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<title>Luc Besson</title>

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Luc Besson

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</style><table class="infobox biography vcard"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above" style="font-size:125%;"><div class="fn">Luc Besson</div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><div class="infobox-caption">Besson at <a href="San_Diego_Comic-Con" title="San Diego Comic-Con">San Diego Comic-Con</a> in July 2016</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Born</th><td class="infobox-data"><div style="display:inline" class="nickname">Luc Paul Maurice Besson</div> (1959-03-18) 18 March 1959 <div style="display:inline" class="birthplace">Paris, France</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Occupations</th><td class="infobox-data role"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374">

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<ul><li>Director</li>

<li>producer</li>

<li>screenwriter</li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Years active</th><td class="infobox-data">1981–present</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Spouses</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409">

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</style></li></ul>

<div class="marriage-display-inline"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;"><a href="Anne_Parillaud" title="Anne Parillaud">Anne Parillaud</a></div>

<div class="marriage-display-inline"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;"><a href="Ma%C3%AFwenn" title="Maïwenn">Maïwenn Le Besco</a></div>

<div class="marriage-display-inline"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;"><a href="Milla_Jovovich" title="Milla Jovovich">Milla Jovovich</a></div>

<div class="marriage-display-inline"><div style="display:inline-block;line-height:normal;margin-top:1px;white-space:normal;"><a href="Virginie_Silla" class="mw-redirect" title="Virginie Silla">Virginie Silla</a> </div>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Children</th><td class="infobox-data">5, including <a href="Shanna_Besson" title="Shanna Besson">Shanna</a> and <a href="Thalia_Besson" title="Thalia Besson">Thalia</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

Luc Paul Maurice Besson (<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1177148991">

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</style>French: [lyk bɛsɔ̃]; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films <a href="Subway_(film)" title="Subway (film)">Subway</a> (1985), <a href="The_Big_Blue" title="The Big Blue">The Big Blue</a> (1988), and <a href="La_Femme_Nikita_(film)" title="La Femme Nikita (film)">La Femme Nikita</a> (1990). Associated with the <a href="Cin%C3%A9ma_du_look" title="Cinéma du look">Cinéma du look</a> film movement, he has been nominated for a <a href="C%C3%A9sar_Award" class="mw-redirect" title="César Award">César Award</a> for Best Director and Best Picture for his films <a href="L%C3%A9on%3A_The_Professional" title="Léon: The Professional">Léon: The Professional</a> (1994) and <a href="The_Messenger%3A_The_Story_of_Joan_of_Arc" title="The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc">The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc</a> (1999). He won Best Director and Best French Director for his sci-fi action film <a href="The_Fifth_Element" title="The Fifth Element">The Fifth Element</a> (1997). He wrote and directed the sci-fi action film <a href="Lucy_(2014_film)" title="Lucy (2014 film)">Lucy</a> (2014), the <a href="Space_opera" title="Space opera">space opera</a> film <a href="Valerian_and_the_City_of_a_Thousand_Planets" title="Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> (2017) and the fantasy romantic movie <a href="Dracula%3A_A_Love_Tale" title="Dracula: A Love Tale">Dracula : A Love Tale</a> (2025)

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-founded <a href="EuropaCorp" title="EuropaCorp">EuropaCorp</a> with longtime collaborator Pierre-Ange Le Pogam. As writer, director, or producer, Besson has been involved in the creation of <a href="Luc_Besson_filmography" title="Luc Besson filmography">more than 50 films</a>.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Early_life">Early life</h2></div>

Besson was born in Paris, to parents who both worked as <a href="Club_Med" title="Club Med">Club Med</a> <a href="Scuba-diving" class="mw-redirect" title="Scuba-diving">scuba-diving</a> instructors.<a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a> Influenced by this, he planned to become a <a href="Marine_biology" title="Marine biology">marine biologist</a>. He spent much of his youth traveling with his parents to tourist resorts in Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece.<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> The family returned to France when he was 10. His parents divorced, and both remarried; of this, he said:

<blockquote>"Here there is two families, and I am the only bad souvenir of something that doesn't work," he said in the <a href="International_Herald_Tribune" title="International Herald Tribune">International Herald Tribune</a>. "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."<a href="#cite_note-iht.com-3">[3]</a></blockquote>

At age 17, Besson had a diving accident that left him unable to dive.<a href="#cite_note-Hayward1-4">[4]</a> In a 2000 interview with <a href="The_Guardian" title="The Guardian">The Guardian</a>, 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."<a href="#cite_note-film.guardian.co.uk-5">[5]</a>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Career">Career</h2></div>

