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Where inside and outside refuse to keep to themselves

The Fifth Element, Luc besson, 1997 // Polly in Paris by @polly_pick_pocket

Ask yourself: does it get better than Bruce Willis’ self sufficient apartment in the 5th Element? And the answer is no, no it doesn’t. It’s a claustrophobic but somehow freeing space. Like a perfectly packaged toy set, each detail is minimised in size but maximised in consideration. You can do anything. You can reach and touch everything: coffee, phone, monstrous intergalactic weapons.

And then, oh lord, then comes lunch. And it is truly extraordinary.

The whole concept of food delivery is turned upside down, the same way Besson turned the world on its head when he made cars fly in the sky. Take-out becomes take-in. By the time the food bateau cheerily blasts off, vanishing into the busy air-city streets, we discover an even greater power of the inner closed space - it gobbles up the outside. Limitless.