The Fifth Element is a 1997 French
science fiction filmScience fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
directed, co-written, and based on a story by
Luc BessonLuc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
, starring
Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
,
Gary OldmanGary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
, and
Milla JovovichMilla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
. Mostly set during the twenty-third century, the film's central plot involves the survival of humanity which becomes the duty of a
taxicabA taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
driver (and former
special forcesSpecial forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
Major) named Korben Dallas (Willis) when a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his taxicab. Upon learning of her significance, Dallas must join efforts with the girl to recover four mystical stones essential to defending Earth from an impending attack.
Plot
In 1914, the extraterrestrials known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple and collect the only weapon capable of defeating the Great Evil which appears every five thousand years. The weapon consists of four stones, representing the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus that contains a Fifth Element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a "Divine Light" that can stop the Great Evil. The Mondoshawans promise to their human contact, a priest, that they will return with the Elements in time to stop the Great Evil, but an accident forces them to give their key to the temple to the priest and instruct him to pass it on to future generations.
In 2263, the Great Evil appears in the form of a giant ball of black fire and destroys an Earth battleship. President Lindberg (
Tom Lister, Jr.-World Wrestling Federation :Lister appeared in the 1989 wrestling movie No Holds Barred, which was financed by the World Wrestling Federation and starred Hulk Hogan. Lister's role was Zeus, a brutal monster heel....
) is then informed of the history of the Great Evil and the weapon that can stop it by the current priest of the Mondoshawan key, Vito Cornelius (
Ian HolmSir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
). As the Mondoshawans return to Earth, they are ambushed by the shape-shifting Mangalores, hired by the industrialist Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg (
Gary OldmanGary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
) who was hired by the Great Evil itself to dispose of the element stones. The Mondoshawan's spacecraft is destroyed and the only thing Earth scientists could recover was the hand of the Fifth Element, which they use to create a humanoid woman, known as "Leeloo" (
Milla JovovichMilla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
). Terrified of her unfamiliar surroundings, she escapes and jumps off a ledge to land in the flying taxicab of Korben Dallas (
Bruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
), a former major in the
Special ForcesSpecial forces, or special operations forces are terms used to describe elite military tactical teams trained to perform high-risk dangerous missions that conventional units cannot perform...
.
Dallas delivers Leeloo to Cornelius and his apprentice, David (
Charlie Creed-MilesCharlie Creed-Miles is an English actor and musician. He had a daughter with Samantha Morton in 2000.- Filmography :* You And I .... Ian* Harry Brown .... Hickock* King Arthur .... Ganis...
), whereupon Cornelius learns that the four Element stones were entrusted to Diva Plavalaguna, an opera singer. Because the Mangalores failed to obtain the stones, Zorg kills them, but their compatriots attempt to obtain the Elements for themselves. General Munro (
Brion JamesBrion Howard James was an American character actor. Known for playing the character of Leon Kowalski in the movie Blade Runner, James portrayed a variety of colorful roles in well-known films such as 48 Hrs., Another 48 Hours, Tango & Cash, Silverado, Red Heat, The Player and The Fifth Element...
), Dallas' former superior, re-enlists Dallas and orders him to travel undercover, as a radio contest winner, to meet the Diva on a luxury cruise in space. The publicity of the contest attracts the Mangalores and Zorg to the space liner as well. Dallas takes Leeloo with him, while Cornelius instructs David to prepare the temple and stows away aboard the vessel.
The Diva is killed when Mangalores attack the ship; but Dallas retrieves the Elements from the Diva's body. He then fights the Mangalores, killing their leader, to liberate the ship. Zorg arrives and searches for the Elements; he finds a carrying case, assumes the elements are in it, and leaves behind a
time bombA time bomb is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use time bombs has been for various purposes ranging from insurance fraud to warfare to assassination; however, the most common use has been for politically-motivated terrorism.-Construction:The explosive charge is the main...
that causes the liner's occupants to evacuate. Zorg departs on his spacecraft, but discovers the case to be empty, so he returns to search for the Elements. He deactivates the bomb to have time to search, but a dying Mangalore then activates his own bomb, destroying the ship and killing Zorg and the remaining Mangalores, while Dallas, Cornelius, Leeloo, and talk-show host Ruby Rhod (
Chris TuckerChristopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
) escape with the Elements aboard Zorg's spacecraft.
