The Dark Sci-Fi Fantasy Unlike Anything You’ve Ever Seen, Stream Without Netflix Immediately

Those who saw The City of Lost Children in the mid-’90s, or those lucky enough to relish it for the first time today, will enjoy how much Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting musical score enhances the project. The same can be said for the incredible costumes designed by none other than Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Along with the cinematography, direction, and original screenplay, the score and costume design embark audiences on a journey to a realm where reality and fantasy blur together. For its unmistakable style, arresting plot, and signature fusion of dreamlike fantasy and nearly-noir sci-fi horror, the film earned a coveted spot in the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. 

Critics enjoyed the movie, which currently boasts an 80 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, derived from 59 reviews; for comparison, on Metacritic, the film achieved a score of 73. Experts considered The City of Lost Children a captivating and occasionally disturbing work of art, reveling in various intriguing concepts while rooting audiences to their seats. 

Still, some reviewers criticized the film for leaving some of its fascinating narrative concepts unresolved. In other words, the movie gets a little high on its own supply.