The City of Lost Children (1995)

The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus), directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, is a visually stunning and hauntingly imaginative French fantasy film that blends steampunk aesthetics with dark, whimsical storytelling. Known for its surreal world-building and unique style, the film is a bizarre, dreamlike journey into a dystopian city where children’s dreams are stolen, and it explores themes of memory, loss, and the lengths to which one will go to protect what they love.
Set in an unnamed, industrial, and decaying city, The City of Lost Children follows the story of an aging scientist named Krank (played by Daniel Emilfork), who has the ability to steal the dreams of children in order to prolong his life. Krank, a grotesque and sinister figure, is unable to dream himself and, as a result, becomes obsessed with capturing the dreams of others to replace the ones he lacks.
The story takes a darker turn when a young orphan boy named Denree (played by Joseph Lucien) is kidnapped by Krank’s minions. Denree is a particularly special child, as his dreams hold immense power. Miette (Romane Bohringer), a young and fearless girl who belongs to a group of streetwise orphans, teams up with a strongman named One (Ron Perlman), who is searching for his kidnapped brother. Together, Miette and One venture through the bizarre and perilous underworld of the city in an attempt to rescue Denree and unravel Krank’s sinister plans.
The setting of the film is one of its most striking features. The city is depicted as a grim and decaying industrial landscape, filled with towering, rusted machines, crumbling architecture, and eerie, shadowy streets. It’s a dystopian world where technology seems both archaic and futuristic, filled with strange contraptions and bizarre characters. The city itself feels like a living entity, both oppressive and haunting, and it becomes an integral part of the film’s atmosphere.