The four return to the Egyptian temple as the Great Evil approaches. The group arranges the stones and activate them by contact with the classical element that each stone represents; but Leeloo has become despondent and disenchanted with humanity after seeing the history of War in her studies, and initially refuses to release the Divine Light, whereupon Dallas confesses his love for Leeloo and kisses her. In reply, Leeloo combines the power of the stones and releases the Divine Light, causing the Great Evil to become dormant as a new moon in Earth's orbit.
Following this Earth Scientists assure President Lindberg that the Great Evil is definitively dead, never to return, later Korben and Leeloo are brought in by Scientists and are placed together in a healing tank, in order to rest and recouperate; however when the President arrives and demands to see them one of the scientists informs him that "they'll need another ten minutes". We then see that the reason for this is that Korben and Leeloo are making love to one another in the tank; ending the film on a happy and somewhat comical, due to the president's inability to grasp the Scientists' subtle hint, note.
Cast
- Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
as Korben Dallas
- Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
as Leeloo (Leeloominaï Lekatariba Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat De Sebat)
- Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
- Ian Holm
Sir Ian Holm, CBE is an English actor known for his stage work and for many film roles. He received the 1967 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor for his performance as Lenny in The Homecoming and the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of King Lear...
as Father Vito Cornelius
- Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
as Ruby Rhod, a popular radio talk show host
- Charlie Creed-Miles
Charlie Creed-Miles is an English actor and musician. He had a daughter with Samantha Morton in 2000.- Filmography :* You And I .... Ian* Harry Brown .... Hickock* King Arthur .... Ganis...
as David
- Brion James
Brion Howard James was an American character actor. Known for playing the character of Leon Kowalski in the movie Blade Runner, James portrayed a variety of colorful roles in well-known films such as 48 Hrs., Another 48 Hours, Tango & Cash, Silverado, Red Heat, The Player and The Fifth Element...
as General Munro
- Tricky (Adrian Thaws)
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
as Right Arm
- Clifton Lloyd Bryan as Aknot
- Tom Lister, Jr.
-World Wrestling Federation :Lister appeared in the 1989 wrestling movie No Holds Barred, which was financed by the World Wrestling Federation and starred Hulk Hogan. Lister's role was Zeus, a brutal monster heel....
as President Lindberg
- Christopher Fairbank
Christopher Fairbank is an English actor best known for his role as Albert Arthur Moxey in the hit comedy-drama series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.-Career:...
as Professor Mactilburgh
- Lee Evans
Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.-Personal life:Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex...
as Fog
- John Bluthal
John Bluthal is a Polish-born British film and television actor, mostly in comedy. He is best known for his work with Spike Milligan and for his roles in the television series Never Mind the Quality Feel the Width and The Vicar of Dibley.-Early life:Bluthal was born in Galicia, Poland, of Jewish...
as Professor Massimo Pacoli
- Luke Perry
Luke Perry is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay on the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 1990–95, and then from 1998–2000. Much publicity was garnered over the fact that even though he was playing a sixteen-year-old when 90210 began, Perry was actually in his...
as Billy Masterson
- John Bennett
John Bennett was an English actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he was educated at Bradfield College in Berkshire, then trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, followed by a wide Rep experience including Bromley, Bristol Old Vic, Dundee, Edinburgh Festival and Watford before going to...
as Priest
- Kim Chan
Kim Chan also known as Kim S. Chan, was a Chinese-American actor and producer. He was most notable for his role as The Ancient in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.-Early life:...
as Mr. Kim
- John Neville as General Staedert
- Al Matthews
Al Matthews is a UK-based American actor and singer, best known as Sergeant Apone in the 1986 movie Aliens....
as General Tudor
- Maïwenn Le Besco
Maïwenn |Île-de-France]]) is a French actress and film director.-Biography and career:She is the daughter of actress Catherine Belkhodja, who ushered her into the entertainment industry at a young age, an experience later chronicled by Le Besco in her one-woman shows "Le Pois Chiche" and "I'm an...
as Diva Plavalaguna
Fitz HallFitz Benjamin Hall is an English footballer who plays for Queens Park Rangers. He is a central defender who can also play as a central midfielder. His nickname is "One Size" Fitz Hall, a pun on the phrase "one size fits all"...
