People..please, no more telling me I misunderstood the Football Factory, if one more person even thi...
People..please, no more telling me I misunderstood the Football Factory, if one more person even thinks about saying it..I'm 32, I've got GCSE's in pottery..I understand sh*t British films just fine <flounces off in flurry of petticoats>
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Luc Besson (Subway, Nikita, Leon, Fifth Element) has again pulled off a masterstroke of film-making with 1988's 'Le Grande Bleue'. At the end, as you draw in a deep breath, you're convinced you've watched something of great depth and meaning, but only in hindsight does it strike you that the only thing in the movie with any great character is the ocean itself.
A truly massive triumph of style over substance, 'Le Grande Bleue' is certainly a visual tour de force, even if repeated viewings highlight the vague characterisations of the leads.
Jacques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr) is orphaned as a young boy when his only surviving parent, his father, is drowned in a diving accident. With few friends, besides the great expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, Jacques retreats further inside of himself, allowing occasional friend, the Italian Enzo (Jean Reno) to be the extrovert.
Years pass and the next time we encounter Jacques is deep in Peru. An insurance investigator arrives at a scientific research base to oversee a claim for a vehicle lost in the icy waters of a lake. The American
investigator, Johana Baker (Rosanna Arquette), witnesses an experiment on Jacques as he plunges deep into the lake, with his heart rate being monitored, and the length of time he stays under recorded. No ordinary dive this though, for Jacques is descending into the darkness with no breathing aparatus, and is dropping deeper and deeper, beyond where a normal human should go.
Miss Baker is fascinated by Jacques, but is unable to find a chance to talk with him. Returning to America it is by chance that she sees a newspaper report on the World Free Diving Championships. Engineering a visit, she flies to the championships in the hopes of meeting Jacques once again.
Jacques is at the event, busily focusing on taking the trophy away from Enzo, and with Bakers arrival the three strike up a curious friendship. Jacques and Johana become lovers, but it is evident from an early stage that no-one can replace the great love of Jacques life, the ocean.
The story really is the most thin of plots. Very little actually happens, and despite great performances from the lead performers, none of the characters are particularly well fleshed out. That neither of those two complaints matter is to Bessons credit. He fashions an incredibly fulfilling movie from such meagre foundations. The film is basically one long diving competition between Jacques and Enzo, with some romance thrown in to ensure an even more moving finale.
With the sea as Besson's backdrop, he can't really fail. With director of photography, Carlo Varini, Besson has created some truly awe inspiring footage of life beneath the waves. If the mere thought of free diving doesn't wrestle the breath from you, then the scenery certainly shall. On land the location work is equally impressive and the film is a total joy to look at.
The leads work incredibly hard to add life to their casually sketched characters. Jean Marc Barr is suitably vague and distant as Mayol, and when he looks out to sea you really get an impression of the passion he has for the ocean, and the disinterest or lack of understanding for anything other than that way of life. Jean Reno is the life and soul of the party, making the overblown Enzo a loveable character. He is largely required to be either drunk or buffoonish, but in between these modes, the eyes twinkle and Reno takes Enzo a little beyond the cliched screenplay. Arquette also does well as Johana, a pretty thankless role in theory, mainly requiring her to look doe-eyed whenever Mayol is about, and in contrast bewildered whenever Mayol is about. Fortunately she grasps the role with both hands, and one genuinely cares about her, Enzo and Jacques.
Music comes courtesy of Eric Serra. There is no inbetween with Monsieur Serra, you either love his work or hate it. Funky, brassy, synthesised and usually a year behind the times with his sound, I can look, or should it be listen, beyond that and do enjoy his scores. Probably the best moment in the movie comes courtesy of Besson and Serra. A long helicopter mounted camera shot as we approach a rocky and mountainous coastline, before swooping up over the outcrop and past a Monastery that clings to the cliff face. The shot is accompanied by some nice work by Serra.
Ironically enough, in the States where the film was hacked about for release, they replaced the score for one by Bill Conti. Conti: funky, brassy, synthesised and usually a year behind the times with his sound. Stupid yanks.
The film exists in 3 different cuts. The original French edit runs to 132 minutes, while the mangled US offering runs to 118. In 1998 Besson unleashed his directors cut, 'Le Version Longue' which ran to 168 minutes. Personally I will always plump for 168 minutes of Besson weaving his magic with such wonderful locations and a hard working and charismatic cast.
Undoubtedly Bessons best looking exercise in direction, enjoy 'The Big Blue' for what it is, vast, expansive, escapist entertainment.
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May 29th, 2003
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