Immortal (2004) Online

I've read the comments on this movie, and my opinion is that most commenters did not really get this movie.

This is an Enki Bilal movie, which means it is a Graphic Novel (i deliberately do not use the word "comic book") in cinematic form. If you get the chance to check out some of Bilal's work, you will understand this movie all the better.

The movie is a mix of live action and lots of CGI, which may make it confusing for some at times. If you must, think of it as an animated movie using live actors.

The movie is an audiovisual treat, but, like much of Bilal's work, is heavy on symbolism and portrays a very bleak vision of the future.

If you want to see a mainstream scifi spectacle, don't see this film. If you want to see something that is out of the box, go see it, rent it,or even better, buy it!

As a whole, the movie best compares to Japanese anime, more specific movies such as Ghost in the Shell.

I absolutely adored it. The Baudelaire poetry was an unexpected surprise (in retrospect, however, it should not have been)

As a result of seeing this film, I went out to buy some of Bilal's graphic novels.

If you:

loved the ambiance of The Fifth Element adore the darker side of Japanese anime wanted to walk through the streets in Blade Runner want more out of a movie than simply action love the work of Charles Baudelaire want to see that even Egyptian gods are flawed

See this film!!

Some points of notice:

At times, the amount of visual information is staggering. i had to rewind a couple of times to get everything. It compares to reading the page of a graphic novel a couple of times to get everything.

The mixture of CGI and live actors is strange at first, but you get used to it.

My one negative point about this movie: the Egyptian gods were too static. they should have been a bit more lifelike. As it is, they look like barely animated statues. It adds to the graphic environment, but comes off strange in a movie. I would have liked to see more of them as well.

One of the most surprising and disappointing things I read on other peoples comments were the comparison with PIXAR and of course the quality of the computer generated images. It seems, that US public, values ART according the technical resources of the artist more than the spiritually of the work.

Cinema is art. In USA, that art has become almost absolutely dependent on business. The main reason I am anxious for digital (not film) movies and projectors in every theatre; it is because I will be able to see real artist working not just moneymaking customer oriented factories. Productions will become less expensive, and everybody would be able to create and be judged for their work. In the mean time, luckily in Europe (mostly in France), there are still people interested in art and this movie had a go; something should never happened in USA. A brief description of the argument follows.

HORUS (the god of the sky), about to be executed by his peers, is given 7 days to visit Earth for the last time. He spends his time searching for a particular woman he wants to impregnate. To do that he needs a human body to act as his vessel (or container). An accidentally escaped terrorist (or we can call it a rebel) becomes it. The woman herself is having mysterious body changes and a complete lost of past memories. A lot of small events and characters are involved in the whole situation.

IMMORTEL (ad vitam) is a strange movie; full of religious and philosophical bits. Do not expect more explanations than these. The mystery is part of the movie poetry and is really up to you to understand or feel it. The answers (if any) are pretty hidden inside the movie.

Technically, there are moments (not always but a good average) were the merge of human characters and digital images is credible. The BLADE RUNNER style background scenery is perfectly crafted. The few action scenes are OK but not spectacular; as this is not really an action movie you could accept that.

Final advise; spend a couple of hours with this movie. It would not change your life, but it would make your brain work; and sometimes that is a lot.

I usually just stick to voting or info-retrieving when I visit IMDb. But my amazement at the low rating that this movie received is making me type these words down. I'm not much of a sci-fi fan but this movie yesterday at the art-house theatre and loved it. Powerful and convincing main characters (I'm not acquainted with the comic book series which are supposed to be better) , great characters (nice to see Charlotte Rampling doing something different), thin story lines but you know what you want to see: Egyptians Gods excerting their will in the not so distant horrid future. Simply loved Horus. Didn't experience a dull moment. And thus: 9 out of 10, partly to counterbalance the low ratings.

Go see it.