(Footballer of Queen's Park Rangers FC) appears at the beginning of the film as a twelve-year old boy.
Production
As the film went into development in the early 1990s, Besson went on to create
LéonLéon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...
, starring
Jean RenoJean Reno is a French actor. Working in French, English, Spanish and Italian, he has appeared not only in numerous successful Hollywood productions such as The Pink Panther, Godzilla, The Da Vinci Code, Mission: Impossible, Ronin and Couples Retreat, but also in European productions such as the...
, while comic book artist
Jean-Claude MézièresJean-Claude Mézières is a French comic strip artist and illustrator. Born and raised in Paris, he was introduced to drawing by his older brother and influenced by comics artists such as Hergé, Andre Franquin and Morris and later by Jijé and Jack Davis...
, who had been hired as a conceptual designer for
The Fifth Element, returned to illustrating
The Circles of PowerThe Circles of Power is volume fifteen in the French comic book science fiction series Valérian and Laureline created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières...
, the fifteenth volume in the
Valérian and Laureline series. This particular volume featured a character named S'Traks who drives a flying taxicab through the congested air traffic of the vast metropolis on the planet Rubanis. Besson read the book and was inspired to change the character of Dallas to a taxicab driver who flies through a futuristic New York City. Zorg owns the taxi company that employs and subsequently fires Dallas as part of a one-million person layoff designed to slow economic growth at the request of the government.
Largely set in a futuristic New York City, the film was a French production, with most of the principal photography filmed at
Pinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
in England. Some scenes were also shot on location in
MauritaniaMauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
. The concert scenes were filmed at the
Royal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
,
Covent GardenCovent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, except for the special effect shots that show the Planet Fhloston through the ship's portholes.
The Fifth Element was shot in
Super 35 mm filmSuper 35 is a motion picture film format that uses exactly the same film stock as standard 35 mm film, but puts a larger image frame on that stock by using the negative space normally reserved for the optical analog sound track.Super 35 was revived from a similar Superscope variant known as...
format. Many scenes contain visual effects, and nearly all of the visual effects scenes are
hard-mattedMattes are used in photography and special effects filmmaking to combine two or more image elements into a single, final image. Usually, mattes are used to combine a foreground image with a background image . In this case, the matte is the background painting...
with aid of
Computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. The production design for the film was developed by
French comicsFranco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
creators
Jean GiraudJean Henri Gaston Giraud is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist's paintings, for instance the...
(Moebius) and
Jean-Claude MézièresJean-Claude Mézières is a French comic strip artist and illustrator. Born and raised in Paris, he was introduced to drawing by his older brother and influenced by comics artists such as Hergé, Andre Franquin and Morris and later by Jijé and Jack Davis...
. The costume design was created by French fashion designer
Jean-Paul GaultierJean Paul Gaultier , born 24 April 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France) is a French haute couture fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010. In the past, he has hosted the television series Eurotrash....
, who produced 954 costumes for use in the film.
The original name of the character Ruby Rhod was Loc Rhod. This name also appears in the novelization of the film.
The "Divine Language" spoken in the film is a fictional language with only 400 words, invented by director Luc Besson and Milla Jovovich. Jovovich stated that she and Besson wrote letters to each other in the Divine Language as practice.
The film was developed from a 400-page story outline Luc Besson reportedly began while still in high school. As the story was far too long for a feature film, Besson wrote this screenplay from only its first part. A sequel, titled
Mr. Shadow, was planned but development attempts ended within the year.
Reception
The Fifth Element received generally positive reviews with a "fresh" 73% based on 55 reviews at
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with the consensus, "Visually inventive and gleefully over the top, Luc Besson's
The Fifth Element is a fantastic piece of pop sci-fi that never takes itself too seriously". Kevin Thomas of the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
offered a positive review, writing, "There's no doubt about it, when it comes to saving the world, Bruce Willis is your man. He does it with smarts and style, humor and courage."
