Architecture as a Vessel: The Fifth Element

By Coleman Coddington

Architecture in The Fifth Element functions as a vessel for the narrative of the film. The architecture is reminiscent of a utopian society in which the majority of objects are automated and function autonomously from human intervention. With this comes a certain level of disconnection between the characters and the buildings within the film. Architecture in The Fifth Element serves little purpose to the characters other than housing the events they partake in. Architecture remains ordinary and typical, allowing it to not become very prominent and distracting in the film. However, Besson has caused the opposite reaction. In viewing the film, the built environment almost becomes suspicious to the viewers. Since it consistently seems to be removed from the characters and events, viewers begin to wonder why it appears in the form it does. Why is architecture subordinate to most other entities? Why does architecture seem to not be as futuristic as the majority of the film? These questions, among many others, are provoked carefully and intentionally throughout the film. Architecture in The Fifth Element takes on a role that can be labeled as incidental (1). Incidental architecture can be defined as “…architecture need not play a prominent role where it can merely be the setting in which the affect takes place (2).” Architecture is merely a setting for the events of the film to take place, for the characters and viewers alike (3).

This essay will argue The Fifth Element is a unique architectural film in that to achieve an uncanny yet convincing future it uses familiar and traditional architecture of our current time as the setting of a utopian society, in converse to the majority of utopian films. The idea of using familiar architectures that mirrors our current setting is radical when compared to many other films of this style. This offers a certain level of believability while watching the film due to the familiar environment. Thus, making us see architecture as a subordinated to the current events and beings of the film. This is based upon its ability to foster the traditionality of current architecture as a container around time, space, characters, and events to enhance the plot. (Figure 1) The general condition of the architecture, which includes its relationship to humans and finally, the removal of the characters from traditional architectural elements. (Figure 1) In this setting traditional architecture is defined as our contemporary architecture. Contemporary architecture will inevitably become a tradition in the future, regardless of its inherent style, as time and architectural eras progress.

Figure 1. Film Diagram. This film diagram is a depiction of how many architectural styles, many of which are familiar, wrap around the characters of the film to act as a literal vessel for the events of the film.

Before we can understand the concepts of familiar architecture, first we must grasp the general theme and storyline of the film. In The Fifth Element exists the manifestation of a prophecy about the coming of world-ending evil and the only hope of stopping it. Leeloo, an extra-terrestrial being in the form of a human considered to be the fifth element, crashes into the main characters, Korbin Dallas’, cab. They embark on a quest to find four elements, four stones that hold the power, when combined with Leeloo, to stop the world-ending evil. The main characters, Leeloo and Dallas, encounter many types of beings, e.g. aliens, priests, evil overlords, in a variety of architectural typologies during their travel, part of which happens in space. With this, in early scenes of the film, ancient Egyptian architecture helps set the stage for how old the prophecy is and acts as a precursor for the transcendence of architecture (4). The inclusion of these scenes gives the audience a clear view of the prophecy, its significance, and age. These scenes exist to set the stage for architecture and offer us the image that architectures sole purpose is to house the five elements, in this instance. The setting of these opening scenes, in an Egyptian realm, adds to the mysticism of the prophecy. Given the surrounding environment of the pyramids and rock-carved open environments, the inherently unexplainable geometry, and massive scale of Egyptian architecture. The incompressibility surrounding Egyptian architecture lends a level of mysteriousness to the prophecy in the film, further captivating the audience. (Figure two) By setting the opening scenes in this environment viewers are offered another level of believability. Since these mystic structures, pyramids, existing in this Egyptian landscape the prophecy, being very mystic, seems more believable. In these scenes’ architecture takes a back seat to the occurring events. Further analyzation shows even the markings on the temple seem to have been conjured by the aliens. These events show that architecture remains removed from human existence, in a state of inexplicable service, to whatever or whoever needs to use it (5)

Traditional Architectural Elements

Reflecting on the previous definition of traditional architecture we need to look closer at a more localized scale and interpret what elements of a building can be defined as traditional. From a futuristic perspective, traditional architectural elements may include doors, windows, entryways, and defined rooms to state a few. Things typically seen in all types of architecture. Traditional notions of architecture ground us as architects and viewers in the settings of films. In The Fifth Element, we see constant removal of characters from the traditional notions of architecture. These elements only exist because of the style of architecture in the film. This removal begins with the police chase. During the chase between Dallas, Leeloo, and the police they encounter a train housed in a portion of the city that appears relatively unused. In this scene, Dallas parks his cab on the side of the building, almost saying architecture is beneath him, that his current issue is more important than the identity of the building. On top of this Dallas’ apartment has a front door but he chooses to use the garage instead of the traditional door, disregarding the traditional elements of architecture and showing the characters in the film have developed past the issues of architecture and only focus on their immediate human issues. This explains why architecture is presented as such, it is no longer an issue anymore. Architecture in The Fifth Element can be likened to the state of affairs in Interstellar (6), where the largest issue is food. The vehicles in this film are similar to today but the film is set years in the future. The halt on the development of cars is the same as the condition of the architecture in The Fifth Element. Cars in Interstellar were developed to serve the needs of their users perfectly, thus they were developed no more. This is directly applicable to architecture in The Fifth Element, the current style was developed to serve its users perfectly, so it was developed no further. Lee Hilliker’s article, “In the Modernist Mirror: Jaques Tati and the Parisian Landscape” is a keen representation of much of this. “This meditation on and active manipulation of perception sets Playtime apart. The film works in several ways to destabilize relationships between perceiver and perceived, while it questions the very capacity of humans to assess accurately basic conditions of spatial location and personal identity.” Besson is continuously doing this throughout The Fifth Element through architecture. The relationship between viewer and viewed (humans - architecture) is challenged time and time again. We are viewing what is labeled as a futuristic film but are seeing a set that was born before we were and is existing as we are now (7).

