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LE GRAND BLEU
*** out of *****
Reviewed by Finger_Of_DOOM
Genres
Drama
Romance
1988
Directed by
Luc Besson
Written by
Luc Besson (story)
Luc Besson & Robert Garland and
Marilyn Goldin & Jacques Mayol & Marc Perrier (screenplay)
Cast
Rosanna Arquette .... Johana Baker
Jean-Marc Barr .... Jacques Mayol
Jean Reno .... Enzo Molinari
Paul Shenar .... Dr. Laurence
Sergio Castellitto .... Novelli
Jean Bouise .... Uncle Louis
Marc Duret .... Roberto
Griffin Dunne .... Duffy
Andreas Voutsinas .... Priest
Valentina Vargas .... Bonita
Le Grand bleu, upon its release, was one of the most popular film’s in French cinema history, it was so well loved and revered that it played for an entire year in theaters. Director Luc Besson had his first commercial and critical hit. The film also did moderately well at festivals and won several French film awards along the way. When it came time to release the film to US audiences the film’s 132 minute French cut was reduced to 119 minutes and included a change to the ending. Luckily, Besson was able to release his director’s cut, clocking in at 168 minutes, on video, laserdisc, and now on DVD. I unfortunately did not get the pleasure of seeing this film on the big screen (having been all but 10 years old when it was released I doubt I would have liked it very much), watching the DVD at home even projected onto a home theater screen still doesn’t do the film’s scope any justice. It’s almost hard to imagine that Besson was making films in the ‘80s considering most mainstream Western audiences didn’t get a taste of him until Léon in 1994, which is when I became a fan and started to discover his other work. Le Grand bleu is very grand in scope and nature as well as location, but as a story it’s very simple.
Le Grand bleu tells the story of two friends; Enzo Molinari (Jean Reno) and Jacques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr). Enzo and Jacques have known each other since their childhood in Greece. When they were children they were not really close, Enzo was the bigger kid and always showed off and hung out with his group of cool friends while Jacques was the smaller loner kid. It wasn’t until their adult life that the two would be friends and also competitors and rival divers. Making big money during an underwater rescue, Enzo has enough to go to the deep sea diving competition to defend his title. He also has enough to send his friend and rival Jacques to compete to satisfy his ego. He plans to beat his friend to reclaim his title of best diver and feels that only Jacques is capable of giving him any real competition.
While in Peru, and prior to Enzo’s invite to compete, Jacques meets a young insurance clerk Johana Baker (Rosanna Arquette). It is here that we see Jacques' talent for diving, his body functions more like a dolphin than a human and is able to hold his breath and dive deep without any problems. Johana, smitten by this man, eventually returns home, but clearly with him still on her mind. Weeks later she notices the diving championships where Jacques has entered into. Bent on seeing him again she fabricates a story for her firm to send her to Italy where the competition is held. In Italy, Johana becomes acquainted with Enzo and meets up again with Jacques, this time they get to know each other much more intimately. As the competition continues, Jacques dives too deep for anyone else to match, Enzo however is always up for the challenge. The rivalry pushes the two men into a dangerous territory both in the diving competition and emotionally.
The film’s major strength lies in its breathtaking cinematography by Carlo Varini. The open ocean and Italian seaside is captured beautifully, the underwater photography is equally grand, however Varini is able to capture the loneliness and emptiness of the deep ocean when the divers go down. Every frame is picture perfect and is representative of the character’s environments.
The film tells a simple tale of two friends caught in competition, one (Jacques) with an almost inhuman ability to dive deep and regulate his breathing, almost dolphin-like, he also has a connection with these creatures that in a way creates a barrier between him and other people, until Johana breaks that by getting close. I felt that all three principles where extremely well cast and delivered wonderful and well-rounded performances. These are actors that knew their characters and played them to perfection. However, despite some early back story, I felt a distance between them and myself as a viewer. Despite the film’s mammoth runtime the characters were not given time to develop as the story progressed, I felt like I didn’t really know them on a deeper more personal level. Aside from this and the film’s runtime I was able to get into the film simply because Besson and DP Verini obviously spent time crafting the look of the film and that helped to bring the viewer into the diver’s world and state of mind.
Le Grand bleu is a fine film, with fine performances but I can see some people losing patience with it and getting bored. If you’re up for the 168 minute journey then by all means take it, if not well this DVD set also comes with the 119 minute shorter US version, so basically there is no excuse not to see it.
Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts) |
