FantasyScience FictionAdventure

The City of Lost Children

- Where happily ever after is just a dream.

A scientist in a surrealist society kidnaps children to steal their dreams, hoping that they slow his aging process.

Release Date : 1995-05-17

Language :CantoneseFrench

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : ConstellationLumière PicturesLe Studio Canal+France 3 CinémaElías Querejeta PCTele München

Production Country : FranceGermanySpainUnited Kingdom

Alternative Titles : The City of the Lost ChildrenThe City of Lost Children

Cast

Character Name : One

Original Name : Ron Perlman

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Diver / The Clones

Original Name : Dominique Pinon

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miette

Original Name : Judith Vittet

Gender : Male

Character Name : Krank

Original Name : Daniel Emilfork

Gender : Male

Character Name : Marcello

Original Name : Jean-Claude Dreyfus

Gender : Male

Character Name : The Octopus

Original Name : Geneviève Brunet

Gender : Female

Character Name : The Octopus

Original Name : Odile Mallet

Gender : Female

Character Name : Miss Bismuth

Original Name : Mireille Mossé

Gender : Male

Character Name : Gabriel Marie

Original Name : Serge Merlin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Peeler

Original Name : Rufus

Gender : Male

Character Name : Ex-Acrobat

Original Name : Ticky Holgado

Gender : Male

Character Name : Father

Original Name : Cris Huerta

Gender : Male

Character Name : L'oncle Irvin (voice)

Original Name : Jean-Louis Trintignant

Gender : Male

Character Name : Denree

Original Name : Joseph Lucien

Gender : Male

Character Name : Lune

Original Name : Mapi Galán

Gender : Female

Character Name : Bottle

Original Name : Briac Barthélémy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Pipo

Original Name : Pierre-Quentin Faesch

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tadpole

Original Name : Alexis Pivot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Killer

Original Name : François Hadji-Lazaro

Gender : Male

Character Name : Bogdan

Original Name : Dominique Bettenfeld

Gender : Male

Character Name : Melchior

Original Name : Lotfi Yahya Jedidi

Gender : Male

Character Name : Brutus

Original Name : Thierry Gibault

Gender : Male

Character Name : Brother Ange-Joseph

Original Name : Marc Caro

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tattoo Artist

Original Name : Ham-Chau Luong

Gender : Male

Character Name : Barmaid

Original Name : Frankie Pain

Gender : Female

Character Name : Spainard

Original Name : Enrique Villanueva

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tied-up Guard

Original Name : Dominique Chevalier

Gender : Male

Character Name : Woman at Her Window

Original Name : Lorella Cravotta

Gender : Female

Character Name : Soldier

Original Name : Éric Houzelot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Double Clones

Original Name : Philippe Beautier

Gender : Male

Character Name : Double Clones #2

Original Name : Marc Amyot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Double Clones

Original Name : Jean-Philippe Labadie

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miette, Age

Original Name : Raphaèle Bouchard

Gender : Female

Character Name : Miette, Age 37

Original Name : Elisabeth Etienne

Gender : Female

Character Name : Miette, Age 43

Original Name : Rachel Boulenger

Gender : Male

Character Name : Krank, Age 45

Original Name : Michel Motu

Gender : Male

Character Name : Miette, Age 82

Original Name : Nane Germon

Gender : Female

Character Name : Jeannot

Original Name : Léo Rubion

Gender : Male

Character Name : Child

Original Name : Guillaume Billod-Morel

Gender : Male

Character Name : Helmsman

Original Name : Bezak

Gender : Male

Character Name : Tattoo Artist's Wife

Original Name : Hong Mai Thomas

Gender : Female

Character Name : Glazier

Original Name : René Pivot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Cyclops

Original Name : Daniel Adric

Gender : Male

Character Name : Soldier

Original Name : Christophe Salengro

Gender : Male

Character Name : Captain

Original Name : René Marquant

Gender : Male

Character Name : Awake Tramp

Original Name : Michel Smolianoff

Gender : Male

Character Name : Winner

Original Name : Lili Cognard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Angélique Philibert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Marie Piémontèse

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Antoinette Dias

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Zak Russomanno

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Djamila Bouda

Gender : Male

Character Name : Stripper

Original Name : Lauren Geoffroy

Gender : Male

Character Name : Double Clones #4

Original Name : Cyril Aubin

Gender : Male

Character Name : Double Clones #5

Original Name : Bruno Journée

Gender : Male

Character Name : Krank, Age 12

Original Name : Jérémie Freund

Gender : Male

Character Name : Krank, Age 36

Original Name : Joris Geneste

Gender : Male

Character Name : Child

Original Name : Julie Bernard

Gender : Male

Character Name : Child

Original Name : Valentin Simonet

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Eglantine Blanckaert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Gaëtan Bouyala