Besson reportedly worked on the first drafts of <a href="Le_Grand_Bleu" class="mw-redirect" title="Le Grand Bleu">Le Grand Bleu</a> (The Big Blue) while still in his teens. Out of boredom, he started writing stories, including the background to what he later developed as <a href="The_Fifth_Element" title="The Fifth Element">The Fifth Element</a> (1997), one of his most popular movies,<a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a> inspired by the <a href="Franco-Belgian_comics" class="mw-redirect" title="Franco-Belgian comics">French comic books</a> 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 including <a href="Claude_Faraldo" title="Claude Faraldo">Claude Faraldo</a> and <a href="Patrick_Grandperret" title="Patrick Grandperret">Patrick Grandperret</a>. He directed three short films, a commissioned documentary, and several commercials.<a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a> He then moved to the United States for three years, but returned to Paris, where he formed his own production company. He first named it Les Films du Loup, then changed it to Les Films du Dauphin.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Cinéma_du_look">Cinéma du look</h3></div>

Critics such as Raphaël Bassan and Guy Austin cite Besson as a pivotal figure in the <a href="Cinema_du_look" class="mw-redirect" title="Cinema du look">Cinéma du look</a> movement—a specific, highly visual style produced from the 1980s into the early 1990s. His early films <a href="Subway_(film)" title="Subway (film)">Subway</a> (1985), <a href="The_Big_Blue" title="The Big Blue">The Big Blue</a> (1988) and <a href="La_Femme_Nikita_(film)" title="La Femme Nikita (film)">La Femme Nikita</a> (1990) are all considered of this stylistic school.

The term was coined by critic <a href="Rapha%C3%ABl_Bassan" title="Raphaël Bassan">Raphaël Bassan</a> in a 1989 essay in La Revue du Cinema n° 449.<a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a> A partisan of the experimental cinema and friend of <a href="French_New_Wave" title="French New Wave">New Wave</a> ("<a href="Nouvelle_vague" class="mw-redirect" title="Nouvelle vague">nouvelle vague</a>") directors, Bassan grouped Besson with <a href="Jean-Jacques_Beineix" title="Jean-Jacques Beineix">Jean-Jacques Beineix</a> and <a href="Leos_Carax" title="Leos Carax">Leos Carax</a> 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".<a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a>

Besson, and most of the filmmakers so categorised, were uncomfortable with the label. He contrasted their work with France's <a href="French_New_Wave" title="French New Wave">New Wave</a>. "<a href="Jean-Luc_Godard" title="Jean-Luc Godard">Jean-Luc Godard</a> and <a href="Fran%C3%A7ois_Truffaut" title="François Truffaut">François Truffaut</a> 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 in The 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."<a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Popular_success">Popular success</h3></div>

Many of Besson's films have achieved popular, if not always critical, success. Reviews were mixed for <a href="Le_Grand_Bleu" class="mw-redirect" title="Le Grand Bleu">Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue)</a>. <a href="Kevin_Thomas_(film_critic)" title="Kevin Thomas (film critic)">Kevin Thomas</a> of the <a href="Los_Angeles_Times" title="Los Angeles Times">Los Angeles Times</a> wrote that the movie was "too long and initially awkward but is clearly the work of a visionary."<a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

<blockquote>"When the film had its premiere on opening night at the <a href="1988_Cannes_Film_Festival" title="1988 Cannes Film Festival">1988 Cannes Film Festival</a>, it was mercilessly drubbed, but no matter; it was a smash," observed the <a href="International_Herald_Tribune" title="International Herald Tribune">International Herald Tribune</a> 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."<a href="#cite_note-iht.com-3">[3]</a></blockquote>

Besson's La Femme Nikita (1990) is one of his earliest action films, and Besson went on to write and produce numerous films in this genre, including the <a href="Taxi_(1998_film)" title="Taxi (1998 film)">Taxi</a> series (1998–2007), the <a href="The_Transporter" title="The Transporter">Transporter</a> series (2002–2008), and the <a href="Jet_Li" title="Jet Li">Jet Li</a> films <a href="Kiss_of_the_Dragon" title="Kiss of the Dragon">Kiss of the Dragon</a> and <a href="Unleashed_(2005_film)" title="Unleashed (2005 film)">Unleashed</a>. He also worked on <a href="Lockout_(film)" title="Lockout (film)">Lockout</a> (2012).<a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

