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Betty Blue And Diva Director Jean-Jacques Beineix Passes Away At The Age Of 75
French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix who was well known for helming projects like Betty Blue and Diva in the 1980s has passed away at the age of 75 on Thursday (January 13). His brother revealed to Le Monde that the director died at his home in Paris after a prolonged illness. Beineix had started his career as an assistant director to prominent filmmakers like Rene Clement, Jerry Lewis and Claude Berri.
After directing a short film, Jean-Jacques Beineix made his debut feature movie Diva in the year 1981. The movie turned out to be a huge success and also won Caesar Award for the Best Feature film along with three more Caesar Awards in different categories. The plot of Diva revolved around a postman who gets infatuated with an American opera singer who gets into a fiasco after he tries to record her performance.
Diva was one of the most acclaimed movies to be played internationally in the 1980s and Jean-Jacques Beineix's style of filmmaking was also followed by the likes of Leos Carax and Luc Besson. A report in NeoText quoted about Diva saying, "Movies that belong to the cinéma du look movement have often been said to value style over substance, but 'Diva' manages to deliver both, at certain times flaunting its style for style's sake and at others using the how as a means of truly highlighting the equally important what."
His next movie titled Moon In The Gutter starring Nastassia Kinski and Gerard Depardieu was also much awaited in Cannes in the year 1983. The movie was based on the novel by David Goodis. However, the movie received a negative response at the festival and also tanked at the box office.
However, Jean-Jacques Beineix bounced back with Betty Blue starring Jean-Hugues Anglade and Beatrice Dalle. The movie tasted tremendous success and received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for the Best Foreign Film category and was also a huge hit in the US. However, the director's last movies namely Otaku, Loft Paradoxe, Mortal Transfer and IP5: The Island of Pachyderms did not make a great impact outside of France. Beinneix was writing a novel and a memoir during his last days.
