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- Nov 20, 2002
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In my neverending search for media squiddage, I was surprised to see that nobody has yet mentioned the 1997 s.f. film THE FIFTH ELEMENT. One of the characters featured is Diva Plavalaguna -- a tall, beautiful, mysterious blue alien singer with an abundance of tentacles in some very odd places. In a memorable musical segment of the film, Plavalaguna delivers a spectacular rendition of an aria from Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, followed by a weird but thrilling disco-classical synthesis listed in the credits as the "Diva Dance".
The Diva -- who has few spoken lines -- is portrayed and lip-sync'd by French actress Maïwenn Le Besco, but the singing is dubbed by award-winning Albanian soprano Inva Mula-Tchako (who IMHO deserves most of the credit for the role, along with the makeup artists who created the alien beauty's look).
Most of the online pics of the character are hard-to-see thumbnails, but I managed to find one good, full-sized one:
http://movieweb.com/movie/5thelement/coa.jpg
While you can't see them in this photo, Diva Plavalaguna's tentacles also extend from the back of her head as well as down her back, and her fingers are exaggeratedly long and graceful so as to suggest tentacles also.
THE FIFTH ELEMENT itself can't decide whether it wants to be a serious s.f. story or a comedy, but it has many things going for it: Along with the tentacled Diva, it features a bizarre but sweet Milla Jovovich as the Supreme Being (yes, you heard that right), a maniacally funny Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod (a not-so-subtle takeoff on the-artist-formerly-known-as-The-Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Prince), and Gary Oldman as a quintessential bad guy. On the negative side, it has Bruce Willis as the hero (can't stand him, never could and never will, with the possible exception of THE SIXTH SENSE). Lots of fun and worth renting, anyway.
Your were-squid in the balcony
Tani
The Diva -- who has few spoken lines -- is portrayed and lip-sync'd by French actress Maïwenn Le Besco, but the singing is dubbed by award-winning Albanian soprano Inva Mula-Tchako (who IMHO deserves most of the credit for the role, along with the makeup artists who created the alien beauty's look).
Most of the online pics of the character are hard-to-see thumbnails, but I managed to find one good, full-sized one:
http://movieweb.com/movie/5thelement/coa.jpg
While you can't see them in this photo, Diva Plavalaguna's tentacles also extend from the back of her head as well as down her back, and her fingers are exaggeratedly long and graceful so as to suggest tentacles also.
THE FIFTH ELEMENT itself can't decide whether it wants to be a serious s.f. story or a comedy, but it has many things going for it: Along with the tentacled Diva, it features a bizarre but sweet Milla Jovovich as the Supreme Being (yes, you heard that right), a maniacally funny Chris Tucker as Ruby Rhod (a not-so-subtle takeoff on the-artist-formerly-known-as-The-Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Prince), and Gary Oldman as a quintessential bad guy. On the negative side, it has Bruce Willis as the hero (can't stand him, never could and never will, with the possible exception of THE SIXTH SENSE). Lots of fun and worth renting, anyway.
Your were-squid in the balcony
Tani
Perfect description of Zorg! And let's not forget the squished elephant Beanie Baby that lived in his drawer and refused to save him when he was choking.
) -- though he is a fine actor in his own right (Kyle was also the main reason I watched TWIN PEAKS, at least for the first few episodes before it became completely incomprehensible).
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