Jean-Jacques Beineix

Jean-Jacques Beineix (; 8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022) was a French film director best known for the films Diva and Betty Blue. His work is regarded as a prime example of the cinéma du look film movement in France. Early life and education Jean-Jacques Beineix was the son of Robert Beineix, director of an insurance company, and wife Madeleine Maréchal. He was a student at both the Lycée Carnot and Lycée Condorcet in Paris. After earning his secondary baccalaureat, he enrolled in medical school, but dropped out after the events of May 1968. He took the competitive entrance exam for the Paris film school Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC), but failed it (his final rank was 21st). Career Jean-Jacques Beineix began his career in 1964 as Jean Becker's assistant director on the popular French TV series . He remained with the series for three years. In 1970, he worked for Claude Berri and, the following year, for Claude Zidi. In 1972, he was second assistant director on the Jerry Lewis drama The Day the Clown Cried. In 1977, Beineix directed his first short movie, Le Chien de M. Michel, which won first prize at the Trouville Festival. In 1980, Beineix directed his first feature film, Diva, which received four Césars. The film was also entered in the 12th Moscow International Film Festival. Diva is considered the first film of what was later described as the cinéma du look. Film critic Ginette Vincendeau described the films made by Beineix and others as "youth-oriented films with high production values.... The look of the cinéma du look refers to the films' high investment in non-naturalistic, self-conscious aesthetics, notably intense colours and lighting effects. Their spectacular (studio based) and technically brilliant mise-en-scène is usually put to the service of romantic plots." The cinéma du look also included the films of Luc Besson and Léos Carax.