Immortel (ad vitam) (2004)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Enki Bilal

Writers:

Enki Bilal (comic books "La Foire aux immortels" and "La Femme piège")
Enki Bilal (scenario & adaptation and dialogue)
(more)

Release Date:

24 March 2004 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

New York 2095. In a strange pyramid floating in the sky, the gods of ancient Egypt are judging Horus. In the city, a young women with blue hair and tears is arrested, but she has a secret power, even to herself...

Plot Keywords:

Blue Hair | Pyramid | Mutant | New York Skyline | Teenage Girl

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Linda Hardy	...	Jill Bioskop
Thomas Kretschmann	...	Alcide Nikopol
Charlotte Rampling	...	Elma Turner
Yann Collette	...	Froebe
Frédéric Pierrot	...	John
Thomas M. Pollard	...	Horus
Joe Sheridan	...	Allgood
Corinne Jaber	...	Lily Liang
Olivier Achard	...	Checker
Jerry Di Giacomo	...	Jack Turner
Dominique Mahut	...	Hotel Receptionist
Gary Cowan	...	Tycho Barman
Augustin Legrand	...	Pusher / Salesman
Javon Constantin	...	Eugenics Little Boy
Owen Steketee	...	Horus's Baby
Thomas Murat	...	Adaptater (voice)
Barbara Scaff	...	Jill (voice) (as Barbara Weber-Scaff)
Dominic Gould	...	John (voice)
Geoffrey Carey	...	Froebe / Checkers (voice) (as Geoffrey Carrey)
Allan Wenger	...	Hotel Receptionist (voice)
Paul Bandey	...	Dayaks (voice)
Coralie Seyrig	...	Bastet (voice)
Goran Vejvoda	...	Anubis (voice)
Helen Later	...	Conti / Speaker Meteo (voice) (as Helene Later)
Paul Barrett	...	Pilot Helico (voice)
Leslie Clack	...	Co-Pilot / Background Voices (voice) (as Les Clack)
Lemmy Constantine	...	Voice Over (voice)
Robert Dauney	...	Security Guard (voice) (as Robert Dawney)
Geoffrey Greenhill	...	Policeman (voice)
Irene Palko	...	Background Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rhonda Constantin	...	Fonctionnaire
Eddie Crew	...	Policier 2
Max Delor	...	Egyptologue
David Gasman	...	Client bar Géant
Vanessa Hope	...	Bastet
Charles Maquignon	...	Le gérant
Joel Mitchell
Rochelle Redfield	...	Schneider
Mark Reed	...	Policier 1
Shush Tenin	...	Anubis
Tony Vanaria	...	Infirmier
Derrick Brenner	...	Jonas (uncredited)
Thierry René	...	Sam (uncredited)
Jacquelyn Toman	...	Patiente Elma (uncredited)
Jean-Louis Trintignant	...	Jack Turner (voice: French version) (uncredited)

Directed by
Enki Bilal

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Enki Bilal		comic books "La Foire aux immortels" and "La Femme piège"
Enki Bilal		scenario & adaptation and dialogue
Serge Lehman		scenario & adaptation

Produced by
Dominique Brunner	....	executive producer
Sylvie Chevreau	....	line producer
Charles Gassot	....	producer
Daniel J. Walker	....	co-producer (as Daniel Walker)

Original Music by
Sigur Rós
Goran Vejvoda

Cinematography by
Pascal Gennesseaux

Film Editing by
Véronique Parnet

Casting by
Bernard Savin Pascaud

Production Design by
Jean-Pierre Fouillet

Art Direction by
Jean-Pierre Fouillet
Sophie Campbell		(art direction) (uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Stéphane Blau
Christophe Faton
Frédérique Nouailhat

Costume Design by
Mimi Lempicka		(as Mimi Lempika)

