Jules, a young Parisian postman, secretly records a concert performance given by the opera singer Cynthia Hawkins, whom he idolises. The following day, Jules runs into a woman who is being pursued by armed thugs. Before she is killed, the woman slips an audio cassette into his mail bag...
Cinematography
Every frame could hang in a gallery. Neon-soaked perfection.
Direction
Beineix invented 'cinéma du look'—style IS substance here.
Score
Wladyslaw's Eurydice aria will haunt you for days.
Director
Jean-Jacques Beineix
Frédéric Andréi
Jules
Richard Bohringer
Gorodish
Roland Bertin
Weinstadt
Wilhelmenia Fernandez
Cynthia Hawkins
Thuy An Luu
Alba
Chantal Deruaz
Nadia
Anny Romand
Paula
Dominique Pinon
Le curé
Brigitte Lahaie
La fille dont la jupe s'envole
Gérard Darmon
L'Antillais
Jacques Fabbri
Commissaire Jean Saporta
Patrick Floersheim
Zatopek
Jean-Jacques Moreau
Krantz
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Eurydice' aria was performed by real soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez—her only film role.
Beineix's bombastic style was initially panned by French critics, then became the defining look of 1980s European cinema.
FR
