Taglines: It Mu5t Be Found.
The Fifth Element movie storyline. In the twenty-third century, the universe is threatened by evil. The only hope for mankind is the Fifth Element, who comes to Earth every five thousand years to protect the humans with four stones of the four elements: fire, water, Earth and air. A Mondoshawan spacecraft is bringing The Fifth Element back to Earth but it is destroyed by the evil Mangalores.
However, a team of scientists use the DNA of the remains of the Fifth Element to rebuild the perfect being called Leeloo. She escapes from the laboratory and stumbles upon the taxi driver and former elite commando Major Korben Dallas that helps her to escape from the police.
Leeloo tells him that she must meet Father Vito Cornelius to accomplish her mission. Meanwhile, the Evil uses the greedy and cruel Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg and a team of mercenary Mangalores to retrieve the stones and avoid the protection of Leeloo. But the skilled Korben Dallas has fallen in love with Leeloo and decides to help her to retrieve the stones.
The Fifth Element (French: Le Cinquième Élément) is a 1997 English-language French science-fiction action film directed and co-written by Luc Besson. It stars Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Milla Jovovich. Primarily set in the 23rd century, the film’s central plot involves the survival of planet Earth, which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas (Willis), a taxicab driver and former special forces major, after a young woman (Jovovich) falls into his cab. Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against an impending attack.
Besson started writing the story that became The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas. Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable locations could not be found; filming took place instead in London and Mauritania. Comics writers Jean “Moebius” Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières, whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film, were hired for production design. Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier.
The Fifth Element Themes
In an interview Besson stated The Fifth Element was not a “big theme movie”, although the film’s theme was an important one. He wanted viewers to reach the point where Leeloo states “What’s the use of saving life when you see what you do with it?”, and agree with her. Jay P. Telotte, writing in the book Science Fiction Film, credited the film with exploring the theme of political corruption.
An article by Brian Ott and Eric Aoki in the feminist journal Women’s Studies in Communication considered gender to be one of the film’s main themes. The authors accused the film of erasing women from the introductory scenes, noting that Leeloo’s reconstruction marked only the second appearance of a female in the film’s first 20 minutes; the other is an androgynous, mostly speechless presidential aide. When females appear in the film, they do so as passive objects, such as the sexualised flight and McDonald’s attendants; or stripped of their femininity, such as the “butch” Major Iceborg.
Stefan Brandt, in the book Subverting Masculinity, also said that the film “echoes stereotypical beliefs about gender” of all females in the film, including Leeloo, who he thought only left her passive role in the film during her fight with the Mangalores. With the exception of Tiny Lister’s portrayal of the President, all males in the film were considered to be as unmanly as possible in various ways, such as Ruby Rhod’s effeminacy, Vito Cornelius’s clumsy form of speech, and General Munro’s stupidity; their purpose was to make Korben’s masculinity appear “god-like” by comparison.
In the book The Films of Luc Besson, Susan Hayward considered The Fifth Element to be a classic story of a man “making his break from the tribe, proving his manhood, over-throwing the malevolent forces and killing the chief, finally to reap the rewards of security and marriage”. Korben’s journey, however, is under threat not only from the Mangalores and Zorg, but also from Leeloo, who relents and helps him only at the last minute, accepting his declaration of love.
The Fifth Element was considered to be one of the main narratives in the film, and it faces the same deadline as the main storyline.[12] Hayward also considered the issue of environmental damage, in so far as waste and pollution are visible throughout the film. Whereas science fiction films often show a world wherein some new technology or threat either surpasses or fails humanity,
The Films of Luc Besson included The Fifth Element amongst the minority of science fiction films that “hold up a mirror” and show humankind as responsible. The film was said to be skeptical of capitalist consumerism, in so far as the gadgets in Zorg’s office make an unhealthy obsession of his lust for technology. The tension between technology and man is treated as a problem requiring a final resolution.
The Fifth Element (1997)
Directed by: Luc Besson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Luke Perry, Milla Jovovich, Charlie Creed-Miles, John Neville, Mathieu Kassovitz, Christopher Fairbank
Screenplay by: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Production Design by: Dan Weil
Cinematography by: Thierry Arbogast
Film Editing by: Sylvie Landra
Costume Design by: Jean-Paul Gaultier
Set Decoration by: Maggie Gray, Anna Pinnock
Art Direction by: Ira Gilford, Ron Gress, Michael Lamont, Jim Morahan, Kevin Phipps
Music by: Éric Serra
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sci-fi violence, some sexuality and brief nudity.
Distributed by: Gaumont Buena Vista International, Columbia Pictures
Release Date: May 7, 1997
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