This is a very stylish and artistic movie, but it doesn't forget to tell a story. It is all done in bleak and washed out colors. It is a poetic movie; while the genre is science fiction, the author obviously could not care less for real science fiction. It's just design material, just as the piece of Egyptian mythology. The story line is straight, and has a style that is a mix between french and Japanese comics. It has the deadly epic seriousness of anime, and the designwork is both kitsch and awesome at the same time, as is customary for the french metal hurlant style. And, most refreshing, there is not a hint of Hollywood in this. So, sit back and let it flow.

I give the movie nine out of ten, but I can't say I feel hungry for more. No, what I'd like to see on the screen is some real science fiction. Not Star Wars crap and not poetic artistry, but the real thing, a modern novel by the likes of Iain M. Banks or Greg Egan adapted for the screen. Sadly enough, sf for the movies is becoming something that is exploited for it's kitschy futuristic themes and it's design and action possibilities, rather than a way to express the true visions the bookshelves are actually overflowing with. But here's still hoping...

This movie combines dreamlike landscapes, fascinating characters, a haunting soundtrack, and commanding performances by its three main human actors into a delight for the senses. I will go along with those who say the plot is a bit weak and spotty in places, but the film is still a masterpiece. I had never even heard of Nikopol, or didn't remember it anyway. I knew Enki Bilal was familiar, but had to go look it up to see where I knew the name. Turns out I had seen his stuff in Heavy Metal magazine back when it came out in the late 70s. Since I loved the art and stories of that mag, it didn't surprise me that I was drawn to this movie after stumbling upon it accidentally on sat TV. It has a bleak yet sublime futuristic look and feel to it that makes "Blade Runner" seem hum-drum. Linda Hardy is disturbed and disturbing, enigmatic and beautiful, and very, very sexy. Kretschmann is irreverent, witty, and funny. The graphics characters also have their own personalities and fit in wonderfully, I think. I agree with others who have remarked that the point here is art, not slavish duplication of reality. Both the "real" and the Eugenics-created Dayaks are masterfully done and equally creepy. Really a pleasure to watch.

I had a better understanding of this movie since I had the opportunity to acquire the Nikopol Trilogy (Hardbound trade paperback of the comics) and read that before watching the movie.

This movie is set in the year 2095 in New York City. The story starts out with a bewildered Jill being arrested by agents of Eugenics, a corporation which has its fingers on the pulse of the politicians who run the city. Jill is befriended by Emma Turner, who is a doctor that works for Eugenics. She studies Jill because she's never seen anything like Jill before - her organs are like those of a 3-month-old baby, and not in all the right places. Jill has many secrets, some that are not apparent even to herself.

A pyramid hovers over the city, and at the same time, something called the Intrusion Zone overtakes Central Park, where it is always winter. These two events are not completely unrelated. Horus is awakened by Bast and Anubus, and is, for reasons not completely explained in the movie, given 7 days to experience the earth, his creation, before he is to be put to death.

In the meantime, Nikopol, a resistance fighter against Eugenics who was put in cryogenic stasis to punish him for so-called crimes committed 30 years earlier, finds himself violently released from his prison a year early. Horus locates Nikopol, and because Nikopol is not synthetically altered, he finds Nikopol to be the perfect host for his antics, the least of which include having sex with Jill in order to impregnate her.

I have seen other critics complain about the use of CGI in this film, but the use of it makes sense as it seems only those characters who have synthetic components (or are aliens or gods) are the ones made of CGI. Sure, we're all used to the great CGI effects we've seen in recent years with other movies like LoTR and the new Star Wars films, but I believe the point was to make them look "fake" because they were fake, and the more fake a character looked, the more synthetic elements to their character makeup.

This movie reminded me of Fifth Element combined with Bladerunner in its look and feel, however, unless you read the comic, it may seem disjointed and not make much sense. Despite the drawbacks, I found this movie enjoyable.

The movie is in English.

