The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec Review

• 12th Apr 2011

On showing my security pass to the guard on the door each morning, I often can’t help but think “mul-ti-pass”. And I do still occasionally show gratitude by saying “dank oo” in a silly Jovovich-like voice. Such is the power of Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is Besson’s first proper offering as a director since the heady Fifth Element days (we don’t count Arthur and the Invisibles), and with it he’s managed to create a film that adds something new to his repertoire while retaining that quirky humour we appreciated so much back in 1997.

He’s ditched the Americans – gone is that big, bold brashness – to return home to France. And now he’s there, he’s done more than just dump his suitcases in the hallway – he’s donned an Edwardian smoking jacket, poured himself a nice Bordeaux and is sitting next to the fire smoking his pipe. This is a more genteel, and very French, film.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec is based on the comic of the same name, a 70s Franco-Belgian series that seems to have followed very much in the footsteps of Tintin et al. So we’re presented with a range of cartoonish characters – the hapless policeman, the mad scientist etc. – and a ludicrously far-fetched storyline involving mummies and pterodactyls in a manner that’s entirely one-dimensional and outrageously farcical.

But that’s not a bad thing. Oh, no. In fact it’s charming, highly enjoyable and strangely credible. It’s also funny in a low-key, quietly chuckling way. This is due in part to the deadpan delivery of the story – slightly cynical yet infused with a warm sentimentality and lightly flavoured with touch of the surreal. This is film that sits just as happily alongside Jeunet’s Amélie or Chomet’s Belleville Rendez-Vous as it does a Hollywood blockbuster.

Most of the joy in this film lies in Adèle Blanc-Sec herself. It would be difficult to find a more likeable character. Determined and driven on her quest, she’s quick-witted, impatient and often downright rude. But she can also be very sweet, showing moments of self-doubt and vulnerability. Tromping about like a draft horse and smoking like a chimney, she’s also the picture of seductive, elegant femininity. She’s an adorable, amusing mass of contradictions and her depiction by relative newcomer Louise Bourgoin is a pleasure to watch.

The only problem is Ms Blanc-Sec’s catch phrase appears to be the rather odd “Into my arms!” – generally as she’s saving someone from some form of ridiculous peril. And I fear that’s a phrase I won’t get the opportunity to quote very often.

Kathy Alys