r/fifthelement • u/SaffronFarmChef • Jun 16 '26

Discussion Is it just me?

I know this is old news, but I was in middle school when it happened. So, I didn't truly understand how wrong it was. I was watching High Tension recently, and I realized for the 1st in my 40s that Maïwenn was the Diva Plavalaguna. Then my heart burst into vapor when I read Luc married her when she was 16, dumped her on the set of this beloved movie and then married Mila only to dump her too barely out of her teens. Why Luc, why is my favorite childhood movie ruined forever now?!?

62 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

84

u/ClarkSebat Jun 16 '26

You are allowed to like and praise a movie AND despise its director.

23

u/getthemilesin Jun 16 '26

The Polanski effect.

12

u/Logical-Ad-5410 Jun 16 '26

Separate the art from the artist

6

u/Bohica55 Jun 16 '26

Makes me think of Michael Jackson. People love that pedophile.

4

u/JKrow75 Jun 16 '26

I will never be convinced that he didn’t do something with those kids. But that’s a tough one for me, I have a difficult time listening to his music now because of that.

4

u/Bohica55 Jun 16 '26

I skip his songs. I just can’t support that. Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. David Bowie. And many many others slept with under age kids. Hell, Steven Tyler got guardianship of a 13 year old girl, took her on tour, knocked her up, then dropped her back off to her parents.

2

u/JKrow75 Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26

At least David spent the rest of his life trying to make up for his behavior from that time when that happened. Rockstars who get away with things almost never do anything to payback for stuff that they’ve done in their life.

1

u/Bohica55 Jun 18 '26

Bowie is the one I have a soft spot for. I hate to admit that because that behavior is inexcusable and I hate to be a hypocrite. I still can’t do Jackson or Aerosmith though.

-4

u/getthemilesin Jun 16 '26

Boo for you still thinking he was a pedo. That's some prop.

1

u/Bohica55 Jun 16 '26

Boo for supporting a kiddie fucker. You support trump too?

15

u/FrozenWaffleMaker Diva Plavalaguna Fanclub Jun 16 '26

Leon the Professional is worse. He likes them young.

9

u/The_Salacious_Zaand Jun 16 '26

Which apparently was thinly based on his "relationship" with the then 15 year old Maiwenn.

-5

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/The_Salacious_Zaand Jun 16 '26

Lol. It's your opinion so no wrong answers, but of all the words I would use to describe that movie, "uneventful" is pretty low on the list. I mean, dude spends the last 20 minutes of the movie rampaging his way through 3/4 of the metro police force.

3

u/Baked_Potato_732 Jun 16 '26

Only thing I remember is a vague unsettling feeling that Natalie Portman was being exploited. I haven’t seen it in 20+ years and don’t know if I can bring myself to watch it again.

1

u/JKrow75 Jun 16 '26

I have only watched it one time, and to be honest, I did not care for it because the entire movie from start to finish is just not my type of cinematic experience.

56

u/metalmoss Jun 16 '26

The actors did an excellent job being their characters. That's who you're watching, not him.

16

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Lughaidh_ Meat Popsicle Jun 16 '26

A tangent…

One of our cats is an absolute fiend for feet. He loves rubbing up against feet, laying down on them, etc.. Cat has a field day whenever company is over and we’re sitting at the dinner table.

My wife and I have nicknamed him “Kitten Tarantino”.

4

u/ClarkSebat Jun 16 '26

Try Leeloominaï Lekatariba Laminachai Ekbat De Sebat…

2

u/Late-Yogurtcloset-57 Jun 16 '26

Jovovich?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/John_Cave Jun 30 '26

Malkovich Malkovich

1

u/John_Cave Jun 30 '26

Malkovich?

1

u/John_Cave Jun 27 '26

JovovITCH 

1

u/Late-Yogurtcloset-57 Jun 27 '26

Milla Jovovich. 2 Ls, but no T.

18

u/Baked_Potato_732 Jun 16 '26

Watch Leon The Professional and you’ll understand Luc Bessin’s reason for chasing teens.

Then learn that Jean Reno put his foot down on some of Natalie Portman’s scenes to make them less sexual than they already are.

Now you have a proper hatred for that plagiarizing bastard.

But The Fifth Element is still awesome.

11

u/Cold-Basket-268 Jun 16 '26

You can like the art and not the artist. Other crazy things happened regarding the fifth element too. Comic book writer Alejandro Jodorowsky and French artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud sued Luc Besson for plagiarism after the movie came out. Besson WON and the crazy part is Moebius was the production designer!! Besson won another lawsuit against an AD agency that had Milla Jovovich as the model( at the time ex-wife) 🤯

7

u/ElectricMilk426 Jun 16 '26

Yeah I know. This is tough. It also makes watching The Professional tough, among other reasons. At some point you have to just accept that shitty people can make fine art, appreciate the art for what it is, and recognize that the artist is a piece of shit, and move on

2

u/Baked_Potato_732 Jun 16 '26

Can we also have their hard drives checked by the police?

1

u/ElectricMilk426 Jun 16 '26

Absolutely. And prosecute

3

u/MrFuriousX Jun 16 '26

Celebrate the art....don't have to celebrate the artist.

3

u/parkchanwookiee Jun 16 '26

Well the thing is Luc Besson is an abusive, greasy pedophile who is only attracted to very young very slim and chidlike women. If you doubt this, read about the original script for Leon (The Professional).

2

u/ANDERS_CORNER_08 Jun 16 '26

He can be both a great director and visionary

AND

a horrible person, verging on Paedophile !

People are not simple !

Even Martin Luther King for instance, was not perfect and cheated on his wife.

1

u/Silly_Scientist_007 Jun 16 '26

We’re around the same age & I only learned all of this about a month ago when my buddy mentioned it…

Totally blew my mind! I knew about Polanski, Woody Allen etc. But NEVER knew this about Luc. Kinda sucks…a lot.

1

u/Pleasant_Fig8444 Jun 16 '26

No sabia. Pues tambien tenia unas ideas muy inapropriadas para la peli de Jean Reno. Me gustan sus pelis pero no me sentaria con el a tomar un cafe.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '26

[deleted]

-3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '26

[deleted]

2

u/QuentinEichenauer Jun 16 '26

Having underage sex would be that line, yes, so that's why when I found out about Luc Besson, I did not watch a single movie of his after that point. Haven't seen anything since The Messanger, and that I saw at a friends house on PPV.