With Lucy looking like a worthy return to fun, off-the-wall form for director Luc Besson, it’s time to take a look back at his beginnings — specifically, the start. At the young age of 22, he crafted his first short film L’avant dernier, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi that would go on to form the basis of his follow-up feature debut, Le Dernier Combat (aka The Last Battle).
Not only was it the first film for Besson, but it was also one of Jean Reno‘s first performances, an actor who would go on to start in Léon: The Professional for the helmer. Shot in black-and-white on 35mm, it also marked the first collaboration with composer Éric Serra, kicking off the beginning of a long working relationship, continuing with this weekend’s Lucy. Made on a tight budget, it’s an impressive look at how Besson was able to sell a convincing post-nuclear world. Check it out below, along with the trailer for the feature follow-up.
Luc Besson’s first work as a director was this short film about one man’s struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. After a global nuclear catastrophe, all trace of civilisation is reduced to ruins. Pollution in the atmosphere has robbed man of his power of speech, and mankind is reduced to eking out a pitiful existence amidst the debris. One man manages to escape from a band of marauders in a wasteland by patching up an aeroplane. He lands in what remains of a former city, where he encounters a homicidal brute. He is able to fend off the brute with help from a doctor, who lives alone in what was once a hospital. The doctor has a secret, however. He is keeping a woman prisoner in his cellar…
What do you think of Besson’s early short? What’s your favorite film from the director?