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave it 3 stars out of 4 saying "I would not have missed seeing this film, and I recommend it for its richness of imagery. But at 127 minutes, which seems a reasonable length, it plays long." David Edelstein of
SlateSlate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
gave it a negative review, saying, "It may or may not be the worst movie ever made, but it is one of the most unhinged."
The film was selected as the opening film for the
1997 Cannes Film Festival-Jury:*Isabelle Adjani *Gong Li *Mira Sorvino *Paul Auster *Tim Burton *Luc Bondy *Patrick Dupond *Mike Leigh *Nanni Moretti *Michael Ondaatje -Feature film competition:...
and became a major box office success, grossing over US$263 million, almost three times its budget of US$90 million. 76% of the receipts for
The Fifth Element were from markets outside of the United States.
The Fifth Element was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998 in the
Best Effects, Sound Effects EditingThe Academy Award of Merit for Best Sound Editing is an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound editing or sound design...
category, losing to
TitanicTitanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
, but it won the
BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects*2010 - Inception - Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb**Alice in Wonderland - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Sean Phillips and Carey Villegas**Black Swan - Dan Schrecker...
. It was nominated for seven
CésarThe César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....
awards and won three for
Best DirectorThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Director .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
,
Best CinematographyThe following are the winners of the annual César Award for Best Cinematography .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
, and
Best Production DesignThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Production Design .-Winners and nominees:*1976: Pierre Guffroy: Que la fête commence*1977: Alexandre Trauner: Monsieur Klein...
.
The
Visual Effects SocietyThe Visual Effects Society is the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers in all areas of...
voted
The Fifth Element to be the 50th most influential visual effects film of all time.
Home media
The original home video release of
The Fifth Element took place in North America on 10 December 1997, on VHS,
LaserDiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
, and DVD. The original DVD was in its original 2.39:1
anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format, had English and Spanish audio and subtitling, and carried no special features.
The film was re-released in Sony's
SuperbitSuperbit was a brand of premium DVD-Video versions of motion pictures from Columbia TriStar Home Video, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Superbit DVDs aimed to improve picture quality over a standard DVD edition of a feature by increasing the bit rate of the encoded video...
collection on 9 October 2001. This enhanced release, also pressed in its original 2.39:1 format, used a higher data rate for a better picture, and featured subtitling in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Thai) but only English audio and no special features.
A two-disc Ultimate Edition was released on 11 January 2005. Disc one contained the Superbit DVD with five languages of subtitles (all the Superbit subtitles except Thai) and added audio tracks in German and Swedish. The second disc provided special features, including deleted scenes and a production featurette, for the first time.
The first
Blu-ray DiscBlu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
release of the film occurred on June 20, 2006, and was widely criticized as having poor picture quality. Sony subsequently made a remastered Blu-ray version available, released on 17 July 2007. The feature set of the original Blu-ray release matches Disc 1 of the Ultimate Collection, while the Remastered version contains only English and French audio. Neither release carried special features.
Soundtrack
Much of the film's
scoreA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
, composed by
Éric SerraÉric Serra is a French composer. He has often worked on the movies of Luc Besson.- Biography :Éric Serra's father Claude was a famous French songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, and, as such, Éric was exposed to music and its production at a young age. His mother died when he was just seven years old...
, shows an influence of North African music, particularly
RaïRaï is a form of folk music that originated in Oran, Algeria from Bedouin shepherds, mixed with Spanish, French, African and Arabic musical forms, which dates back to the 1930s....
. The music used for the taxicab chase scene, titled "Alech Taadi" by Algerian performer
KhaledKhaled Hadj Ibrahim , better known as Khaled, is a raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in Sidi El Houari in Oran Province of Algeria...
, is excluded from the film soundtrack, but it is available on Khaled's album
N'ssi N'ssiN'ssi N'ssi is a studio album from Algerian raï artist Khaled, produced by Don Was and Philippe Eidel.It includes the songs "N'ssi, N'ssi," "Chebba," and "Abdel Kader," which are among Khaled's most famous, and "Alech Taadi" which was used in the film The Fifth Element...
.