It is interesting how one aspect of architecture seems to be closely related to the human while remaining independent; the car. Besson treats the car as an extension of Dallas’ body, even though Dallas hates his car. The car takes on its own life, we see this when it talks back to Dallas, despite his best efforts to make it “shut up (8).” When we first see Dallas fly his cab, he has it parked or docked in his garage, a very postmodern form of architecture, usually seen in suburbs (9). This grounds the viewers in a familiar setting, the garage, that is quickly taken away. Once Dallas removes his car from his garage, he is immediately floating far from the city floor, above the cityscape. Cars are floating in rigid paths, in rectilinear methods like cars move today, only there are no roads. By having the cars move in similar ways to now we are set in something familiar, but quickly removed from it by seeing the cars fly (10). We rarely see the city floor, disconnecting the car from the most fundamental connection it makes, tires to the ground. This constant removal from traditional architectural notions further devolves our perception of architecture in the film. Interestingly, this removal seems to be one of few constants through futuristic films, especially The Fifth Element (11). Is it because we as humans fail to visualize the future well? Or is it because we, un-admittedly, hope architecture lives in this way in the future?

Disassociation, Familiarity, and The Fifth Element

The use of such familiar architecture in The Fifth Element is a radical move in movies of the genera. This decision provides the viewers believability in viewing the film, something that is not offered in the vast majority of other dystopian/utopian film. The film becomes a phenomenal representation of architecture as a vessel. The most particular occurrence is the disassociation of characters from traditional characteristic of architecture, even though the architectural setting itself remains traditional. For example, Dallas’s misuse of his apartment by not using the front door only the garage that houses a flying car, not something we see in any traditional garage. Additionally, the removal of the car from its most fundamental truth; the road. The removal of characters in the film and viewers of the film from traditional characteristics of architecture is uncanny. This being said, the architecture seen in The Fifth Element exists for a reason. For the characters in the film, it has offered them all they need so no further development was needed. For us as viewer of the film, it offers us grounding and allows us to see ourselves living the characters’ lives. We can see ourselves hailing the cab that Dallas drives or going home to the small city apartment Dallas lives in. We are offered a sense of solace supported by the existing built environment within The Fifth Element. The viewer is left with few questions at the end of the film other than, when will this environment be a reality? We are left with an overwhelming desire to live the way Dallas does and in the city environment that is present because it is familiar and, frankly, fun.

CITATIONS

1. Maria Flores, “Architecture & AFFECT,” The Archeologist. (August 2019).

2. Stepehn Mackie, “Psychospace,” issue, (June 2010).

3. For more information reference Stephen Mackies dissertation. https://issuu.com/stephenmackie/docs/psychospace.

4. Luc Besson, The Fifth Element. DVD. Directed by Luc Besson. United States: Columbia, 1997.

5. The above being that case, I believe Besson would have liked to take it even one step further. The ideal representation of architecture in The Fifth Element would instead be the absence of it. Our preconceived notions of architecture are physical, tangible objects. Things we can see and touch. The architecture should dissolve into the background of the film as it does. Luc Besson is successful in this, constantly challenging our perception of architecture based upon making us beg the question, “why is it even there?” A good comparison to what would have been the ultimate representation of architecture in the film can be seen in Lars von Trier’s Dogville where we see the most fundamental aspect of our perceived notion of architecture challenged. The removal of walls, floors, roofs, and doors, anything that would allow us to identify anything in the film as architecture.

6. Christopher Nolan, Interstellar. DVD. Directed by Christopher Nolan. United States: Paramount

Pictures, 2014.

7. Lee Hilliker, “In the Modernist Mirror: Jacques Tati and the Parisian Landscape,” The French

Review 76, no. 2 (Dec. 2002): 318-329.

8. Luc Besson, The Fifth Element. DVD. Directed by Luc Besson. United States: Columbia, 1997.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abouhela, Islam M., Amr Al-Gohary, Khaled Dewedar. "Significance of Future Architecture in Science Fiction Films." First Architecture and Urban Planning Conference 1, no.1 (2005): 1-17.

Besson, Luc. The Fifth Element. DVD. Directed by Luc Besson. United States: Columbia, 1997.

Flores, Maria. “Architecture &: AFFECT.” The Archiologist. (August 2019).

Hayward, Susan. "Luc Besson's Cinquieme element (1997) and the Spectacular: The City-Body and the Sci-Fi Movie." In The Seeing Century: Film, Vision, and Identity, edited by Myriam Diaz-Diocaretz, 136-160. Amsterdam - Atlanta: Rodopi B.V., 2000.

Hilliker, Lee. “In the Modernist Mirror: Jacques Tati and the Parisian Landscape.” The French Review 76, no. 2 (Dec. 2002): 318-329.

Lamarre, Thomas. "Seeing through the Car: The Automobile as Cosmopolitical Proposition in The Fifth Element." Journal of Film Studies 11, no. 1 (Fall 2010): 1-25.

Mackie, Stepehn. "psychospace," issuu, (June 2010).

Nolan, Christopher. Interstellar. DVD. Directed by Christopher Nolan. United States: Paramount Pictures, 2014.