"Le Grand Bleu" is definitely one of my favourite films ever. It is a marvellous combination of passion (in any sense), sea and landscapes (mainly in Greece and Italy) featuring great actors such as Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno, Rosanna Arquette, Jean Bouise and I can't forget Luc Besson as a wonderful and talented director and producer. Luc Besson is 17 years old, living in the south of Italy. One evening, a holidaymaker projects a small film in which appears a perfect unknown man but who breathes in and out happiness, without oxygen, it is Jacques Mayol. Luc Besson is filled with wonder, and as of the following day he decides to be tested on how long he can hold his breath for and already is able to take it for 4 minutes and to go down up to forty meters. But it is only when Mayol has just crossed the -100 meters many years after that he decides to make a film of it. He directed the spectacle in such manners he put in scene rather
strange characters, kind of romantic Martians deliberately beside their time and the common direction. That is what makes the film a real and pure beauty.
It is firstly and simply the story of a young boy called Jacques Mayol whose father died while working away under the sea. Jacques has the unique chance to hold his breath and go under water (mainly to feed fishes) for several minutes only with the strength of his lungs... He will become friend with an Italian boy named Enzo Molinari. Enzo will later be his direct opponent in diving. He always challenges him to get the best out of both of them. But their friendship is threatened by their water fight and by their strong will to get to the limits.
Le Grand Bleu is also a love-story. But between whom are you going to ask? Jacques falls in love (or thinks falling in love) for this girl Johanna, an American journalist but he is also deeply involved with the sea and its mysterious creatures. Jacques is getting confused: he doesn't know if his love grows bigger for the dolphins (sirens of the sea) or for Johanna (being of the earth). His stomach gets funny when he is in presence of the two of them and it’s like having a butterfly fluttering in it.
It is also a moving story between two friends: Jacques and Enzo. They share the same passion but Enzo is more likely to be winning championships. He always looks out for better and further results and achievements. Jacques has a genuine interest to this sport. He makes one with the deep blue and feels completely part of his mates the dolphins. Enzo constantly wants to push the limits to the maximum disregarding the consequences. He wants Jacques to confront him in a championship. Why? Because he knows that he is the only one who can beat him.
It is finally a great music produced by Eric Serra who has composed so many soundtracks for Luc Besson such as Leon, Jeanne d’Arc, The Fifth Element, Nikita, Subway, Atlantis, Goldeneye… The partition of the film is a form of new-age, a mystical return with simple value, mixed with percussion, piano, synthesised music the whole thing sounds like an echo and support the meditation looked for. There is immediate correlation between the images and the sounds, plunging the spectator in a coma or quasi-trans from where he leaves only once the film finished and when the lights are re-ignited. But to speak that way about this partition is quite reducing, because it is necessary for us to retain, in addition to the capacity of relieving, the capacity of evocation: superb " the Overture ", then " Let Them Try ", " Homo Delphinus "... Each one of these elements is in itself the keystone of the unit, bearing in itself all the richness set of themes and sounds of this unforgettable melody.
And to finish the scene of opening of the " The Big Blue " is full of mystery and poetry, something that will stick in your mind when you’ll be in a solemn mood because the film is turned in black and white giving an impression of nostalgia.
I personally own the music CD and it is a revelation to me. I often listen to it and it is a great because each passage corresponds to a particular scene and details come back so quickly and so easily you have the feeling to be part of it.
Definitely a movie to watch. Enjoy.
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Sep 3rd, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