In Plavalaguna's performance, the music and the vocalization abruptly shift from a classical to a
tranceTrance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
style. This striking change is cross-cut with scenes of Leeloo's fight with the Mangalores in Plavalaguna's chamber, and the fight choreography is set to the music.
The Diva Dance opera performance featured music from
Gaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's
Lucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
: "
Il dolce suono"Il dolce suono" is the incipit of the recitativo of a "scena ed aria" taken from Act III scene 2, Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti...
", the
mad sceneIn opera, a mad scene is an enactment of insanity in an opera or play. It was a popular convention of Italian and French opera in the early decades of the nineteenth century....
of Act III, Scene II, and was sung by Albanian
sopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Inva Mula-Tchako, while the role of Plavalaguna was played by French actress
Maïwenn Le BescoMaïwenn |Île-de-France]]) is a French actress and film director.-Biography and career:She is the daughter of actress Catherine Belkhodja, who ushered her into the entertainment industry at a young age, an experience later chronicled by Le Besco in her one-woman shows "Le Pois Chiche" and "I'm an...
.
Part One (titled
Lucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
) and Part Two (titled
The Diva Dance) of this piece are included as separate tracks on
The Fifth Element soundtrack, but are sequenced to create the effect of the entire performance seen in the film. The end of Part One blends into the beginning of Part Two, creating a smooth transition between the two tracks.
Track listing
All tracks composed by
Éric SerraÉric Serra is a French composer. He has often worked on the movies of Luc Besson.- Biography :Éric Serra's father Claude was a famous French songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, and, as such, Éric was exposed to music and its production at a young age. His mother died when he was just seven years old...
unless indicated otherwise.
- "Little Light of Love" – 4:50
- "Mondoshawan" – 4:01
- "Timecrash" – 1:49
- "Korben Dallas" – 1:43
- "Koolen" – 0:55
- "Akta" – 1:51
- "Leeloo" – 4:56
- "Five Millenia Later" – 3:13
- "Plavalaguna" – 1:47
- "Ruby Rap" (Serra/Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
/Robert Kamen) – 1:55
- "Heat" (Serra/Sebastien Cortella) – 2:54
- "Badaboom" – 1:12
- "Mangalores" – 1:06
- "Il dolce suono
"Il dolce suono" is the incipit of the recitativo of a "scena ed aria" taken from Act III scene 2, Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti...
" from the 3rd act of Lucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
(Gaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
/Salvadore Cammarano) – 3:10
- Performed by Inva Mula
Inva Mula is an Albanian opera soprano and actress. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father and mother were also opera singers. -Life and Career:...
and the London Symphony OrchestraThe London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
- "The Diva Dance" – 1:31
- Performed by Inva Mula
Inva Mula is an Albanian opera soprano and actress. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father and mother were also opera singers. -Life and Career:...
- "Leeloominai" – 1:41
- "A Bomb in the Hotel" – 2:14
- "Mina Hinoo" – 0:54
- "No Cash No Trash" – 1:04
- "Radiowaves" – 2:32
- "Human Nature" – 2:03
- "Pictures of War" – 1:19
- "Lakta Ligunai" – 4:14
- "Protect Life" (Serra/Cortella) – 2:33
- "Little Light of Love" (end titles version) – 3:29
- Performed by RXRA
Éric Serra is a French composer. He has often worked on the movies of Luc Besson.- Biography :Éric Serra's father Claude was a famous French songwriter in the 1950s and '60s, and, as such, Éric was exposed to music and its production at a young age. His mother died when he was just seven years old...
- "Aknot! Wot?" (bonus track) (Serra/Besson/Kamen) – 3:35
Spin-offs
A
video game adaptation based on the filmThe Fifth Element is a video game based on the film of the same name released on September 23, 1998 by Hudson in Japan, September 30 by Activision in North America and in October for Europe and the Windows version....
was also created by
ActivisionActivision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
for the
PlayStationThe is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
game console and
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. It was generally met with average to negative reviews. A racing game titled
New York RaceNYR: New York Race, also known as New York Race, is a science fiction racing game based on the film The Fifth Element directed by Luc Besson...
was also released in 2001.
There was also a novel adaptation by
Terry BissonTerry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his short stories...
and published by HarperPrism.
External links