In 1980, near the beginning of his career, he founded his own production company, Les Films du Loup, later renamed Les Films du Dauphin. It was superseded in 2000 when he co-foundedEuropaCorp with longtime collaboratorPierre-Ange Le Pogam [fr]. As writer, director, or producer, Besson has been involved in the creation ofmore than 50 films.
Besson was born in Paris, to parents who both worked asClub Medscuba-diving instructors.[1] Influenced by this, he planned to become amarine biologist. He spent much of his youth traveling with his parents to tourist resorts in Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece.[2] The family returned to France when he was 10. His parents divorced, and both remarried; of this, he said:
"Here there is two families, and I am the only bad souvenir of something that doesn't work," he said in theInternational Herald Tribune. "And if I disappear, then everything is perfect. The rage to exist comes from here. I have to do something! Otherwise I am going to die."[3]
At age 17, Besson had a diving accident that left him unable to dive.[4] In a 2000 interview withThe Guardian, he described how this influenced his choice of career:
"I was 17 and I wondered what I was going to do. ... So I took a piece of paper and on the left I put everything I could do, or had skills for, and all the things I couldn't do. The first line was shorter and I could see that I loved writing, I loved images, I was taking a lot of pictures. So I thought maybe movies would be good. But I thought that to really know I should go to a set. And a friend of mine knew a guy whose brother was a third assistant on a short film. It's true. So, I said: 'OK, let's go on the set.' So I went on the set. The day after I went back to see my mum and told her that I was going to make films and stop school and 'bye. And I did it! Very soon after I made a short film and it was very, very bad. I wanted to prove that I could do something, so I made a short film. That was in fact my main concern, to be able to show that I could do one."[5]
Besson reportedly worked on the first drafts ofLe Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) while still in his teens. Out of boredom, he started writing stories, including the background to what he later developed asThe Fifth Element (1997), one of his most popular movies,[6] inspired by theFrench comic books he read as a teenager.
At 18, Besson returned to his birthplace of Paris, where he took odd jobs in film to get a feel for the industry. He worked as an assistant to directors includingClaude Faraldo andPatrick Grandperret. He directed three short films, a commissioned documentary, and several commercials.[7] He then moved to the United States for three years, but returned to Paris, where he formed his own production company. He first named itLes Films du Loup, then changed it toLes Films du Dauphin.
Critics such as Raphaël Bassan and Guy Austin cite Besson as a pivotal figure in theCinéma du look movement—a specific, highly visual style produced from the 1980s into the early 1990s. His early filmsSubway (1985),The Big Blue (1988) andLa Femme Nikita (1990) are all considered of this stylistic school.
The term was coined by criticRaphaël Bassan in a 1989 essay inLa Revue du Cinema n° 449.[8] A partisan of the experimental cinema and friend ofNew Wave ("nouvelle vague") directors, Bassan grouped Besson withJean-Jacques Beineix andLeos Carax as three directors who shared the style of"le look". These directors were later critically described as "favouring style over substance, and spectacle over narrative".[9]
Besson, and most of the filmmakers so categorised, were uncomfortable with the label. He contrasted their work with France'sNew Wave. "Jean-Luc Godard andFrançois Truffaut were rebelling against existing cultural values and used cinema as a means of expression simply because it was the most avant-garde medium at the time," said Besson in a 1985 interview inThe New York Times. "Today, the revolution is occurring entirely within the industry and is led by people who want to change the look of movies by making them better, more convincing and pleasurable to watch.