The story revolves around New York City in the late 21st Century (2090 or so). There is a contrast between the live action, the really stunning CG and the CG that looks like some PC game I played 5 years ago. I think the movie would have been better if it was all done in CG (ie. Final Fantasy). Nonetheless, it looks similar to other European sci-fi movies (think of the Fifth Element). The first 1/2 of the movie, I was wondering what was going on. There seemed to be events that were happening, with little explanation as to why or what. There was very little background provided for the world we are dropped in (I think reading the trilogy of the comic might help in watching this movie). We are given hints that people are now more cyborg than human, corruption has increased, there seems to be non-human class discrimination, and there is a pyramid hanging over the city. While this movie has an interesting storyline and is obviously deeper than movies like the Fifth Element, the lack of character/background development ultimately hurt this movie. I was left to interpret the majority of the movie based on my own background rather than what was happening before me. I am a little disappointed. I was so interested in seeing this movie after I saw the trailer. I am going to read the Nikopol trilogy to see if my understanding and appreciation of this movie improves.

-Celluloid Rehab

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. :-)

Metropolis, Brazil, Blade Runner, City of Lost Children, Fifth Element, Dark City... throw them all in a blender and you've got the dark futuristic look of Immortal (Ad Vitam). Along with "Moebius" (art designer for Fifth Element) and Alejandro Jodorowsky (director of El Topo), Enki Bilal is one of the master story-tellers from the original Metal Hurlant publication known to most American comic-book aficionados as Heavy Metal.

This is the film the original Heavy Metal should have been. There is sex and humor and action, but it is all thoroughly in service of a science-fiction plot gleefully drenched in Egyptian-mythological fantasy. The style is pure Bilal, textured and palpable.

The plot is cerebral in that all humor (and tension) relates to character development; much like Blade Runner, if you do not follow the dialog there may not be enough action to sustain interest throughout the story. As such, there is little I could reveal about plot particulars without spoiling enjoyment of the tale's unfolding... the sad business about the leg, the quest for a certain woman, experiments with consumption, bathroom services, an oddly-formed fish...

If you have a taste for science-fiction and fantasy, I highly recommend you take a little tour of New York 2095!

Well, first of all this film is supposed to be a loose adaptation of the comics (almost more "inspired by"...). Second, I think that those who criticize the CGI graphics quality or even compare it to the horrific (!!) "Final Fantasy", are a bit besides the point.., While the Final Fantasy CGI graphics where technically amazing, the story (what story ?) was absolutely idiotic, and there was a total lack of poetry or atmosphere. Of course the CGI in "Immortals" could have been much better!... But the fact that you can make an accurate picture of a French landscape does not make it better than a Monet painting, does it ?... The use of computer imagery does not mean that everything has to be fully realistic... artful images are often created, as in painting, with a non photo-realistic depiction of reality. I think this concept worked well with this movie, creating a very moody atmosphere and adding weight to the story. Certainly "Immortals" is not a statement about creating photo-realistic computer graphics - it is simply art made with people and computers. That said, I agree that for those who are not familiar with the comics series this movie may not leave the same impression - I am biased by being a Bilal fan. However, I would recommend anyone with an interest in Science Fiction that goes a bit beyond point-and-shoot action and photo-realistic CGI to go and see this movie - they might enjoy it!...

7/10

alike other voters i found myself needing to register to vote on this movie. This movie deserves praise, an excellent blend of animation with reality, Comments i have heard from other people that have viewed this film, " its hard to tell who is a human character and who is not". The story is a believable, futuristic story combined with the mystery of mythology. The continuity is superb, holding the viewers gaze until the last moment. A story of love and hate, amnesia, unknown power, innate strength to fight for survival, with sparks flying between characters. The beautiful Linda Hardy plays the roll of Jill perfectly, captivating the audience from the first moment she hits the screen. Mysterious and mystical a magical journey into the future. I would love to see a sequel, and a prequel of this film.

Absolutely one of the best and most intriguing sci-fi films I've seen in years, thank god for internet downloads, otherwise I doubt I ever would have even heard of this film. Having just acquired a new DVD player that will play DiVX-encoded movies, I set about trying to find various interesting sci-fi/fantasy films. Running across "IMMORTEL (AD VITAM)" I decided to look it up here on IMDb and see what the masses had to say about it.

