Book Review - The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective
4 hours ago
6 min read
October 9th 2026
Luc Besson brought his cult-classic movie The Fifth Element to the big screen in May 1997, going on to break records and win multiple awards. The story of Leeloo and Korben Dallas was a huge success, and in no small part thanks to the visual design of the movie. Almost 30 years on, there is now a new book that explores the artistry behind this in wonderful detail, The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective.
Released on September 15th by Titan Books, editors Patrice Girod Arnaud Grunberg present their three years of hard work gathering the content in this new book, aiming to give people a new way to enjoy the movie with a peak behind the curtain. With a copy now here in the collection after a recent rewatch of The Fifth Element, I’m now happy to share the great time I had with this new book.
Production Quality
Make space on your shelf, because The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective is an oversized volume, coming in at a large 26cm x 31cm hardcover that contains 270 pages. The paper and print quality are excellent too, making it feel like a premium release as we have come to expect with artbooks. The binding holds it all together with enough flexibility to allow each spread to fully open, removing image loss in the centre fold which I love to see.
I really like the cover design from David Oghia as well, it’s printed with high clarity and the taxi is embossed as a nice extra touch. Overall, this is everything I hope to see when I pick up a new artbook.
Content
Inside fans are treated to a wealth of artwork, photos, and written insights, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. It begins with a foreword from Joe Johnston and an introduction from the editors about their love for the movie, followed by a look at the career of director Luc Besson. It’s a short and sweet setup to prepare you for the endless onslaught of artwork and details that then come your way.
The chapters follow the story of the movie, but before this you learn about how it came to be, from its inception as a novel and its original title of ‘Zaltman Bléros’, to getting funding and changing it from a two-part movie into one. The details are in-depth and I immediately knew that this was going to be a fantastic read, and the rest of the book did not disappoint.
It’s also here that you are greeted by the artwork, and though I’m here to review artbooks and not just gush over the art inside of them, I loved what this book has collected. Jean-Claude Mézières, Patrice Garcia, Jacques Rey, and the rest of the artists created stunning concepts for the movie’s unique sci-fi future. I was immediately drawn to the colours, because they certainly were not afraid to go bold with them! No matter if it was for the looser pieces, or those with more detail, I really enjoyed it all and it looks great on printed on the page.
There is a lot it covers too, the characters, vehicles, spaceships, interiors, environments, storyboards, matte paintings, and even blueprints. A highlight is how many unused designs are included, such as Mondoshawan suit ideas and a lot of vehicle concepts, even entire scenes and aliens that didn’t make the final cut. The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective’s size is put to good use to include a lot of the team’s work, and all without neglecting other elements of the content. One of which being photography.
What I really like about the photos is that they aren't just movie stills, they focus on the props and miniatures, including the artists and model makers as they were at work. The Fifth Element is filled with details and thoughtful design in every frame, most of which was done practically, with this being celebrated alongside the art. Seeing the craftsmanship for elements like the costumes, vehicles, and buildings makes you appreciate how much work went into brining this future to life. The photos and art are balanced very well throughout, giving fans a detailed look at the talent of multiple departments that helped make the movie possible.
The first chapter is where the book follows the story of the movie, which is guided by the printed script. I like how this was implemented, because it notes this is the final script, but retains the original scene numbers so you can see how parts were moved around in the final cut. This gives the art and photos order as well, with thoughtful pauses in the script to have spreads focus on images that relate to something introduced in that scene, such as the first break to highlight the Mondoshawan ship designs and model.
In these pauses you get more insights too, and this is where the effort put in by Patrice Girod and Arnaud Grunberg really shines. The level of detail was some of the best I’ve seen, because they didn’t just highlight the artists, but also knew details about them, such as what software they used and other projects they had been a part of. A lot of these insights were included in image notes as well, so even on spreads with the scripts, you still get meaningful details.
I spent my time with The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective being amazed by the artwork, admiring the models, and completely engaged by the in-depth production details. There’s so much more I could talk about, but I’ll end this section here by saying it’s a thoughtful celebration of the movie and artists that fellow fans will want to revisit over and over.
Artist Credits
As mentioned, the effort was spent to get details on the people involved in the production of The Fifth Element, which is reflected in the credits too, because each piece of concept art is credited to the person behind it. Even the modelmakers and Digital Domain team are mentioned for the photos, something you don’t always see, which will no doubt be appreciated by those involved. The owners of the photos are also credited at the back of the book, making The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective a prime example of how this should be done.
Use of Space
As you can see in the previews, the page design keeps things simple with clean backgrounds and enough space for everything shine. I will never have a problem with this approach when executed like this, because it doesn’t distract and does not waste any space here either. Image sizes and layouts vary from spread to spread to keep it from being clinical, with the details and colours of all the images aided by the great print quality.
Value
This release comes with an RRP of $50 in the US and £39.99 in the UK, about what you expect for an artbook. For the size and amount of content found inside, I think this is a solid price point when compared to others you can find in this bracket, outdoing many of them too. Without a discount, fans should feel more than happy with this price.
Using Amazon as always to compare, discounts can already be found to make some extra savings. These come and go, but in the US at the time of writing this it is under $45, and in the UK it is down to under £30. It’s hard to turn down these prices and it delivers incredible value for those that find them, but even if you can’t find a deal, I think you’ll get your money’s worth and then some.
Verdict
The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective is brilliant on all fronts and has become one of my favourite releases of the year. I will be going back to this one a lot to enjoy the artwork, but I know that will also have me poring over the photos of the costumes, sets, and models too. The behind-the-scenes insights are well written and share more detail than I was expecting, making it a treat to read from cover to cover.
This release ticks every box for me when it comes to a movie artbook, acting as the perfect companion to get lost in when the credits roll and one of the easiest recommendations in the collection. This is the type of artbook that would make me buy a Multipass and travel to another planet to collect!
If you enjoyed the review and previews and would like to order your own copy of The Fifth Element: A Visual Retrospective, you can do so here;
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