The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
29/01/16 Filed in: Amazon Prime
Yet another film from Amazon Prime, this time an adaptation of Jacques Tardi's comic book series. So it's certainly on the light side, you could even say silly, but it has a strong pedigree being a film by Luc Besson.
The cinematography seems almost to simulate a graphic strip, to the extent that when the film started I wasn't sure if it was real or animated, although this confusion didn't last long.
This film is pure comedy. The eponymous heroin is an author with a twin sister who suffered a serious injury during a tennis match, leaving her in bed on a drip with a hat pin though her head. I'm sure such an injury would be fatal but this is a fantasy, so stay with it.
Adèle, who should be in Peru researching her new book, is in fact in Egypt to recover the mummy of the doctor to the Pharos, whom she believes could help her sister. The small problem of the mummy being long since deceased is to be overcome with the help of a 'mad' scientist who has already resurrected a pterodactyl from its egg in a Paris museum; so a mummy should be easy.
Unfortunately the pterodactyl is causing mayhem, including the death of a politician and his mistress, so the scientist has been arrested and sentenced to death. Such problems are not insurmountable for Adèle, who embarks on a succession of hare-brain schemes to release the scientist, after her appeal to the French president fails, spectacularly! The president's dog is called Nelson, which rather amused me.
The cinematography seems almost to simulate a graphic strip, to the extent that when the film started I wasn't sure if it was real or animated, although this confusion didn't last long.
This film is pure comedy. The eponymous heroin is an author with a twin sister who suffered a serious injury during a tennis match, leaving her in bed on a drip with a hat pin though her head. I'm sure such an injury would be fatal but this is a fantasy, so stay with it.
Adèle, who should be in Peru researching her new book, is in fact in Egypt to recover the mummy of the doctor to the Pharos, whom she believes could help her sister. The small problem of the mummy being long since deceased is to be overcome with the help of a 'mad' scientist who has already resurrected a pterodactyl from its egg in a Paris museum; so a mummy should be easy.
Unfortunately the pterodactyl is causing mayhem, including the death of a politician and his mistress, so the scientist has been arrested and sentenced to death. Such problems are not insurmountable for Adèle, who embarks on a succession of hare-brain schemes to release the scientist, after her appeal to the French president fails, spectacularly! The president's dog is called Nelson, which rather amused me.
The French detectives are on the case and take on Keystone Cops persona. While the big game hunter enlisted to kill the pterodactyl is a caricature of the genre. Meanwhile, bringing the mummy back to life involves scenes reminiscent of the film Night at the Museum, things going from daft to dafter, but it's all great fun. You will notice that the ancient Egyptians speak incredibly good French.
If you want some light entertainment, with the emphasis on light, then I highly recommend this film. And if, like me, you like to watch French films to help learn the language, then this one is probably as accessible as it gets in terms of clarity of enunciation and absence of impenetrable informal chatter.
If you want some light entertainment, with the emphasis on light, then I highly recommend this film. And if, like me, you like to watch French films to help learn the language, then this one is probably as accessible as it gets in terms of clarity of enunciation and absence of impenetrable informal chatter.