From 2002 to 2005 Besson created the hugely successful <a href="Arthur_series_(Besson)" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthur series (Besson)">Arthur series</a> of children's fantasy novels, which comprises Arthur and the Minimoys, Arthur and the Forbidden City, <a href="Arthur_and_the_Vengeance_of_Maltazard" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard">Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard</a> and Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds.<a href="#cite_note-:4-13">[13]</a> He directed <a href="Arthur_and_the_Invisibles" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthur and the Invisibles">Arthur and the Invisibles</a> (2006), a feature film adaptation of the first two books of the collection, starring <a href="Madonna" title="Madonna">Madonna</a> and <a href="Robert_De_Niro" title="Robert De Niro">Robert DeNiro</a>.<a href="#cite_note-:3-14">[14]</a> Combining <a href="Films_with_live_action_and_animation" class="mw-redirect" title="Films with live action and animation">live action and animation</a>, it was released in the UK and the US, as well as in France.<a href="#cite_note-:3-14">[14]</a><a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a><a href="#cite_note-:4-13">[13]</a>

His English-language films <a href="Taken_(film)" title="Taken (film)">Taken</a>, <a href="Taken_2" title="Taken 2">Taken 2</a>, and <a href="Taken_3" title="Taken 3">Taken 3</a> have been major successes; Taken 2 became the largest-grossing export French film.<a href="#cite_note-16">[16]</a> Besson produced the promotional movie for the <a href="Paris_2012_Olympic_bid" class="mw-redirect" title="Paris 2012 Olympic bid">Paris 2012 Olympic bid</a>.<a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Studio_ambitions_and_failures">Studio ambitions and failures</h3></div>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="EuropaCorp" title="EuropaCorp">EuropaCorp</a></div>

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 with <a href="Gaumont_Film_Company" class="mw-redirect" title="Gaumont Film Company">Gaumont</a>.

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 the <a href="Leading_actor" title="Leading actor">lead role</a>. EuropaCorp went public in 2006 to finance, with the help of the State, its own studios at the <a href="Cit%C3%A9_du_Cin%C3%A9ma" title="Cité du Cinéma">Cité du Cinéma</a>. It also sought financing and distribution partnerships in Japan and China.

By 2011, when he directed a biopic of <a href="Aung_San_Suu_Kyi" title="Aung San Suu Kyi">Aung San Suu Kyi</a> called <a href="The_Lady_(2011_film)" title="The Lady (2011 film)">The Lady</a> (original title Dans 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.<a href="#cite_note-18">[18]</a>

The film was a departure from Besson's favoured directorial genres, and from his preference to write the films he directs; the screenwriter was <a href="Rebecca_Frayn" title="Rebecca Frayn">Rebecca Frayn</a>. Western critics singled out Besson's direction for negative comments; <a href="Roger_Ebert" title="Roger Ebert">Roger Ebert</a> said: "Perhaps, given his strengths in genre films, he should have chosen not to direct this one…"<a href="#cite_note-19">[19]</a>

After several failures, Besson returned to creative form and to international success with <a href="Lucy_(2014_film)" title="Lucy (2014 film)">Lucy</a> (2014), which became the world's most successful French feature film, earning $469 million worldwide, superseding the previous record holder <a href="The_Intouchables" title="The Intouchables">The Intouchables</a> ($426 million).<a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a><a href="#cite_note-21">[21]</a>

The blockbuster <a href="Valerian_and_the_City_of_a_Thousand_Planets" title="Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> (2017) had a budget of around $180 million, making it both the most expensive European and the most expensive <a href="Independent_film" title="Independent film">independent film</a> ever made.<a href="#cite_note-22">[22]</a> 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, <a href="Anna_(2019_feature_film)" title="Anna (2019 feature film)">Anna</a> (2019), placing his company in near bankruptcy and forcing him to sell it to a creditor and then close the free, no-degree-required <a class="external text external" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_de_la_Cit%C3%A9">school for screenwriters and directors</a> that he had founded in 2012.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Recent_work">Recent work</h3></div>

Besson's film June & John (2025) was shot <a href="Guerrilla_filmmaking" title="Guerrilla filmmaking">guerrilla-style</a> in Los Angeles in 2020, during the <a href="Covid-19_pandemic" class="mw-redirect" title="Covid-19 pandemic">Covid-19 pandemic</a>. 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. <a href="#cite_note-23">[23]</a>

He told Deadline: "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."<a href="#cite_note-24">[24]</a>

In 2022, Besson experimented with another kind of filmmaking when he shot <a href="Dogman_(2023_film)" title="Dogman (2023 film)">Dogman</a> (2023) in a <a href="Virtual_production" class="mw-redirect" title="Virtual production">virtual production</a> facility in France, as well as on location in New Jersey.

