MovieChat Forums > Immortel (ad vitam) (2004) Discussion > Has anybody read the comic?

Has anybody read the comic?

posted 13 years ago by lisaweird
15 replies | jump to latest

"La Foire Aux Immortels" is the comic by Bilal that this movie was based on. Has anybody read it? I've only seen a few pages but it looked so much more involved and I feel that we're missing some huge chunks of plot from the movie (eg all of the Egyptian gods are involved, not just Anubis and Bastet). You know how movies always go in a different direction from their original sources... I'm just wondering if the movie is far from the book, even though Bilal was involved in both projects.

Also, clearing up the "Immortal ripped off 5th Element" accusations: La Foire Aux Immortels was published in the 1980's, therefore the 5th Element drew inspiration from Immortal, not the other way around even if the film was made years later.

That's evolution, baby. So mutate or step aside.

[–] jesper-thorndahl 13 years ago

Yes, I read the comics a lot when I was younger. Great stuff. They changed a lot, plot-wise, but it amazed me how close the movie was to the visual style of the comic.

Yeah, it annoys me that people think this movie stole from 5th Element, when 5th Element stole a lot of things from Bilal, like the hover-yellowcabs and the whole look of the futuristic city and its inhabitants.

[–] toorshia 11 years ago

Actually, it "stole" from Moebius & Jodorowsky's "The Incal" comic book series.

"Mœbius and Jodorowsky sued Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, claiming that the 1997 film borrowed graphic and story elements from The Incal, but lost their case.

The suit was plagued by ambiguity since Mœbius himself had willingly participated in the creation of the film, having been hired by Besson as a contributing artist, but had done so without gaining the approval of Incal co-creator Jodorowsky, whose services Besson did not call upon.

For over a decade, Jodorowsky pressured his publisher Les Humanoïdes Associés to sue Luc Besson for the flagrant act of plagiarism, but the said publisher refused, rightfully fearing the inevitability of the final outcome. In a 2002 interview with the Danish comic book magazine Strip!, Jodorowsky actually claimed that he considered it an honour that somebody stole his ideas, which is not surprising, as Jodorowsky believes that authors do not create the stories they tell as much as they make personal interpretations of myths universal to the collective human subconsciousness.

Privately, however, Jodorowsky has used harsh words in his retelling of how the plagiarizing of the Incal was supported by the courts, and often deplored the bias typically shown by French courts toward large industrial entities, to the detriment of comic book artists and writers. He has expressed great comfort, however, at the fact that anyone actually familiar with his creation has agreed that the work was obviously plagiarized by Besson."

[–] grendelkhan 11 years ago

There is certainly a debt to Incal in The 5th Element, but I think Moebius had a greater case than Jodorowsky, as Besson took a lot of inspiration from Moebius' other work. Moebius' work on the film, though, suggests that he approved, which would carry a lot in court. Meanwhile, you can find plenty of sci-fi prose stories that predate the Incal, with similar plots, that plagiarism would be a tough sell in any court, not just France. However, the biggest strike against them is that the original story revolved around a robot factory worker, who gets embroiled in the events. That was before Besson stopped development and worked on Leon. In the meantime, Jean-Claude Mezieres and Pierre Christin put out another Valerian album, which featured a floating taxi. When Besson saw the album, he changed the character to a cab driver. Moebius also used a floating cab in the story, The Long Tomorrow, written by Dan O' Bannon, which featured a private eye of the future. It was the failure to license this story that led to the creation of Harry Canyon, in Heavy Metal.

Personally, I think the whole thing is "a little from column A and a little from column B." I do think Besson used ideas from Moebius, incluidng the Incal, just as he wanted the diverse aliens that populate Mezieres' Valerian stories. However, he was a life-long sci-fi fan and he was taking inspiration from a lot of places, as Jodorowsky did in his work.

