<P> Besson started writing the story that became The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas . Besson wanted to shoot the film in France, but suitable locations could not be found; filming took place instead in London and Mauritania . Comics writers Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean - Claude Mézières, whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film, were hired for production design . Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier . </P> <P> The Fifth Element received mainly positive reviews, although it tended to polarize critics . It has been called both the best and worst summer blockbuster of all time . The film was a financial success, earning more than $263 million at the box office on a $90 million budget . At the time of its release it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest - grossing French film at the international box office until the release of The Intouchables in 2011 . </P> <P> In 1914, aliens known as Mondoshawans arrive at an ancient Egyptian temple to collect, for safekeeping concerning World War I, the only weapon capable of defeating a great evil that appears every 5,000 years . The weapon consists of four stones, containing the essences of the four classical elements, and a sarcophagus containing a fifth element in the form of a human, which combines the power of the other four elements into a divine light capable of defeating the evil . The Mondoshawans promise their human contact, a priest from a secret order, that they will come back with the weapon in time to stop the great evil when it returns . </P> <P> In 2263, the great evil appears in deep space in the form of a giant ball of black fire, and destroys an attacking Earth spaceship . The Mondoshawans' current contact on Earth, priest Vito Cornelius, informs the President of the Federated Territories of the history of the great evil and the weapon that can stop it . As the Mondoshawans return to Earth they are ambushed by Mangalores, a race hired by the industrialist Jean - Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, who has been directed by the great evil (sending messages as "Mister Shadow") to acquire the element stones . </P>

Who played the girl in the fifth element