Dogman was selected to compete for the <a href="Golden_Lion" title="Golden Lion">Golden Lion</a> at the <a href="80th_Venice_International_Film_Festival" title="80th Venice International Film Festival">80th Venice International Film Festival</a>,<a href="#cite_note-25">[25]</a><a href="#cite_note-26">[26]</a> where it had its world premiere on 31 August 2023.<a href="#cite_note-labiennale-27">[27]</a> It was released in French cinemas on 27 September 2023 by Apollo Films Distribution and <a href="EuropaCorp_Distribution" class="mw-redirect" title="EuropaCorp Distribution">EuropaCorp Distribution</a>,<a href="#cite_note-28">[28]</a> and had mixed reviews: at <a href="Rotten_Tomatoes" title="Rotten Tomatoes">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 71 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10;<a href="#cite_note-29">[29]</a> while <a href="Metacritic" title="Metacritic">Metacritic</a>, which uses a <a href="Weighted_arithmetic_mean" title="Weighted arithmetic mean">weighted average</a>, assigned the film a score of 45 out of 100 from 23 critics.<a href="#cite_note-30">[30]</a>

In summer 2024, Besson directed <a href="Dracula%3A_A_Love_Tale" title="Dracula: A Love Tale">Dracula: A Love Tale</a>, an adaptation of <a href="Dracula" title="Dracula">Dracula</a> starring <a href="Caleb_Landry_Jones" title="Caleb Landry Jones">Caleb Landry Jones</a> and featuring <a href="Christoph_Waltz" title="Christoph Waltz">Christophe Waltz</a>.<a href="#cite_note-31">[31]</a> As of April 2025, the film is still in post-production, but is set for a July 2025 release.

In 2025 Besson was announced as the director of The Last Man, a post-apocalyptic science fiction film starring rapper <a href="Snoop_Dogg" title="Snoop Dogg">Snoop Dogg</a>.

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Regular_collaborators">Regular collaborators</h3></div>

In the early 1980s, Besson met <a href="%C3%89ric_Serra" title="Éric Serra">Éric Serra</a> and asked him to compose the score for his first short film, L'Avant dernier. He subsequently had Serra compose for other films.

French actor <a href="Jean_Reno" title="Jean Reno">Jean Reno</a> has appeared in several films by Besson, including <a href="Le_dernier_combat" class="mw-redirect" title="Le dernier combat">Le dernier combat</a> (1983),<a href="#cite_note-32">[32]</a> <a href="Subway_(film)" title="Subway (film)">Subway</a> (1985),<a href="#cite_note-33">[33]</a><a href="#cite_note-:0-34">[34]</a> <a href="The_Big_Blue" title="The Big Blue">The Big Blue</a> (1988),<a href="#cite_note-35">[35]</a> <a href="La_Femme_Nikita_(film)" title="La Femme Nikita (film)">La Femme Nikita</a> (1990), and <a href="L%C3%A9on%3A_The_Professional" title="Léon: The Professional">Léon: The Professional</a> (1994).<a href="#cite_note-:0-34">[34]</a>

Besson directed and co-wrote the screenplay of his science fiction thriller The Fifth Element (1997) with American screenwriter <a href="Robert_Mark_Kamen" title="Robert Mark Kamen">Robert Mark Kamen</a>.<a href="#cite_note-Luc_Besson_2000-36">[36]</a>

He later collaborated with Kamen on the <a href="The_Transporter" title="The Transporter">Transporter</a> action series (2002–2008), and they co-wrote <a href="Taken_(film)" title="Taken (film)">Taken</a> (2008), <a href="Taken_2" title="Taken 2">Taken 2</a> (2012), and <a href="Taken_3" title="Taken 3">Taken 3</a> (2014), which all starred <a href="Liam_Neeson" title="Liam Neeson">Liam Neeson</a>.