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Mickael Bussinger

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Jonathan Gatinois

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Joshka Kaufmann

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Morgan Mariac

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Caroline Marsily

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Geoffroy Morange

Gender : Male

Character Name : Schoolchild

Original Name : Sébastien Thaissart

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Charlotte Bienfait

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Camille Dufeu

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Robinson Fouille

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Alysia Hoffeurt

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Sandy Kontargyris

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Andrew Laupen

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Théo Madueno

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Arthur Mazet

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Fackry M'Saidie

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Gabriel Pierre

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Bérangère Pivot

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Charlotte Ribaud-Chevrey

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Laura Robert

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Caroline Rochand

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Carolane Yvan

Gender : Male

Character Name : Baby

Original Name : Margot Tostivint

Gender : Male

Character Name : Krank, Age 4

Original Name : Buster Verbraeken

Gender : Male

Character Name : Man on the Street (uncredited)

Original Name : Mathieu Kassovitz

Gender : Male

Reviews

Filipe Manuel Neto

@FilipeManuelNeto

2023-06-01

**A visual spectacle with an irritating story that doesn't justify the time spent watching the film.** I loved – like almost everyone else – “Amelie” and I didn't particularly like “Delicatessen”. However, I didn't give up on Jean Pierre Jeunet and decided to see this film. I confess that I was impressed by the visual quality, but this is practically a trademark of the director, who seems to have a particular predilection for the color green (it was quite evident in Amelie, and in this film it was once again the dominant color of the chromatic palette). However, it returns to being, as “Delicatessen” had been, a rather strange, depressing and bizarre film. More bizarre than some Tim Burton movies, which isn't easy. In view of what has been described above, I think it will not be surprising if I say that it is a film that is basically based on visual and special resources. There's immense visual effort here, and there's no doubt that Jeunet is behind it. The cinematography is very good, with an excellent filming work, and the sets deserve our attention. The costumes were designed by Jean Paul Gautier, so they're practically haute couture (with all the oddities that usually implies) and the soundtrack does a good job, too. The cast is quite complete, and the characters are complicated and difficult to understand. I can even say that some characters look like caricatures or things out of Coney Island, from some freak show. I liked, however, the effort made here by Dominique Pinon, one of the great French actors of our time. He doesn't play just one character, but a legion of clones. I also liked Ron Perlman, he's good for this type of film, but honestly, I feel that the actor wasn't comfortable either with his role or with the material he was given. I don't know to what extent the language barrier was actually the cause of that, but it was the feeling I got. The film is, essentially, a depressing and decadent futuristic dystopia, where a long-deranged scientist kidnaps children to steal their dreams. The basis of the plot is somewhat reminiscent of “The Island of Dr. Moreau”. Then we have a duo of Siamese twins who make up the main villains, and behave in an absolutely bizarre way, and a strong man who decides to go in search of his younger brother, kidnapped like many others, in the company of a girl who will help you. However, everything else is extraordinarily complicated. It seems that the script didn't get the attention it deserved: there are parts that are very underwritten, points that don't make any sense, strange twists that seem to happen just to make everything even more strange and out of the ordinary. As a story told, it's an irritating and worthless movie.

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-04-07

The basic premiss of this film is really quite simple. "Krank" (Daniel Emilfork) is super-bright, slightly deranged and lonely. He lives on a remote oil rig with only whom he can manufacture for companionship. His biggest problem is that he cannot dream. Without them he will die. He must, therefore, obtain as many other people's dreams as he can. To that end he constructs an entire community of one-eyed servants, a brain that lives in tank feeding on Alka Seltzer and some clones that are all led by the diminutively menacing "Martha" (Mireille Mossé). This "family" might have made "Dr. Moreau" proud. He hopes that they will help to collect enough kids to perpetuate his immortality. The thing is, all those he does manage to collect are nightmares because the children he kidnaps are all petrified of him. He needs some nice ones! Meantime, his army of robotic creations alight on "Denree" (Joseph Lucien) without reckoning on his determined strongman brother "One" (Ron Perlman) who is determined to fetch him back. He duly travels to their offshore structure and aided by the feisty "Miette" (Judith Vittet) and a lot of green wool, sets about trying to rescue his little brother - and all the others trapped in the installation - and to make sure that "Krank" and his hoodlums plunder no more. Emilfork is on great form as the archetypal mad scientist and Dominique Pinon looks like he's having great fun as the clones who do their masters's bidding whilst injecting some silly humour. There's an hybrid of stories here - part "Frankenstein", part "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with costumes eccentrically designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier, and it does rather meander at times - but this is a film about it's look and it's sheer imagination. It's as if someone had allowed Messrs. Caro and Jeunet unfettered access to the props department at MGM or Universal and told them to use what they can. They have the imagination of a child and boy do they use it. Mechanical gadgets, gizmos, green mists, dense fog. You name it and these allow the whole thing to imbue us with a sense of a playful, dark, adventurousness. It's comedic at times, threatening at others and there's a surprisingly effective chemistry between the usually wooden Perlman and his juvenile co-star Vittet that helps anchor the fantasy. It's surreal and gorgeous to watch and you'll need to suspend your expectations of linear, structured, cinema if you are to enjoy it. It's unique and creative. Probably a bit "bonkers" too!