylindrical French policemen hats;
3) Fred and Helena, who unlike the others has no trouble finding
Fred, exhibit some sort of attraction to one another, we learn they
have some sort of pre-existing relationship;
4) Oddball denizens of the subway system take Fred in, including an
unethical flower vendor (Richard Bohringer), a bodybuilder (Christan
Gomba), a roller-skating purse snatcher (Jean-Hughes Anglade),
and several musicians (Jean Réno, et al.);
5) The musicians play terrible sounds that were evidently
considered music in 1985.
80s Cinema

10. What makes even less sense is
Subway 's commercial (at least in
France) and critical success.
The film is best described as a
fanciful satire, as the labyrinthine
subway system and its inhabitants
no doubt represent the
unfortunate by-products of our
inequitable and often absurd social
systems.
Yet the precise ideas governing
the film remain elusive. To be
sure, as a tongue-in-cheek
fantasy, the film is not meant to
be taken seriously, but if Subway
is supposed to be funny, then the
jokes are as flat-footed as the
policemen. And if it's not meant
to be serious, why the
ostentatiously affected ending?
Budget
FRF 17,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend
$11,332 (USA) (10 November 1985)
(1 Screen)
Gross
$57,875 (USA) (17 November 1985)
$11,332 (USA) (10 November 1985)
$390,659 (USA)
$1,272,637 (Worldwide)
$881,978 (West Germany)
Weekend Gross
$37,129 (USA) (17 November 1985)
(5 Screens)
$11,332 (USA) (10 November 1985)
(1 Screen)
Admissions
2,917,562 (France) ( 1985)

12. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in
ultra-chic visual filmmaking I 18 Feb 2008 by Jonathan James Romley
On release, a huge box-office hit in its native France
- and as a result of the rising popularity of lead actors
Lambert and Adjani, something of a cult film in the UK
- Subway (1985) was seen as a companion to Beineix's
earlier art-house classic, Diva (1981).
Together, these 2 films can be seen as both the
development and the continuation of the concerns and
preoccupations of the then-newly dubbed "cinema du
look" movement; a brief cinematic resurgence in French
cinema that saw a younger generation of filmmakers
looking back to the days of Godard, Truffaut and the
Nouvelle Vague, and combining that experimentation
with elements of early 80's pop culture.

13. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic
visual filmmaking II contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
This film finally introduced director Luc Besson to a
wider commercial audience outside of the confines of
the French art-house, and really - when looked at as
part of the natural career progression - seems light
years away from his 1st film, the wordless SF parable,
Le Dernier Combat/The Last Battle (1983).
The characteristics of the cinema du look movement
involved preoccupations with doomed love and alienated
Parisian youth, applied to a plot that was both cool and
iconic. This can be seen quite clearly in Subway, with
its mixture of film noir conventions, pop music,
subterranean youth-culture, action and broad attempts
at humour.

14. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic visual
filmmaking III contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
As others have previously noted, the film and the style
that it employs are very much of their time; presenting
a very 80's take on listless youth replete with a central
character that looks like Sting, a synthesiser heavy
soundtrack that manages to work-in two specially
composed New Wave pop songs, some shocking fashion
choices (though some of these came back in fashion) and
that general unique, indescribable feeling that you often
get from many French films from this era; in particular:
Buffet Froid (‘81), One Deadly Summer (‘83), The Moon in
the Gutter (‘83), First Name: Carmen (‘83), Betty Blue (‘86),
Mauvais Sang (‘86), Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources
(‘86) and Besson's own next picture, Le Grand Bleu (‘88).

15. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic
visual filmmaking IV contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
Subway doesn't necessarily have much in common with
the above films in terms of style or content, but it
does have a similar languid feeling, bizarre eclecticism
or eccentricity, and an atmosphere that feels very
much true to the country and the time it was produced.
Overall, the film could be seen by many viewers as
something worryingly lightweight; with the knockabout
plot, colourful caricatures and continual bombardment
of cinematic style perhaps being seen as a smokescreen
to the thin plot and ironic characterisations.

16. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic visual
filmmaking V contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
Like Le Dernier Combat, the ultimate problem with the
film is that it can't quite decide whether or not it wants
to be an action film or art film; with the combination of
the two very different styles never quite gelling in
perfect harmony.
The opening car chase and initial descent into the bowels
of this subterranean underworld hidden deep beneath the
Parisian Metro system seem to suggests that the film
will be all high-style and high-energy. Subsequent scenes
however take a step back, giving us some cool, neo-noir
like interaction between Lambert's laconic safe-cracker
and Adjani's bored trophy wife, while the opposing
forces of police and gangsters begin closing in around
them.

17. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic
visual filmmaking VI contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
This kind of film will definitely appeal to a certain kind
of viewer, perhaps a more mature audience who are
open minded to cult European art cinema, or perhaps
maybe a dedicated audience interested in seeing how
the director of such highly acclaimed action thrillers,
such Nikita (‘91) or Leon (‘94), started out.
JJ Romley said in 2008:
“After first seeing the film a few years ago I wrote
"This has no heart. It is an experiment in cinematic
formalism; obsessed with technicality but also consumed
by the self-indulgence",

18. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic
visual filmmaking VII contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
{he continued]
“ .. which to some extent still stands, but I think, with
repeated viewings, I've come to enjoy the film and see
more of an allure and attraction to the characters of
Fred and Héléna, who, quite clearly, struggle
throughout to maintain face and make the right
decisions in a world that neither of them truly
understands.”

19. A flawed, though no less interesting experiment, in ultra-chic
visual filmmaking VIII contd 2008 Jonathan James Romley
As a result, Subway might be the kind of film that
takes a few viewings to truly captivate the audience,
especially after drawing us in with that aforementioned
car chase (which nods to Claude Lelouch's iconic 1974
short film C'était un rendez-vous, whilst simultaneously
prefiguring much of the Besson-produced series, Taxi).
Subway clearly isn't a masterpiece. Like his 1st film, Le
Dernier Combat, and Angel-A (2005), it shows Besson
at his most inventive and experimental, sampling from a
variety of different genres and producing something
that is chic and stylish, if not ever truly captivating.
It is an interesting film and one that will no appeal to
fans of some of the previous films, chiefly Diva.