In 2024, Besson mentioned his "fascination" with American actor <a href="Caleb_Landry_Jones" title="Caleb Landry Jones">Caleb Landry Jones</a> after working with him on DogMan: "We got on so well on DogMan 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."<a href="#cite_note-37">[37]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Critical_evaluation">Critical evaluation</h3></div>

Besson has been described as "the most Hollywood of French filmmakers".<a href="#cite_note-38">[38]</a> Scott Tobias wrote that his "slick, commercial" action movies were "so interchangeable—drugs, sleaze, chuckling <a href="Supervillain" title="Supervillain">supervillainy</a>, and <a href="Hong_Kong_cinema" class="mw-redirect" title="Hong Kong cinema">Hong Kong</a>-style effects—that each new project probably starts with <a href="Wite-Out" title="Wite-Out">white-out</a> on the title page."<a href="#cite_note-39">[39]</a>

American film critic <a href="Armond_White" title="Armond White">Armond White</a> 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".<a href="#cite_note-40">[40]</a>

In 2012, film critic Eric Kohn wrote in <a href="IndieWire" title="IndieWire">Indiewire</a>: "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."<a href="#cite_note-41">[41]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Personal_life">Personal life</h2></div>

Besson has been married four times; first, in 1986, to actress <a href="Anne_Parillaud" title="Anne Parillaud">Anne Parillaud</a>. They had a daughter, Juliette, born in 1987. Parillaud starred in Besson's <a href="La_Femme_Nikita_(film)" title="La Femme Nikita (film)">La Femme Nikita</a> (1990). They divorced in 1991.<a href="#cite_note-42">[42]</a>

Besson's second wife was actress and director <a href="Ma%C3%AFwenn" title="Maïwenn">Maïwenn Le Besco</a>, whom he started dating when he was 32 and she was 15 after having met 3 years earlier.<a href="#cite_note-LeonDVDExtras-43">[43]</a> They married in late 1992 when Le Besco, 16, was pregnant with their daughter <a href="Shanna_Besson" title="Shanna Besson">Shanna</a>, who was born on 3 January 1993.<a href="#cite_note-44">[44]</a> Le Besco later claimed that their relationship inspired Besson's film <a href="L%C3%A9on%3A_The_Professional" title="Léon: The Professional">Léon</a> (1994), where the plot involved the emotional relationship between an adult man and a 12-year-old girl (played by then 12-year-old <a href="Natalie_Portman" title="Natalie Portman">Natalie Portman</a>).<a href="#cite_note-LeonDVDExtras-43">[43]</a> Their marriage ended in 1997, when Besson became involved with actress <a href="Milla_Jovovich" title="Milla Jovovich">Milla Jovovich</a>, then 19, during the production of <a href="The_Fifth_Element" title="The Fifth Element">The Fifth Element</a> (1997).<a href="#cite_note-45">[45]</a><a href="#cite_note-46">[46]</a><a href="#cite_note-:1-47">[47]</a> "We sensed the special chemistry between us immediately at the auditions and it just intensified during the filming of the movie," said Jovovich.<a href="#cite_note-:1-47">[47]</a>

He married Jovovich on December 14, 1997, when he was 38 and she was 21. They divorced in 1999.<a href="#cite_note-48">[48]</a><a href="#cite_note-:1-47">[47]</a>

On August 28, 2004, at age 45, Besson married film producer <a href="Virginie_Silla" class="mw-redirect" title="Virginie Silla">Virginie Silla</a>, 32. They have three children,<a href="#cite_note-karenr-49">[49]</a> including the actress <a href="Thalia_Besson" title="Thalia Besson">Thalia Besson</a>.<a href="#cite_note-50">[50]</a>

Since 2025, he is in relationship with lawyer Sarah Saldmann,<a href="#cite_note-51">[51]</a> thirty-two years<a href="#cite_note-52">[52]</a> younger than him.<a href="#cite_note-53">[53]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Rape_accusation">Rape accusation</h3></div>

In 2018, Dutch-Belgian actress <a href="Sand_Van_Roy" title="Sand Van Roy">Sand Van Roy</a>, who appeared in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, accused Besson of rape.<a href="#cite_note-54">[54]</a><a href="#cite_note-:2-55">[55]</a><a href="#cite_note-56">[56]</a>

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".<a href="#cite_note-57">[57]</a><a href="#cite_note-58">[58]</a>

