diff --git a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
index ff200fb70..027c686fc 100644
--- a/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
+++ b/wagtail/wagtailsearch/tests/test_elasticsearch_backend.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
 from wagtail.tests.utils import unittest
 import datetime
 import json