Now, as for Bilal, I enjoy his work, but feel his collaborations with Pierre Christin are superior to his solo work, including the Nicopol stories. The art is breathtaking, but the stories are very esoteric and get a bit lost in metaphor. Christin tends to give him more focus. Ranks of the Black Order and The Hunter Party are much better, in my opinion. However, Bilal excels at the congested look and gives the work an epic feel, capturing the decadence and decay. His facial expressions do tend to be a bit limited, though that may be as much a product of his plot, which is hardly uplifting. The guy really could stand to lighten up a bit. Maybe he could take a page from Valerian, or Daniel Torres' Rocco Vargas stories.

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"

[–] toorshia 11 years ago

Grendelkhan, thanks for elaboration :)

Just finished reading Nikopol Trilogy. Overall, it was very good.

I would love to explore more of Bilal's work/collaborations. Can you recommend couple of must-read's? :)

[–] grendelkhan 11 years ago

If you haven't read them, try Ranks of the Black Order and The Hunting Party, for something a little more grounded in reality.

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"

[–] aftermik 10 years ago

Besson took a lot of inspiration from Moebius' other work

i actually believe that Moebius have influenced not only besson, but two generation of visual artists in France.

his genius & influence may be under-recognized

if besson will be forgotten in a couple of century & i'd bet Moebius won't

[–] rooprect 10 years ago

That's an interesting story about the 5th Element case and I'll have to read up on it. To me it sounds like the court decision was more or less fair, since the ideas were legitimately "bought" from Mœbius. Jodoworsky comes across as a jealous partner who didn't get to share in the glory.

An analogy might be the ex-filmmaking team of Jeunet & Caro. After the visionary masterpieces "Delicatessen" and "City of Lost Children", the team broke up and Jeunet went on to achieve much success on his own as well with collaborations with others. How would it sound if Caro suddenly appeared and sued the Alien franchise for the visual themes Jeunet borrowed from his earlier Jeunet-Caro work?

On the whole I'm not a big fan of art getting mixed up in the courts. All artists steal (do homage) to other works that have influenced them, and that's what makes art an evolving force. Unless we're talking about Vanilla Ice and "bands" that merely sample other musicians' real work, it seems like most artistic infringement lawsuits are too hard to define.

[–] ClintJCL 11 years ago

Or perhaps neither were inspired by each other. Just because something came first doesn't mean it inspired. Someone has to have actually experienced it for that to happen. How many American screenplay writers are familiar with obscure French comic books?
-ClintJCL
http://clintjcl.wordpress.com/category/reviews/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl

[–] grendelkhan 11 years ago

Bilal's work has been featured prominently in Heavy Metal, during its glory days, so it isn't that obscure, compared to, say, the work of Caza (and his stuff also appeared in Heavy Metal).

"Fortunately, Ah keep mah feathers numbered for just such an emergency!"

[–] gohmifune 10 years ago

Great comics. Even played the video game.

[–] pater-tenebrarum 10 years ago

I've read it, and as mentioned by another poster, the visual style of the movie is very close to that of the graphic novel. Some of the usual compromises that have to be made when bringing written material to the screen result in a few minor deviations from the comic book's story line, but the essential elements of the story presented in the source material have definitely been preserved.
In fact, considering the film's limited budget and when it was made, I think it is quite an achievement. It is still definitely worth reading the comic book though, which has its own charm. In fact, at the time it was published, it too was ahead of its time in many ways.

[–] elgabote 10 years ago

The movie is actually based in the firs two comic books from "The Nikopol trilogy" ("The carnival of immortals", "The woman trap" and "Equator Cold"), from Enki Bilal, who also directed the movie.
It mixes up characters of both, but lets a lot out from the first("La Foire Aux Immortels"), which is a shame because there's so much that could have been interesting to see in the movie.
I highly recommend you to read the comics! :)

[–] aftermik 10 years ago

the story in the comics is actually much more complex & leaves a lot to the reader interpretation.

i believe he compromised to make the movie accessible to anyone & less expensive (would have been too long to cover the trilogy in one movie)

anyway since the author is the director, we can't really blame him + although the movie is not as fascinating it's still a really nice one

[–] azurit 8 years ago

yes. dont worry, the comic is confusing sometimes too.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Unfortunately, the source material for this movie is of much lower quality. I was really puzzled how it was even possible for the same man to do such drastically different pieces of art and yet he managed somehow.