"Because it's becoming increasingly difficult to break into this field, we have developed a psychological armor and are ready to do anything in order to work," he added. "I think our ardor alone is going to shake the pillars of the moviemaking establishment."[10]
Many of Besson's films have achieved popular, if not always critical, success. Reviews were mixed forLe Grand Bleu (The Big Blue).Kevin Thomas of theLos Angeles Times wrote that the movie was "too long and initially awkward but is clearly the work of a visionary."[11]
"When the film had its premiere on opening night at the1988 Cannes Film Festival, it was mercilessly drubbed, but no matter; it was a smash," observed theInternational Herald Tribune in a 2007 profile of Besson. "Embraced by young people who kept returning to see it again, the movie sold 10 million tickets and quickly became what the French call a 'film générationnel,' a defining moment in the culture."[3]
Besson'sLa Femme Nikita (1990) is one of his earliest action films, and Besson went on to write and produce numerous films in this genre, including theTaxi series (1998–2007), theTransporter series (2002–2008), and theJet Li filmsKiss of the Dragon andUnleashed. He also worked onLockout (2012).[12]
His English-language filmsTaken,Taken 2, andTaken 3 have been major successes;Taken 2 became the largest-grossing export French film.[16] Besson produced the promotional movie for theParis 2012 Olympic bid.[17]
In 2000, Besson superseded his production company by co-founding EuropaCorp with Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, with whom he had frequently worked since 1985. Le Pogam had then been Distribution Director withGaumont.
With EuropaCorp, Besson wanted to compete with the American major studios, but to maintain a stable of French directors and technicians producing in France, even if their films are most often in English with a foreign international star in thelead role. EuropaCorp went public in 2006 to finance, with the help of the State, its own studios at theCité du Cinéma. It also sought financing and distribution partnerships in Japan and China.
By 2011, when he directed a biopic ofAung San Suu Kyi calledThe Lady (original titleDans la Lumiere), Besson was spending most of his time at EuropaCorp as a writer and producer, rather than a director: he had 44 writing credits and 103 producer credits, but only 17 directing credits.[18]
The film was a departure from Besson's favoured directorial genres, and from his preference to write the films he directs; the screenwriter wasRebecca Frayn. Western critics singled out Besson's direction for negative comments;Roger Ebert said: "Perhaps, given his strengths in genre films, he should have chosen not to direct this one…"[18]
After several failures, Besson returned to creative form and to international success withLucy (2014), which became the world's most successful French feature film, earning $469 million worldwide, superseding the previous record holderThe Intouchables ($426 million).[19][20]
The blockbusterValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) had a budget of around $180 million, making it both the most expensive European and the most expensiveindependent film ever made.[21] But by the summer of 2017, Chinese critics were snubbing it and the investment seemed impossible to make profitable.
Besson's failure was repeated with his next film,Anna (2019), placing his company in near bankruptcy and forcing him to sell it to a creditor and then close the free, no-degree-requiredschool for screenwriters and directors that he had founded in 2012.
Besson's filmJune & John (2025) was shotguerrilla-style in Los Angeles in 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic. Building on a shelved pre-pandemic project Besson had been developing for a Chinese smartphone brand, the film was shot using only smartphones and a 12-person crew, and stars then-unknown actors Matilda Price and Luke Stanton Eddy.[22]
He toldDeadline: "It was very joyous. It was really two actors and a director because of the lockdown … It felt good to be uniquely creative without the pressure of money."[22]
In 2022, Besson experimented with another kind of filmmaking when he shotDogman (2023) in avirtual production facility in France, as well as on location in New Jersey.
In the early 1980s, Besson metÉric Serra and asked him to compose the score for his first short film,L'Avant dernier. He subsequently had Serra compose for other films.
Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay of his science fiction thrillerThe Fifth Element (1997) with American screenwriterRobert Mark Kamen.[34]
He later collaborated with Kamen on theTransporter action series (2002–2008), and they co-wroteTaken (2008),Taken 2 (2012), andTaken 3 (2014), which all starredLiam Neeson.
