5. Nikita (La Femme Nikita)
This 1990 French-Italian action thriller Nikita is one of Luc Besson's earlier works. The film was written and directed by Besson, and the story follows a young female criminal who is spared jail in favour of being trained as an assassin. Nikita stars Anne Parillaud as the titular character, and is notable for its influential visual and stylistic aesthetics. The film is acknowledged as being part of a ground-breaking French cinematic style. Cinéma du look is attributed to Luc Besson as a filming technique which favours style over substance, and spectacle over narrative. Essentially, Cinéma du Look originated in 1980's France , and represented the marginalised youth through a crisp and smooth visual style. Luc Besson was highly influential in producing "le look". The themes of Nikita are effective producers of meanings. Doomed love, straying and wayward youth, corruption, and negative portrayal of the authorities are all present and indicative of Cinéma du look. Luc Besson essentially forged a cinematic style which can still be seen today in the likes of Paul Greengrass' Bourne Supremacy. Nikita is a brilliant film which matches a gritty realistic story with an action-thriller narrative, using an appealing cinematic style. Leading actress Anne Parillaud acknowledges the character she portrayed in the film, "For a while she was in me like a demon. I would do things I normally would not do. She was awkward, depressed, full of despair. But to me there was also a spiritual underline to Nikita. In a very excessive way she is a loudspeaker of the youth of society today. She destroys herself because she doesn't believe in anything on Earth." Nikita may be a stylish French film, but its underlying message is one that even the youth of today can relate to on certain levels.