Now, in my opinion, almost ANYONE can find something negative to say about ANY film - but the truly passionate ones come out and speak their mind when something truly moves them. Thus, I tend to ignore negative reviews and instead focus solely on the positive comments. And so it comes about that - even though I've been making use of this website for *MANY* years now - this will be my very first review of a film.

I disagree that this movie is solely for film purists and art lovers; although I definitely have a great appreciation for the indie sensibility and love a good art film, I also LOVE modern commercial animated flicks (though have never really gotten too heavily into anime) and have absolutely enjoyed most commercial science fiction such as Fifth Element, Blade Runner, Stargate (and the first few seasons of the TV show Stargate SG-1), Minority Report, the original 3 Star Wars, Red Planet, Mission to Mars, Screamers, Impostor, etc. Never having heard of Enki Bilal prior to this point (having only read one or two issues of Heavy Metal over the years, but have never really gotten too into them), I now see what a genius and visionary he is, and am now on a hungered quest to find everything he's done: the films TYKHO MOON and BUNKER PALACE HOTEL, as well as all of his graphic novels, including the Nikopol Trilogy (which will hopefully expand upon the universe he discusses in this film), The Beast Trilogy, and every other major piece of work from his arsenal of past releases.

As for this film: *INSTANTLY* one of my all-time favorites, I've already watched it twice in the past week, sitting transfixed and helplessly drawn into the gorgeous, sensual, deeply textured world he has envisioned. It's like the best of Fifth Element meets the best of Stargate, only far more artistic and soulful (not to denigrate either of those films; I loved both of them and watch each of them at least once every year or so just to reacquaint myself with their particular mythos.) But IMMORTAL? God, it's just GORGEOUS!! A little cryptic at first for those unfamiliar with Enki Bilal's work; I just sat there, jaws literally agape, utterly astonished at the detail and depth of the artwork. This is definitely a science fiction masterpiece - a film for anyone who enjoys serious atmosphere, texture, sensuality, artistry, and of course, bleak dystopian views of our future world. This is one movie which I will definitely be buying as soon as humanly possible - and all because of a chance download. Why the music & film industry doesn't openly embrace downloading is beyond me. I've discovered so many amazing films & music artists this way, and have since gone out to purchase all of my favorites to embrace the high quality and all of the wonderful extras that are available. Granted, I may be the exception to the rule, but with a VHS library of over 2500 films, 100+ laserdiscs, just under 500 DVD's and well over 3000 CD's, almost all of which I've purchased as a DIRECT result of things I've downloaded over the years, they are DEFINITELY not losing ANY money from this individual.

In closing... thank you, Enki Bilal, for creating such a stunning, resonant masterpiece. You put your heart and soul into this and I am forever in your debt for bringing IMMORTAL (AD VITAM) to the screen. [ PEACE - LOVE - UNITY - RESPECT ]

I started a new thread because the one speaking poorly of this film was stuffed, so here we go. First and foremost my greatest admiration towards the film is that it bypasses a classic modern Hollywood flaw: trying to please everyone in order to attract an enormous crowd and make everyone involved so rich that we secretly hate them for living on our entertainment. Nowadays that is what every American film is doing IMO, especially the new comic-based movies. Duh! The hulk was not made the way he is as a child, and anyone who has read the comic or watched the old shows will know this. The Hulk was a terrible movie IMO because they took a brand-name character and twisted it into a get-rich-quick movie. As far as I am concerned, that movie was a piggyback on a good idea.

Also, the fantastic thing about this film is that it incorporates multiple elements into the visual expression. This is not a film to go to expecting to be numb in the mind like so much of today's media. It makes you think, and imagine the parts they left out (I have a million imagined stories for the history of John). My argument towards the CG goes as so: Horus was rendered especially well because Gods are supposed to be perfect, which means flawless skin, perfect symmetry, etc. For there to be a lot of detail in his rendering would imply a lack of perfection.