In 2024, Besson mentioned his "fascination" with American actorCaleb Landry Jones after working with him onDogMan: "We got on so well onDogMan and since then I’ve only had one wish and that was to make another film with him. He’s crazily talented. It’s something I haven’t seen since Gary Oldman."[29]
Besson has been described as "the most Hollywood of French filmmakers".[35] Scott Tobias wrote that his "slick, commercial" action movies were "so interchangeable—drugs, sleaze, chucklingsupervillainy, andHong Kong-style effects—that each new project probably starts withwhite-out on the title page."[36]
American film criticArmond White has praised Besson, whom he ranks as one of the best film producers, for refining and revolutionizing action film. He wrote that Besson dramatizes the struggle of his characters "as a conscientious resistance to human degradation".[37]
In 2012, film critic Eric Kohn wrote inIndiewire: "Luc Besson’s filmography has been spotty for years, littered with equal amounts of sensationalistic pop art and flashy duds, a tendency that extends beyond his directing credits."[38]
Besson has been married four times; first, in 1986, to actressAnne Parillaud. They had a daughter, Juliette, born in 1987. Parillaud starred in Besson'sLa Femme Nikita (1990). They divorced in 1991.[39]
Besson's second wife was actress and directorMaïwenn Le Besco, whom he started dating when he was 32 and she was 15 after having met three years earlier.[40] They married in late 1992 when Le Besco, 16, was pregnant with their daughterShanna, who was born on 3 January 1993.[41][deprecated source] Le Besco later claimed that their relationship inspired Besson's filmLéon (1994), where the plot involved the emotional relationship between an adult man and a 12-year-old girl (played by then 12-year-oldNatalie Portman).[40] Their union led to aggressive criticism, which deeply hurtMaïwenn.[42] Their marriage ended in 1997, when Besson became involved with actressMilla Jovovich, then 19, during the production ofThe Fifth Element (1997).[43][44][45] "We sensed the special chemistry between us immediately at the auditions and it just intensified during the filming of the movie," said Jovovich.[45]
He married Jovovich on December 14, 1997, when he was 38 and she was 21. They divorced in 1999.[46][45]
On August 28, 2004, at age 45, Besson married film producerVirginie Silla, 32. They have three children,[47] including the actressThalia Besson.[48]
Rape allegation and definitive clearing by the courts
In 2018, Dutch-Belgian actressSand Van Roy, who appeared inValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, accused Besson of rape.[49][50][51]
The director's lawyer Thierry Marembert stated that Besson "categorically denies these fantasist accusations" and that the accuser was "someone he knows, towards whom he has never behaved inappropriately".[52][53]
In February 2019, French prosecutors dropped the case against him, citing lack of evidence.[54][50] In December 2021, a judge dismissed the case against Besson following a second investigation.[55] The public prosecutor's office in Paris stated that "the investigations clearly establish that the criminal facts of rape were not committed, that the absence of consent of the civil party is not established and the existence of a constraint, threat, violence, is not characterized".[56] In April 2022, Van Roy submitted a complaint against the magistrate in charge of the case.[57] In June 2023, Besson was definitively cleared of all charges, following a ruling by theCourt of Cassation, the highest judicial court in France. This ruling prevents Van Roy from suing him on the same charges in France or elsewhere in Europe.[58]
At the beginning of 2025, theBelgian courts (where Sand Van Roy had also filed a complaint) also ruled in favor of Luc Besson by deeming the actress's complaint inadmissible.[59]
Several other women, including a former assistant, two students ofCité du Cinéma studio, and a former employee of Besson'sEuropaCorp, who all wished to remain anonymous, described "inappropriate sexual behavior" by the director.[60] Having no physical evidence to support their stories, they did not press charges and avoided a defamation countersuit. Their stories were not used by theinvestigating judge.[61][62]
Among Besson's awards are the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film Critics Prize, Fantasporto Audience Jury Award-Special Mention, Best Director, and Best Film, forLe Dernier Combat in 1983; the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon-Best Director-Foreign Film, forLa Femme Nikita, 1990; theAlexander Korda Award for Best British Film,Nil by Mouth, 1997; and the Best Director Cesar Award, forThe Fifth Element, 1997.[34]
^Elley, Derek. "Pop pic auteur",Variety, 23 June 1997, v. 367 n. 8, pp. 44–45.
^Translated into English: "The French neo-baroques directors: Beineix, Besson, Carax from Diva to le Grand Bleu" (pp. 11–23), inThe Films of Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle (Under the direction of Susan Hayward and Phil Powrie), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007.ISBN0-7190-7028-7
^Austin, Guy (1999)Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction, Manchester University Press, pp. 119–120, 126–128.ISBN0-7190-4611-4
^Kee, Chang; Stevens, Victoria (5 May 2012). Maïwenn's "Polisse".Anthem Magazine, 5 May 2012. "Text: Kee ChangImages: Victoria Stevens". Retrieved on 20 September 2013 fromhttp://anthemmagazine.com/film-critic-maiwenns-polisse/.