Makeup Department
Virginie Autrique	....	special makeup effects artist
Clément Bagot	....	special makeup effects artist
Dominique Berlioz	....	key hair stylist
Nils Bessis	....	key hair stylist
Josette Carrière	....	hair stylist
Stéphane Chauvet	....	special makeup effects artist
Rémi Chouroulinkov	....	special makeup effects artist
Lucas Coulon	....	hair stylist
Karine Deest	....	hair stylist
Nicolas Degennes	....	makeup designer
Anne-Sophie Desquesses	....	hair stylist
Marie-Luce Fabre-Pajaud	....	makeup artist
Sylvie Ferry	....	special makeup effects artist
Denis Gastou	....	special makeup effects artist
Cécile Gentilin	....	hair stylist
Frédéric Lainé	....	special makeup effects artist
Marie Lastennet	....	makeup artist
Fanny Martin	....	makeup artist
Pascal Molina	....	special makeup effects artist
Léonor Pedrosa	....	hair stylist
Annabelle Petit	....	makeup artist (as Anabelle Petit)
Lydia Pujols	....	makeup artist
Jean-Christophe Spadaccini	....	special makeup effects artist
Pascal Thiollier	....	key makeup artist
François Torres	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Sylvie Chevereau-Marchais	....	production manager
Solenn Colas	....	assistant production manager
Eric Duchêne	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Christian Alzieu	....	second assistant director
David Campi-Lemaire	....	second assistant director
Jordane LaFourcade	....	second assistant director (as Jordane Lafourcade)
Lionel Steketee	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Hervé Babaud	....	plasterer
Gille Baette	....	construction manager
Eric Berthet	....	head carpenter
Hubert Bocquet	....	carpenter
Marc Bonetti	....	carpenter
Sophie Campbell	....	assistant art director
John Cavard	....	carpenter
Vincent Dangoise	....	painter
Frédéric Danos	....	painter
Pascale Evrard	....	carpenter
Christian Gazio	....	property master
Farida Hadjour	....	art department secretary
Jacky Hardouin	....	chief carpenter
Jérôme Hayot	....	painter
Joanna Kotowicz	....	assistant art director
Jérôme Larivière	....	carpenter
Xavier Laroyenne	....	carpenter
Sylvie Léger	....	painter
Nicolas Le Jeune	....	prop buyer
Alain Le Méo	....	carpenter
Caroline Martinet	....	painter
Frédéric Nollet	....	painter
Magali Oechsner de Coninck	....	sculptor
Rodolphe Planchais	....	trainee art director
Olivier Rouillard	....	assistant art director
Guillaume Rouzade	....	painter
Laurent Soulier	....	head painter
Angélique Verbeck	....	assistant art director (as Angélique Verbeeck)

Sound Department
Germain Boulay	....	sound editor
Denis Carquin	....	boom operator
Pascal Dedeye	....	foley artist
Toni Di Rocco	....	sound recordist
Ivan Dumas	....	additional sound assistant
Eric Ferret	....	sound recordist
Daniel Gries	....	assistant foley artist
Gérard Lamps	....	sound re-recording mixer
Lionel Le Bras	....	boom operator
Anne Le Campion	....	sound mixer
Pierre Lenoir	....	sound
Marion Lorthioir	....	post-synchronisation
Gréggory Poncelet	....	sound recordist
Laurent Quaglio	....	sound designer
Serge Rouquairol	....	foley sound editor
Eric Tisserand	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Jean-Claude Dauphinot	....	special effects
Georges Demétrau	....	special effects
Pierre Foury	....	special effects
Matthieu Grospiron	....	lighting supervisor
Sara Helminger	....	special effects (as Sara Helmlinger)
Jérome Miel	....	special effects
Jacques-Olivier Molon	....	assistant special effects
François Philippi	....	special effects
Benoît Squizzato	....	special effects
Olivier Zenenski	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Catherine Athon	....	digital coordinator
Quentin Auger	....	character setup and animation
Alex Bernardi	....	software engineer: research and development
Farchad Bidgolirad	....	research & development lead
Axel Bonami	....	digital compositor
Cyrille Bonjean	....	digital compositor
Cyrille Bonjean	....	visual effects coordinator
Lucie Bories	....	digital compositor
Ronan Broudin	....	digital compositor
Habbah Bruno	....	digital compositor
Myriam Catrin	....	digital artist
Seb Caudron	....	visual effects supervisor
Julien Charles	....	digital artist
Gérald Clévy	....	rotoscopy
Delphine Coffin	....	texturing supervisor
Julien Cohen Bengio	....	animation artist
Julien Cohen Bengio	....	software engineer
Olivier Coulon	....	matte painter
Stéphane Dalbera	....	motion capture consultant
Benjamin Deboute	....	render wrangler
Fabrice Delapierre	....	animation supervisor
Benoit De Longlee	....	special visual effects
Valérie de Palma	....	motion capture lead
Jerome Desvignes	....	characters modeling supervisor
Lionel Duminil	....	digital compositor
Jerome Fournier	....	visual effects
Monteil Fredrik	....	digital compositor
Eric Gambini	....	digital artist
Christine Gatto	....	virtual set supervisor: interior set
Pierre Genin	....	roto 3D supervisor
Renaut Gilles	....	layout artist
Pierre Gosset	....	digital compositor
Bruno Hajnal	....	lighter
Afif Heukeshoven	....	on-set match mover
Philippe Huberdeau	....	3D layout assistant
Philippe Huberdeau	....	digital compositor
Philippe Huberdeau	....	visual effects coordinator
Nicolas Kermel	....	digital artist
Farid Khadiri-Yazami	....	lighting & modeling: Duran
Aurelie Lajoux	....	digital compositor
Aurelie Lajoux	....	visual effects coordinator
Julien Lambert	....	lead lighting artist
Emmanuel Le Courbe	....	digital compositor
Jean Baptiste Lère	....	visual effects technical director assistant
Yann Leroux	....	digital compositor
Julien Leveugle	....	lighting technical director
Emmanuel Linot	....	senior animator
Sergeï Lourié	....	digital compositor
Catherine Macresy	....	visual effects production manager
Antoine Moulineau	....	rendering lead
Malik Nahassia	....	digital effects artist
Prothais Nicolas	....	senior animator
Alban Orlhiac	....	lead texture artist
Fred Palacio	....	virtual set supervisor: outside set
Stephane Paris	....	modeling technical director
Arnaud Pecqueur	....	lead texture artist
Claire Pegorier	....	digital effects artist
Cecile Peltier	....	digital compositor
Carlos Perona	....	lighting artist
Carlos Perona	....	modeler
Cyril Pichard	....	research & development
Jacquemin Piel	....	visual effects supervisor
Olivier Pinol	....	lead lighter
Sebastien Rame	....	digital compositor
Olivier Renouard	....	character setup supervisor
Caroline Rézeau	....	lead texture artist
Florian Salanova	....	lighting artist
Pierre Salazar	....	modeler
Pascal Savignac	....	lead texture artist
Denis Scolan	....	digital compositor
Gaël Seydoux	....	on-set supervisor: Duboi
Gaël Seydoux	....	visual effects consultant: Telema
Majid Taibi	....	visual effects
Nina Taraud	....	render wrangler
Sebastien Terme	....	digital artist
Chris Thunig	....	digital matte artist: Duran
Georges Tornero	....	digital artist
Marine Tuloup	....	CGI set and props production coordinator
Patrice Wechsler	....	lighting production manager
Veronique Zylberfain	....	matte painter