Anyone watching this film expecting to be -simply- entertained is wasting their time as this film expects -you- to involve yourself, to use more than your eyes to see, to use your -imagination- to smooth out whatever rough edges your -eyes- might catch. So many people are disillusioned by this film because they have seen 'perfect' CG, etc and can't help but complain when the see a sharp corner where there should be a smooth curve. I blame Hollywood. To be blunt I would describe this film as a venture into a new style, as it were. If people have always only seen perfectly life-like paintings, then they will have to change their mind-set when they encounter a piece done by Piccasso. Not to compare this movie to such masterpieces, but the idea is there. You cannot demand "The Scream" to become "The Mona Lisa".

Years ago Enki Bilal wrote and drew a graphical novel La Foire aux immortels, which then became a first part of his Nikopol trilogy. In this tale the ancient Egyptian gods return to earth so that Horus (Thomas M. Pollard) can spend his last days in the world he created. But he has an ulterior motive: he wants to impregnate a blue haired, blue tears weeping woman Jill, who herself isn't aware of what she really is. Jill (Linda Hardy) is a woman, who can reproduce with higher beings.

Nikopol (Thomas Kretschmann) is a prisoner convicted into cryofreeze, who escapes because of an accident jettisons his capsule from a prison ship. He looses his leg, but Horus finds Nicopol to be a perfect host from himself, as most of the humans have been genetically altered beyond humanity, so Horus builds him an iron leg in order to be able to uses his body for his own needs.

Visually speaking Immortel is interesting looking movie. Most of the characters are CGI and they've been made to look like the original drawings of Bilal. But as the movie is quite old in the age of CGI these computer generated people stand out like a shore thumb when on the screen despite there's no real humans in the same scene. The difference is even more present when there's real actors. But what works relatively well are the futuristic New York landscapes with flying cars and holographic commercials.

As a movie Immortel is far more easy to comprehend than the graphical novel it's based on and that isn't a bad thing. Bilal has clearly wanted to make something similar but different from his own work, but sadly enough the end result is a bit of a hit and miss.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bilal's graphic novel when it came out, and was amazed when I saw the trailer for this film, and even more so when I found that Bilal had directed it himself. The film, however, was a major letdown. The visuals are nowhere near the rich and gritty texture of the original artworks, and the story is poorly told. Bilal seems to have chosen to focus on the more esoteric aspects of the graphic novel, and he doesn't do a very good job at it, either.

The most enjoyable part of the original graphic novel was the friendship-hate relationship between Nikopol and Horus. They were both out of their right time and place, forced together by circumstance. Most of all, they were funny and likable. Not so here. Nikopol has no discernible personality whatsoever, and Horus is a pompous twit who just wants to get laid. Even though the film is French, Horus doesn't have to be!

We have all seen films we enjoyed, but wouldn't recommend to everyone, for some reason or other. I wouldn't recommend Immortel to anyone, except maybe as a warning not to overreach your talent and resources. Bilal's a master storyteller, but obviously not a master of every visual medium.

There is one very important fact about this movie: Don't watch it with the standard Hollywood concepts in your mind! If you do, you will only be disappointed and maybe give a bad vote to this movie which it doesn't deserve and which it should not get.

On the other side: If you really watch this movie with an open Mind and maybe with some interest in independent stuff or art, then the chance is high that you may like this movie - or should I say this little piece of art? The movie is full of mysteries and you could start to ask questions from the very beginning. Who is that girl? Why is she arrested? Why are there obviously two (or more) different sorts of people? Where did this pyramid come from? Why is it here now? Why has this trial have to place on Earth? Why have the gods to judge over Horus? What did he do? ... and the list goes on and on: Was it an accident that Nikopol was freed? Why did the guys from Eugenics appear and kill the police? What is the reason for the forbidden zone? And who or better what is John? In fact: Not all of the questions will be answered by the movie. A lot of them will still be open at the end of the movie and it will be your imagination to find an appropriate answer to them. This is one of the features that makes this movie so special: You only get a glimpse into a world which is obviously much more complex than our world now. There are social problems, technical chances and most important: metaphysical differences. Gods exists - and much more things that the human Mind cannot take easily.

