Trivia: Film Review - The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Egypt Exploration Society (Review by John J Johnston)

The possibility of my reviewing Luc Besson’s latest film was originally suggested because it concerns the adventures of a lady novelist and sometime journalist in pre-WWI Egypt. Although the time period was a little out, the parallels with the founder of the Egypt Exploration Society, Amelia Edwards, seemed evident. However, as it transpires, such similarities were slight...

Unlike the doughty Amelia, the heroine of this film, Adèle Blanc-Sec—‘Like the wine’—is young, glamorous, and far more in the tradition of 1960s comic-strip characters such as Modesty Blaise or Barbarella. This is perhaps unsurprising as the character originated in Jacques Tardi’s series of acclaimed bandes dessinées and the film, itself, is based, specifically, on two of these: Adèle et la bête (1976) and Momies en folie (1978).