One of the hottest international properties to come out of the new wave of French filmmakers in the 1980s, Luc Besson is a director with a simple mission and a dazzling visual style. One of the most respected names in French film studies, Susan Hayward, sketches Besson's filmmaking career and processes to date, placing the films within their socio-historical and political contexts. She investigates the interface between technology and the body, along with the environments in which the violent interactions between the two get played out. The absence of family and the demise of community are also explored with theoretical sophistication. Besson's films represent the conflicts and tensions of a post-modern age and are perceived as signs of their time.