In February 2019, French prosecutors dropped the case against him, citing lack of evidence.<a href="#cite_note-59">[59]</a><a href="#cite_note-:2-55">[55]</a> In December 2021, a judge dismissed the case against Besson following a second investigation.<a href="#cite_note-60">[60]</a> 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".<a href="#cite_note-61">[61]</a> In April 2022, Van Roy submitted a complaint against the magistrate in charge of the case.<a href="#cite_note-62">[62]</a> In June 2023, Besson was definitively cleared of all charges, following a ruling by the <a href="Court_of_Cassation_(France)" title="Court of Cassation (France)">Court of Cassation</a>, the highest judicial court in France. This ruling prevents Van Roy from suing him on the same charges in France or elsewhere in Europe.<a href="#cite_note-63">[63]</a>

Several other women, including a former assistant, two students of <a href="Cit%C3%A9_du_Cin%C3%A9ma" title="Cité du Cinéma">Cité du Cinéma</a> studio, and a former employee of Besson's <a href="EuropaCorp" title="EuropaCorp">EuropaCorp</a>, who all wished to remain anonymous, described "inappropriate sexual behavior" by the director.<a href="#cite_note-64">[64]</a> Having no physical evidence to support their stories, they did not press charges and avoided a defamation countersuit. Their stories were not used by the <a href="Investigating_judge_(France)" title="Investigating judge (France)">investigating judge</a>.<a href="#cite_note-65">[65]</a><a href="#cite_note-66">[66]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Selected_filmography">Selected filmography</h2></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Luc_Besson_filmography" title="Luc Besson filmography">Luc Besson filmography</a></div>

Directed features

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<ul><li><a href="Le_Dernier_Combat" title="Le Dernier Combat">Le Dernier Combat</a> (1983)</li>

<li><a href="Subway_(film)" title="Subway (film)">Subway</a> (1985)</li>

<li><a href="La_Femme_Nikita_(film)" title="La Femme Nikita (film)">La Femme Nikita</a> (1990)</li>

<li><a href="Atlantis_(1991_film)" title="Atlantis (1991 film)">Atlantis</a> (1991)</li>

<li><a href="L%C3%A9on%3A_The_Professional" title="Léon: The Professional">Léon: The Professional</a> (1994)</li>

<li><a href="The_Fifth_Element" title="The Fifth Element">The Fifth Element</a> (1997)</li>

<li><a href="The_Messenger%3A_The_Story_of_Joan_of_Arc" title="The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc">The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc</a> (1999)</li>

<li><a href="Angel-A" title="Angel-A">Angel-A</a> (2005)</li>

<li><a href="Arthur_and_the_Minimoys_(film)" class="mw-redirect" title="Arthur and the Minimoys (film)">Arthur and the Minimoys</a> (2006)</li>

<li><a href="Arthur_and_the_Revenge_of_Maltazard" title="Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard">Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard</a> (2009)</li>

<li><a href="The_Extraordinary_Adventures_of_Ad%C3%A8le_Blanc-Sec_(film)" title="The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (film)">The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec</a> (2010)</li>

<li><a href="Arthur_3%3A_The_War_of_the_Two_Worlds" title="Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds">Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds</a> (2010)</li>

<li><a href="The_Family_(2013_film)" title="The Family (2013 film)">The Family</a> (2013)</li>

<li><a href="Valerian_and_the_City_of_a_Thousand_Planets" title="Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets">Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets</a> (2017)</li>

<li><a href="Dogman_(2023_film)" title="Dogman (2023 film)">Dogman</a> (2023)</li>

<li><a href="Dracula%3A_A_Love_Tale" title="Dracula: A Love Tale">Dracula: A Love Tale</a> (2025)<a href="#cite_note-67">[67]</a></li></ul></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Legacy_and_honours">Legacy and honours</h2></div>

Besson won the <a href="Lumi%C3%A8re_Award_for_Best_Director" title="Lumière Award for Best Director">Lumière Award for Best Director</a><a href="#cite_note-68">[68]</a> and the <a href="C%C3%A9sar_Award_for_Best_Director" title="César Award for Best Director">César Award for Best Director</a>, for his film <a href="The_Fifth_Element" title="The Fifth Element">The Fifth Element</a> (1997).<a href="#cite_note-69">[69]</a> He was nominated for Best Director and <a href="Cesar_Award_for_Best_Picture" class="mw-redirect" title="Cesar Award for Best Picture">Best Picture</a> <a href="C%C3%A9sar_Award" class="mw-redirect" title="César Award">César Awards</a> for his films <a href="L%C3%A9on%3A_The_Professional" title="Léon: The Professional">Léon: The Professional</a> (1994)<a href="#cite_note-70">[70]</a> and <a href="The_Messenger%3A_The_Story_of_Joan_of_Arc" title="The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc">The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc</a> (1999).<a href="#cite_note-71">[71]</a>