Although this circumstances really could be annoying on the first glimpse, they actually do not. This is because of the consistent story of the movie, which is only a little part of a much bigger story happening only in your head. It's mainly a story about the last days of a God, and about his wish not to leave into punishment without saving his inheritance. His godly intuition leads him to a girl which is actually one of the very few capable to procreate with the Gods. And there is only one thing he wants to do with her: Procreate! But therefore he needs a human medium, which is hard to find in a world, where anyone seems to be biologically or cybernetically modified. Only when a prisoner gets free who was frozen for decades the God finds in him the compatible medium he searched for... You see: The main storyline is quite plain. Added to it are a lot of interesting characters and some side-stories, which can lead you on false tracks to the story but also give you some more information on the world. There is this political affair with Eugenics and the Senator who is involved in it. There are these beasts, which should have been extincted but are still alive - few but very dangerous, and there is this cop, who is straight on his path for justice, and for revenge...

All this happens in front of something one could call a "cyperpunk" atmosphere of a future New York: Nearly everything seems rotten and decayed, but in the middle of it, there are spots of high technology, if you are wealthy enough to participate in them...

And at the end, you will mainly have learned one lesson: That where powers like Gods are acting, no human action is worth anything. The humans in this movie are spectators, not actors. Humans are puppets, game inventory for a gamble of higher powers - and nothing more...

I here the critics saying that the CGIs could have been better, and I agree: For the high level of the plot and the great atmosphere of the movie (which is also perfectly supported by the music), it is a pity that on some little parts of the movie the effects seem a bit old or bad. But as a glimpse into the future of film art, this movie is an outstanding milestone. Sometimes the borders between real actors and CGI-crafted creatures are blurring... but only sometimes. The effects were the main reason to rate the movie not with a 10.

If you want a philosophical, dark-sci-fi movie you are right to choose this one. If you want space-crafts and explosions and less-brain stories try something else instead.

This is one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen. It was so random and weird that you can't take your eyes off of it and when it's over you want to see it again. Very strange, but then most of the most interesting movies in the world are. I thought it was weird that I had never heard of the comic books, but then it makes sense that it wasn't made in the USA. That actually explains a lot about this movie. Like the random nudity and the part at the end when they speak French without any translation. It probably would have made more sense if they did translate that and the part where the gods talk in what is supposed to be Egyptian, I guess. Then again maybe not.

What a fantastic film. One that I will be watching again someday as I think I'll get even more from it with a second viewing. I love the depth of this world, the story and its characters. The greatly detailed backgrounds are flawless and every part of the film; even the switches to animation or foreign languages; do not wrench you from this immersive experience.

Do feel free to watch this film while utterly relaxed (have a few beers) and let it wash over you. It is an incredibly detailed piece of art that can either be dissected for its message or just enjoyed for its visual beauty.

Suspend your disbelief and invest some of your time on this fantasy train.

I love Bilal's work, but somehow hate this movie. It is just so out of place. A clean three dimensional animation.. of the story. Movie and book are so fare apart, although made by the same person!

Anyway, I saw this version in 2006 and recently back on a Two Disk Special Edition. To say, that Bilal should of let an other director direct this movie, Would be right. Obviously the movie suffered and failed because of it.

It failed to capture the raw feel and spirit of the comics. You have to remember that the story was conceived somewhere in the late '70's, and the sign of that time seems to have been filtered out. That is to bad. Now it feels a bit empty, adding an late 90's interpretation to it. Physically it also feels superficial, even though they had a budget of over 20 million to play with. Same with the dialogs, they don't feel right. There is no dynamic. Horus's voice for instance is an serious annoyance, and really badly cast. The rest of the acting cast though is great. It is just to bad the scripted dialog's aren't helping them.

Technically they did a lot of great work on this project but frankly, most of it doesn't work visually. For example, the use of CGI for the characters was absolutely unnecessary. Great achievement, but not as effect in this film. It is a bit childish in style ..so uncool though cold. It also lacks physical weight, reality and rawness the comics have. Something an great make-up artist could have given it.

Again, the whole film looks so synthetic and empty, while the book feels more organic and filled with so much warm detail, even open in a curtain way. After all, these are all some of the major defining elements of Bilal's style.

