054 – Immortel, ad vitam

Egyptian gods in Immortel, ad vitem (2004)

Niel Jacoby (@fuckinalpamare on Twitter) joins us to ask: just what the hell is Immortel, ad vitam? It appears to be an incomprehensible dystopian flick based on an incomprehensible graphic novel. We spend a lot of time mocking the movie’s incredibly cavalier attitude towards sexual assault.

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The film is based on a graphic novel by Enki Bilal. Remarkably, Bilal was allowed to direct the film in spite of having only one feature and a couple of shorts under his belt.

Along with films like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Sin City, Immortel, ad Vitam was part of a new wave of “digital backlot” movies. This refers to movies made entirely in a green screen environment.

We highly recommend Niel’s very funny podcast (and maybe the only one about Timothy Spall), Spall Talk!

For some much better big-budget sci-fi, try our episode on Event Horizon.