diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_bulk.py b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_bulk.py
index 928be3843c..c956036fda 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_bulk.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/metadata_bulk.py
@@ -743,6 +743,8 @@ class MetadataBulkDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_MetadataBulkDialog):
         else:
             flags = re.I
 
+        flags |= re.UNICODE
+
         try:
             if self.search_mode.currentIndex() == 0:
                 self.s_r_obj = re.compile(re.escape(unicode(self.search_for.text())), flags)