“I use the shy, soft spirits, the warm colors, the wide lenses,” Jeunet says. “I transform reality. I tweak it because I love tweaking. In fact, I don’t like reality! As a spectator, sure, why not, but as a director, I am not interested in making photocopies. I prefer to modify reality through dialogue, color, and costumes. Of course some people don’t like it. They see the three-wheel car, the exaggerated high-waist pants, the warm colors, and they say, ‘ah, too bizarre.’” But Jeunet does not mind this peculiarity. He is not interested in pleasing everyone. “My films are like a certain type of a restaurant, say a seafood restaurant. So, if you like fish, you come here, if you like meat, you go elsewhere.”
     Like many creators who have an individual style, Jeunet is aware of being pigeonholed. “Of course when you have a style it becomes recognizable and after a while it could be boring, and I realize this danger. But I love, for example, Tim Burton, and he does the same thing all the time. Same for Kusturica and even Fellini, all directors with a strong style.”
     Hollywood caught on to Jeunet pretty quickly, and in 1997, only two years after The City of Lost Children came out, Jeunet directed Alien: Resurrection. Its financial success allowed him to create the film that he has always wanted to make, Amelie. “I wanted to put everything that’s been in my head since I was 25 years old. I put so many ideas in terms of form and the meaning behind it, the voiceover, the way she looks at the camera, the clouds that become stuffed toys, all these little details that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Maybe it was truly my first film.“