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, for Le Dernier Combat in 1983; the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon-Best Director-Foreign Film, for La Femme Nikita, 1990; the <a href="Alexander_Korda" title="Alexander Korda">Alexander Korda</a> Award for Best British Film, Nil by Mouth, 1997; and the Best Director Cesar Award, for The Fifth Element, 1997.<a href="#cite_note-Luc_Besson_2000-36">[36]</a>

Besson was awarded the <a href="Inkpot_Award" title="Inkpot Award">Inkpot Award</a> in 2016.<a href="#cite_note-72">[72]</a>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Music_videos">Music videos</h2></div>

<ul><li>"Pull Marine": <a href="Isabelle_Adjani" title="Isabelle Adjani">Isabelle Adjani</a> (1983)</li>

<li>"<a href="Mon_l%C3%A9gionnaire" title="Mon légionnaire">Mon légionnaire</a>": <a href="Serge_Gainsbourg" title="Serge Gainsbourg">Serge Gainsbourg</a> (1988)</li>

<li>"<a href="Que_mon_c%C5%93ur_l%C3%A2che" title="Que mon cœur lâche">Que mon cœur lâche</a>": <a href="Myl%C3%A8ne_Farmer" title="Mylène Farmer">Mylène Farmer</a> (1992)</li>

<li>"<a href="Love_Profusion" title="Love Profusion">Love Profusion</a>": <a href="Madonna" title="Madonna">Madonna</a> (2003)</li>

<li>"<a href="Valerian_and_the_City_of_a_Thousand_Planets#Soundtrack" title="Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets">I Feel Everything</a>": <a href="Cara_Delevingne" title="Cara Delevingne">Cara Delevingne</a> (2017)</li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/20120712054957/http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/B/Besson_Luc/2007/01/09/3255743.html">Luc Besson on 'Arthur And The Invisibles'</a> – CANOE

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a> "Luc Besson", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2008.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-iht.com-3">^ <a href="#cite_ref-iht.com_3-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-iht.com_3-1">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/20/arts/20besson.php">"Luc Besson: The most Hollywood of French filmmakers"</a>, International Herald Tribune, 20 May 2007

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</style><cite id="CITEREFHayward1998" class="citation book cs1">Hayward, Susan (1998). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NRs9hlrjMnwC&pg=PA42">Luc Besson</a>. Manchester: Manchester university press. p. 42. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-7190-5076-3</bdi>. Retrieved 6 September 2011.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-film.guardian.co.uk-5"><a href="#cite_ref-film.guardian.co.uk_5-0">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/mar/23/guardianinterviewsatbfisouthbank1">Luc Besson interviewed by Richard Jobson</a> The Guardian; accessed 20 July 2018.

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<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://zakka.dk/euroscreenwriters/interviews/luc_besson_514.htm">Interviews with European Film Directors – Luc Besson</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.today/20120524211045/http://zakka.dk/euroscreenwriters/interviews/luc_besson_514.htm">Archived</a> 24 May 2012 at <a href="Archive.today" title="Archive.today">archive.today</a> EuroScreenwriters

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<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a> Elley, Derek. "Pop pic auteur", Variety, 23 June 1997, v. 367 n. 8, pp. 44–45.

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a> Translated into English: "The French neo-baroques directors: Beineix, Besson, Carax from Diva to le Grand Bleu" (pp. 11–23), in The Films of Luc Besson: Master of Spectacle (Under the direction of Susan Hayward and Phil Powrie), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-7190-7028-7</bdi>

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<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a> Austin, Guy (1999) Contemporary French Cinema: An Introduction, Manchester University Press, pp. 119–120, 126–128. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-7190-4611-4</bdi>

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<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a> Tremblay, Anne (21 July 1985) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/movies/france-breeds-a-new-crop-of-auteurs.html">"France Breeds a New Crop of Auteurs"</a>, The New York Times,.

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<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFThomas2000" class="citation web cs1">Thomas, Kevin (28 July 2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jul-28-ca-60400-story.html">"Besson's Restored 'Big Blue' Proves Mystical, Intriguing"</a>. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 August 2024.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a> Sobel, Ian (9 June 2011) <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/looper-anonymous-and-lockout-do-the-release-date-shuffle/">"‘Looper’, ‘Anonymous’, And ‘Lockout’ Do The Release Date Shuffle'"</a>, Screenjunkies.com.

