The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-sec -2010 -

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

In 2010, legendary French filmmaker Luc Besson—the mind behind The Fifth Element and Léon: The Professional —turned his lens toward a beloved piece of Franco-Belgian comic history. The result was , a visually sumptuous, genre-bending romp through Belle Époque Paris that feels like a blend of Indiana Jones , Amélie , and Jurassic Park .

Adèle Blanc-Sec

Set in Belle Époque Paris, the film follows (Louise Bourgoin), a bestselling adventure novelist who is far more competent than any police officer or professor she meets. When her sister becomes comatose after a freak accident involving a mummy’s thorn, Adèle travels to Egypt to rob a tomb for the only cure: a mummified doctor.

Louise Bourgoin

At the heart of the film is Adèle Blanc-Sec, played with pitch-perfect cynicism and charm by . Adèle is not your average "damsel in distress." She is a chain-smoking, tomb-robbing, fiercely independent travel writer who is driven by a singular, desperate goal: to save her sister from a tragic, comatose state caused by a freak tennis accident.

Unfortunately, despite fan campaigns, the sequel never materialized. Besson moved on to other projects (including Lucy and Valerian ), and Bourgoin’s career took different directions. The film remains a one-off—a beautiful, bizarre orphan of cinema.

Where to watch:

As of 2026, the film is available on Mubi, Amazon Prime (with subscription), and for digital rental on Apple TV. Look for the original French audio with subtitles; the English dub, while competent, loses Louise Bourgoin’s irreplaceable voice.