Stunts
Laurent Avare	....	stunts
Rémi Canaple	....	assistant stunt coordinator
Rémi Canaple	....	stunts
Alexandre Cauderlier	....	stunts
Patrick Cauderlier	....	stunt coordinator
Yan Dron	....	stunt double
Pascaline Girardot	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Lionel Bailly	....	pre-light electrician
Elsa Bennett	....	clapper loader
Stéphane Birzin	....	rigger
Maxence Bottreau	....	rigger
Julien Bureau	....	focus puller: second camera
Olivier Caroff	....	generator operator
Marc Casi	....	stand-by rigger
Renaud Chassaing	....	video operator
Stéphane Cry	....	electrician
Hervé Denis	....	rigger
Renaud Fidon	....	stand-by rigger
Philippe Guermouh	....	generator operator
Nicolas Herdt	....	camera operator: second camera
Jean-Bernard Josko	....	rigger
Marc Kahlouche	....	pre-light electrician
Emile Laisné	....	grip
Franck Leclerc	....	focus puller: second camera
Stephane Lesmond	....	video technician
Jérôme Lift	....	third assistant camera
Jean-Claude Lother	....	still photographer
Tom Mitaux	....	pre-light electrician
Patrick Pamart	....	rigger
Christophe Paturange	....	camera operator
Cyrill Renaud	....	focus puller
Patrick Renault	....	electrician
Samuel Renollet	....	focus puller: second camera
Laurent Robert	....	gaffer
Stéphane Rouillon	....	rigger
Benjamin Speyer	....	rigger
Renato Vicini	....	electrician
Antoine Vidal	....	assistant camera: techno crane
Jean-Pierre Voisin	....	pre-light electrician

Animation Department
Guillaume Aliquot	....	animator
Jean Marc Ky	....	animator
Jean-Paul Tétu	....	layout artist

Casting Department
Alexandra Paraboschl	....	casting assistant
Jean-Jacques Pugliese	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Adélaïde Gosselin	....	wardrobe supervisor
Laetitia Harvey	....	wardrobe assistant
Clara Le Picard	....	wardrobe assistant
Maira Ramedhan Lévy	....	wardrobe assistant

Editorial Department
Serge Anthony	....	grader
Jérôme Arthuis	....	color grading coordinator
Stéphanie Carré	....	post-production coordinator
Isabelle Julien	....	color timer
Magali Magnan	....	assistant editor
Annick Ménier	....	post-production coordinator
Laurent Pelé	....	first assistant editor
Philippe Reinaudo	....	digital intermediate technical director
Emmanuelle Zelez	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Valérie Lindon	....	music supervisor
Ralph Rainger	....	composer: song "June in January"

Other crew
Julie Adams	....	dialect coach
Jérôme Arthuis	....	scan editing supervisor
Sophie Bernard	....	production coordinator
Thomas Foncelle	....	lead render wrangler
Laurence Granec	....	publicist
Christophe Huchet	....	title designer: main titles
Laurence Lemaire-Bazi	....	script supervisor (as Laurence Lemaire)
Ash Malde	....	auditor: Malde & Co. (as Ashit Malde)
Peggy Plessas	....	dialogue coach (as Peggy Hall Plessas)
Vaden Shah	....	auditor: Malde & Co.