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<li id="cite_note-:4-13">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:4_13-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:4_13-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFWolf2007" class="citation news cs1">Wolf, Jaime (20 May 2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/arts/20iht-20besson.5796788.html">"Luc Besson: The most Hollywood of French filmmakers"</a>. The New York Times. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331">0362-4331</a>. Retrieved 1 August 2024.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-:3-14">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:3_14-0">a</a> <a href="#cite_ref-:3_14-1">b</a> <cite id="CITEREFGenzlinger2007" class="citation news cs1">Genzlinger, Neil (12 January 2007). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/movies/12art.html">"The Human and the Animated, Shrunk to Size"</a>. The New York Times. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331">0362-4331</a>. Retrieved 1 August 2024.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/01/29/arthur_and_the_invisibles_2007_review.shtml">"BBC - Movies - review - Arthur And The Invisibles"</a>. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2024.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-16"><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFHopewell2010" class="citation web cs1">Hopewell, John (15 January 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://variety.com/2010/biz/news/taken-leads-french-film-exports-1118013865/">"'Taken' leads French film exports"</a>. Variety. Retrieved 1 August 2024.</cite>

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<li id="cite_note-67"><a href="#cite_ref-67">^</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://collider.com/luc-besson-dracula-update/">Luc Besson's 'Dracula' Movie Has Already Begun Production [Exclusive</a>]

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<li id="cite_note-68"><a href="#cite_ref-68">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140112160411/http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-12302/palmares/">"Le Cinquième élément"</a> [The Fifth Element]. <a href="AlloCin%C3%A9" title="AlloCiné">AlloCiné</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-12302/palmares/">the original</a> on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2015.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-69"><a href="#cite_ref-69">^</a> <cite id="CITEREFWilliams1998" class="citation web cs1">Williams, Michael (1 March 1998). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141225145633/http://variety.com/1998/film/news/resnais-seizes-7-cesars-1117468216/">"Resnais seizes 7 Cesars"</a>. <a href="Variety_(magazine)" title="Variety (magazine)">Variety</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://variety.com/1998/film/news/resnais-seizes-7-cesars-1117468216/">the original</a> on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2015.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-70"><a href="#cite_ref-70">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.allocine.fr/festivals/festival-128/edition-18353028/palmares/">"Prix et nominations : César 1995"</a> [Awards and Nominations: César 1995]. <a href="AlloCin%C3%A9" title="AlloCiné">AlloCiné</a>. Retrieved 24 May 2019.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-71"><a href="#cite_ref-71">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.allocine.fr/festivals/festival-128/edition-18352983/palmares/">"Prix et nominations : César 2000"</a> [Awards and Nominations: César 2000]. <a href="AlloCin%C3%A9" title="AlloCiné">AlloCiné</a>. Retrieved 24 May 2019.</cite>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-72"><a href="#cite_ref-72">^</a> <cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot">"Inkpot Award"</a>. 6 December 2012.</cite>

</li>

</ol></div></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikiquote has quotations related to <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Special:Search/Luc_Besson" class="extiw external" title="q:Special:Search/Luc Besson">Luc Besson</a>.</div></div>

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<div class="side-box-text plainlist">Wikimedia Commons has media related to <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Luc_Besson" class="extiw external" title="commons:Category:Luc Besson">Luc Besson</a>.</div></div>

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<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000108/">Luc Besson</a> at <a href="IMDb_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="IMDb (identifier)">IMDb</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070915052539/http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12003.html">Luc Besson Interview, Angel-A</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070928081940/http://www.jewreview.net/article.php?id=1394">JewReview.net video interview with Luc Besson and Rie Rasmussen about Angel-A</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://film.guardian.co.uk/Guardian_NFT/interview/0,,153490,00.html">In-depth interview with Luc Besson</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hellisforhyphenates.com/blog/2014/02/28/february-2014/">The films of Luc Besson</a>, Hell Is for Hyphenates, 28 February 2014</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.unifrance.org/directories/company/69475/les-films-du-loup">Les Films du Loup (France)</a>—<a href="UniFrance_Films" class="mw-redirect" title="UniFrance Films">uniFrance Films</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.unifrance.org/directories/company/306772/les-films-du-dauphin">Les Films du Dauphin</a> – <a href="UniFrance_Films" class="mw-redirect" title="UniFrance Films">uniFrance Films</a></li></ul>

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<ul><li><a href="Luc_Besson_filmography" title="Luc Besson filmography">Filmography</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Films</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Directed</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">