Nonetheless, I still think the story is an source for an great movie. Although the Egyptian elements may be out of interest or out of time(..), and a lot of pieces are already stolen by other directors and movies. The world of Bilal and his style are still very interesting. There is so much more to the story, then what we see in this movie. If you see how physical additions to the body are becoming common place in society, you can still see the relevance. Lots of angles to be explored here.

Maybe a American commercial remake a-la Ridley..?( He is a big fan of Bilal's work) Or Besson, to keep it French, maybe Guillermo Del Toro..

All in all, if you are a fan you have to see this or try to get trough. Just remember, the movie is nothing like the comics. They rock!

I saw this at an arty cinema that was also showing "Last Days" and some Charlie Chaplin films. Based on the quality of the other features, I decided to give "Immortel" a chance. I nearly walked out of this movie, and I LIKE science-fiction! The story is set in a futuristic New York city, filled with Blade Runner-style sky advertisements and some similar debates about cloning/synthetic humans. Unfortunately, the screenplay was not condensed enough for an hour-and-forty-five-minute movie. Three groups exist in this world: humans, artificial humans, and Egyptian gods. The artificial humans seem to have the upper hand and control the politics of the city. The humans are slaves and are used for eugenics and organ donation. The Egyptian gods have a floating pyramid (modeled on the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and complete with a deteriorated exterior, leaving a smooth "cap" on the pyramid. Wouldn't a floating futuristic pyramid be in perfect condition?). The pyramid rests above the city and nobody on the ground understands what it is or why it's there. I won't bore you with the so-called plot, but there is lots of unnecessary gore and many gross-out scenes. The film, as I said, looks to have been influenced by Blade Runner, and perhaps also by The Fifth Element and The Matrix. At the end of the film credits were listed thank-yous to the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. The film is FRENCH, but uses British actors who don't speak French. Hence, it is obvious that their French dialog has been dubbed. This is a distraction, and I also thought that switching back and forth between real humans and animations quite distracting. It doesn't help that the animations are poor--no better than a video game. Skip this one.

"Immortel" (2004 - 102 minutes), a computerized animation directed by Enki Bilal, is an adaptation for the cinema of a French Comic Book Series full of impressive and beautiful images. New York, 2095. An amazing pyramid floats on the sky with some Egyptian Gods inside. The Eugenics, a legal company specialized in legal cloned organs transplants, monopolizes the market. It has more influence in the society than the proper government and now is making incredible advances in the creation of hybrids human-clones. One of the Gods of the pyramid, Horus, is charged to go down to the world of the human beings for, in one week, try to perpetuate his immortality. At meanwhile, Jill Bioskop, a young and mysterious woman of blue hair, an hybrid being with only three months old, arrives of an unknown place to experience living on Earth. Her enigmatic genetic constitution calls the attention. Nikopolos, a revolutionary fugitive, condemned the 30 years in a cryogenic prison for opposing the techniques of Eugenics, went to Earth too and was chosen by the God Horus who took his body and cured his cutted off leg. Nikopolos, manipulated for Horus, goes behind Jill because probably she could be pregnant of a God, what would give immortality to Horus.

Truly aesthetic luxury, the film counts on with a few real human characters, being distinguished the performance of the actors Charlotte Rampling and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

I love science fiction, I am fascinated by Egyptian mythology and I appreciate digital animation. I figured a movie that combines these three would be at least enjoyable. I could not have been more wrong: The story (or actually the lack there of) was completely uninspired and lacks imagination - while imagination usually is the biggest component of any science fiction story. The dialogue and acting are even worse than in an average porno movie. Especially Thomas Kretschmann gives new meaning to the term 'bad performance'. Bad acting wouldn't have been such a huge problem if only 'director' Bilal didn't take himself so seriously; all the lines sound like they are supposed to be poetic, it looks like Bilal really thinks he has made a piece of art here. Well, there's no art or poetry to be found in this piece of junk, only pretentiousness! This man should really stick to making comics, since he fails on all possible accounts as a director. Worst of all is the terrible digital animation, which is so ugly that it actually turns watching this movie into a physically painful experience. The graphics look so fake they even make the werewolves in 'Van Helsing' look like live actors! And since half the characters are CGI-animated, it is quite a problem that the CGI-effects look so fake. If the Egyptian Gods actually exist then Bilal's a dead guy, since they will no doubt take gruesome revenge on him for the ridiculous way in which he portrays them in this disastrously bad movie.

