Thursday 11 January 2007
Luc BESSON / Léon Took a Taxi to See Nikita / 91
By David Pitt, Thursday 11 January 2007 - 20:42 :: Best
As a producer and/or director, and/or writer, and even occasionally as the camera operator, he has had a string of major hits. Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue,1988) was the first, but there was also The Fifth Element (1997), Léon (The Professional, 1994), Nikita (1994), and Taxi (1998). Those just skim some of the cream from the top. As something of a child prodigy Luc Besson wrote early elements of The Fifth Element (who knows, perhaps the second and fourth?) while bored in school. After an accident at age 17 he abandoned his first dream, that of being a diver, and turned to films. In the trade his reputation is quite mixed as he has often been sued, with varying degrees of success, by associates and collaborators. His film company Europa Corp is frequently looked down on as less than professional. This might, or might not, all just be jealous carping. Certainly the public keeps him in taxi fare.
Original appearance Oct 11, 2005, © 2005 / Luc BESSON / 1959- / writer, director, actor, producer / best / A- / 91 / CIP 391, OO 08, RD 11, YP 30/3-11
It’s the James Dean story, it’s the tale of Marilyn Monroe, in France it’s the Gérard Philipe or the Coluche story. Bright stars cut down in their prime and given immortal youth – the stuff of legends. Interestingly enough he was born in Cannes, but he may have died too young to make it back. Still he managed a commemorative coin and stamp, and, in the latter case, was one of only two actors ever so honored. He was a handsome, versatile and professional thespian who was launched by the critical acclaim he garnered in the Camus play Caligula. Perhaps his best known film was Fan-Fan the Tulip (1952), where he played the peasant who marries the king’s daughter. That film did win for Christian-Jacque the Best Director award at Cannes. It was the closest Gérard Philipe ever came to returning to his birthplace professionally, but he remains a shooting star above it.
Almost literally a stones throw from where I live in the 17th is, to me, one of the very best things Paris has to offer – the Bois de Boulogne. Indeed the city offers innumerable excellent parks, gardens, fountains and squares. But this one is special. It is huge, enormous, immense. Bois is woods in French and that is what this is, in almost downtown Paris. Over 2,000 acres. Green, gorgeous green. Islands, lakes, paths (60 miles), cycling, riding, boating. The whole shebang dates from the Second Empire but was totally redesigned by Charles Alphand (1817-91). My dogs Koala and Nikita would have loved it. I do.
I haven’t been on the long hauls – the equivalents of our Greyhound and Trailways – so I can’t speak to them, though I know they exist. Here I am speaking of the RATP local bus routes within Paris. There are over 60 routes and during the day it is possible to go virtually anywhere in the city by bus, though you may have to take more than one line. Most Parisians use the Metro (subway) more often but I much prefer the busses. Except at rush hour when you get a good impression of what a sardine feels like they are pleasant and reasonably efficient. They move relatively slowly because Paris traffic is almost always congested, but this can be viewed as a benefit. Open your eyes, look out the window and take a drink of Paris. For more practical information go to 
In his first 20 years he was on the political right with Marshal Petain and the Vichy government. In his last 20 years he was on the left as a Socialist President. In between he was shifting. On his third try he was elected President in 1981. François Mitterrand is most associated with abolishing the death penalty, the Channel Tunnel, the Pyramid, the Grande Arche and moving ever closer to Germany. With Kohl he fathered the Maastricht Treaty and was often known as ‘the fox’ or ‘the sphinx’ but his critics just called him ‘god’. With shifting views, emphasis on image and endless controversy he is reminiscent of Clinton, though the other American President he is most often compared to is Nixon. Numerous scandals erupted: the Rainbow Warrior, wiretaps, health secrets, his daughter Mazarine and endless rumors. A complex and complicated man whose place in French history won’t be known for a couple of generations.
Since both France and Germany today consider him the founder of their respective countries, and, as he did renew the Western Empire with his pan-European Carolingian Renaissance, he may be a tad big to cover here. Let’s view Charlemagne with my own small boy’s eyes of half a century ago. When I was a young lad I thrilled to the Song of Roland, an old 11th century French epic poem. It concerned a rear guard battle led by Charlemagne’s nephew, the Paladin Roland. The events actually did take place in 778 in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, though a considerable amount of poetic license occurred in the epic (for example the Basque enemy became the Saracens). Roland died heroically and became a classic example of the virtues of chivalry. Roland, Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, Sitting Bull and the lone American Cowboy became my heroes. Still are. Back to Charlemagne and less prosaic matters, many of the French aristocracy do trace their ancestry directly back to him, and so did William Howard Taft.