Production Companies

• Téléma
• TF1 Films Production (as TF1 Films Production)
• CiBy 2000
• RF2K Productions (as RF2K)
• Force Majeure Productions
• Medusa Film (as Medusa Film)
• TPS Star (paticipation)
• Cofimage 13 (association with)
• Natexis Banques Populaires Images 2 (association with)
• Sofica Valor 6 (association with)

Distributors

• UGC-Fox Distribution (UFD) (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Independent Films (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Medusa Distribuzione (2004) (Italy) (all media)
• Scanbox Entertainment (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• First Look International (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (all media)
• Metro Film (2005) (Yugoslavia) (DVD)
• Quasar Films (2005) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Tiberius Film (2005) (Germany) (theatrical)
• First Look International (????) (USA) (theatrical)
• Golden Village (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Herald Film Company (Japan) (theatrical)
• Spentzos Films (Greece) (theatrical)

Special Effects

• Duran Duboi
• Duran

Other Companies

• Auditoriums de Boulogne  sound editing
• Cinécool  end credits
• Cinéstéréo  sound transfer
• Panavision Alga  cameras
• Panavision Alga  technocrane
• Transpalux  lighting equipment
• Éclair Numérique  digital color timing

Also Known As:

Immortal (Ad Vitam) (International: English title) (Italy)
Immortal (USA) (video title)
Immortel (France) (short title)
La femme piège (France) (working title)
Trilogy (France) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality/nudity, language and some violence.

Runtime:

France:102 min

Country:

France | Italy | UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | UK:15 | France:U | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:M18 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Company:

Téléma

Trivia:

The poem Nikopol is reciting in his first scenes is "Une charogne" (The carcass) by Charles Baudelaire.

Quotes:

Nikopol: [Nikopol carried in the air by Horus] Remember the sign we saw, my soul. That beautiful, soft summer morning... round a turning in the path. A disgusting carcass on a bed scattered with stones. Its legs in the air like a woman in need... burning its wedding poisons... like a fountain with its rhythmic sobs...

Movie Connections:

References The Fifth Element (1997)

Soundtrack:

Hjartao Hamast

More structured than the comics...

Enki Bilal's film version of his excellent comic from more than 20 years ago, is a more coherrent and better structured story than what we read in the graphic novels.

The same images are here, in the film, as in the comic. That's very good, and works well. Some scenes are almost taken directly from the comic, as when Horus help Nikopol for the first time in the subway.

The world is more detailed in the film and the story is now more tightly spun around Jill, Horus and Jill's friend John - plus of course Nikopol who serve as the spider in this web.

Many here complain over the computer animations. Especially when it comes to some of the cast. I can only say that it is was a sad decision to create the senator and his two friends as computer animations, since live actors would probably been a wiser decision. It had helped the movie flow a little bit more, and we hadn't been so hung up on that they actually were computer animated. However, after a while, it works and we don't care too much about it. They have so little screen time anyway.

Horus is also animated, but since he's a God, it doesn't matter. And he's better done too. All the other animations are just splendid and work wonders for this graphical and visually stunning film.

Immortel is a very nice film with a better story than I thought. I was expecting a difficult and completely un-logical version of the comic - since I've read the reviews - but what we have here is actually a nice and very good movie, told beautifully.

If you haven't read the graphic novels, I suggest you find a copy or two and read them. They are a good introduction to this weird sci-fi world, and it is probably easier to understand the overall theme if you have read them. However, don't get disappointed when some story elements don't show up in the film. (I especially missed the hockey-game!)

I sincerely hope that Enki Bilal makes more movies like this one, or even a sequel. I would really like to know what happens next... Enki Bilal's mind is beautiful - and this film will be a classic within a few decades. For now, it's just a little bit too before its time to be taken the way it should. But soon, people will discover it and see the nice little details that lay inside the world of future New York.

I give it a 7 of 10. I would have given it higher if it wasn't for some bad animations and that I didn't like the way they plotted the sharp-teethed alien that I never remember the name of. :-)