I can understand why some people didn't liked the movie. People do need some requirements to understand the movie and unlike most movies everything is definitely not explained in the movie or at least at the beginning of the movie. If you watch it until the end you will get an answer to most of your questions. However if you don't know anything on the GODS from Ancient Egypt, on French Poetry ( especially Baudelaire who's poetry is present over and over) and didn't saw movies like "The Island" ( not necessary but useful) you will miss 50% of the movie interest. I would strongly recommend this movie, but don't expect everybody to like it. The only thing I didn't liked in the movie is that sometimes the actors don't play THAT well. I would however mention that they acted the entire movie with a blue screen behind... it doesn't help. However the actors choice was perfect and the costumes and the decorum and the atmosphere are absolutely amazingly rendered in the movie. Enjoy !

This movie seems to start in the middle, introduces peripheral players as if they were significant and presents main characters without any substance and paper-thin and/or impenetrable back-stories. Almost nobody has a credible or discernible motivation for their actions in this film. The plot rambles and ultimately goes nowhere, the dialogue is clunky and trite and the director has little concept of how to get the best from his actors. It almost feels like there's a first half of this movie but it never got made.

We're told that a mysterious pyramid has appeared over New York City and that Central Park has inexplicably become an arctic wasteland. Yet none of this seems to have caused much of a stir amongst the general population and is only of minimal concern to the government.

We're presented with the "evil corporation" in Eugenics but that's really just a convenient conceit to populate the universe with a couple power-tripping minions. The whole "Eugenics-is-bad" double-entendre is heavy-handed and never really pans out here. We're supposed to care about the central characters but we never learn enough about them to know why. So much about this world is underdeveloped or completely undeveloped that it comes off as a 1-hour, 40-minute fatalistic rationalization for rape.

On the "ground-breaking" digitally animated world created here, all I can say is that at about the same time as this film was made several other directors did the same thing with more seamless and believable results.

After spending the time to watch this film the most burning question left in my mind was, "so what?"

I can't believe that anyone would think this movie was good.

The dialog was so bad - it must be more than just bad translation. I would go as far as to say, the editor just got a bunch of random sentences that he had to put together and was only given a short period of time. The dialog almost never makes sense. I know I could write better dialog and I'm not any good.

As an example: Nikopol: "I'm not sure, and more importantly, I don't know." and another: Detective Froebe: "Be careful, the car is highly tuned." Dr. Rampling: "Just like you." -- I had a very difficult time getting past the dialog - it was enough to ruin the movie.

Also, the story was very much incoherent, and there are characters who appear who just don't ever get explained and you never find out who they are or what they are there for. There is also a side story with Detective Froebe that adds NOTHING to the story and could have been removed. In fact, the detective was so ineffective as to be a non character.

Similar to the dialog, the story sometimes jumps from one place to the next without the viewer ever know what is going on. At one point, Jill walks to the back of a bar, goes through a door and dons a space suit. The next thing we know, she's floating in space talking to John. We don't know how that happened. I have no idea why I should just accept something like that.

Some of the reviewers say the movie was "beautiful", but you start with live action people, and then for a long time, all you see is bad CG (i.e. androids/aliens). I had to switch modes while watching and just consider it a CG cartoon. It was just far too low quality to be considered realistic. Certainly, the CG in "Final Fantasy" was far superior, and is years older.

AND - I think that I followed the film completely. I get the impression that it was never the film makers' intention to provide anything more that that.

A sorry excuse for a film. This makes the extras on the DVD that much more comical, as the producer, director and special effects people go on about how hard it was, or how amazing it is etc... etc... This film is one destined for the $5 bin at the video store.