Recent Posts“Le Grand Bleu” redirects here. For the yacht, see Le Grand Bleu (yacht).
The Big Blue
Le Grand Bleu
Directed by
Luc Besson
Produced by
Patrice Ledoux
Written by
Luc Besson (also story)
Robert Garland
Marilyn Goldin
Jacques Mayol
Starring
Rosanna Arquette
Jean-Marc Barr
Jean Reno
Music by
Éric Serra (Original)
Bill Conti (US version)
Cinematography
Carlo Varini
Editing by
Olivier Mauffroy
Distributed by
Gaumont
Release date(s)
May 11, 1988 (France)
Running time
132 Min
119 Min (US edit)
168 Min
Director’s Cut
Country
France/ United States/ Italy
Language
English, French Italian
Budget
₣ 80,000,000
IMDb profile
1988’s The Big Blue (French: Le Grand Bleu) is the first English-language film made by French director Luc Besson. The film stars Jean-Marc Barr, Rosanna Arquette, Jean Reno and depicts a fictionalized account of the sporting rivalry between two famed free divers.
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Plot
The film charts the competition and friendship of real-life champions Jacques Mayol (played by former model Barr) and Enzo Maiorca (renamed in the film to “Enzo Molinari”, and played by Reno). The action is divided into two timelines – the nascent rivalry between the two divers as children, and (as adults) their final competition at the world free-diving championships at the Sicilian town of Taormina. Mayol’s search for love, family, “wholeness” and the meaning of life and death is a strong undercurrent of the latter timeline.
Production
With its extensive underwater scenes and languid score (as with all of Luc Besson’s films excepted Angel-A, the soundtrack was composed by Éric Serra), the film has been both praised as beautiful and serene, and in equal measure criticised as being dull and uneventful. While popular in Europe, the film was a commercial failure in North America in part due to the studio’s recutting of the movie to include a simplified “happy” ending and the replacement of Serra’s score with one composed by Bill Conti. The director later released a longer Director’s Cut on DVD, featuring the original ending and an extended version of the Éric Serra score. The film was dedicated to his daughter Juliette Besson who required surgery, having become ill whilst he was working on the film.
Filming locations
- Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
- Agia Anna, Amorgos, Cyclades, Greece
- Kalotaritissa bay, Amorgos, Cyclades, Greece
- Marineland (Antibes), Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France
- Peru
- St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Taormina, Messina, Sicily, Italy.
Awards
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The Big Blue was nominated for several César Awards and won Best Music Written for a Film (Éric Serra) and Best Sound in 1989. The film also won France’s National Academy of Cinema’s Academy Award in 1989. The movie was also given highest grade by an American psychiatrist Dr. David R. Hawkins who notes in his book Power vs. Force that there is a hidden meaning behind the Big Blue whose significance is missed by the majority of viewers. This references a method of consciousness calibration which registers The Big Blue as the highest calibrated movie of all time.
See also
- Cinema of France
- List of French language films
External links
- Le Grand Bleu at the Internet Movie Database
Films directed by Luc Besson
The Last Battle · Subway · The Big Blue · Nikita · Atlantis · Léon · The Fifth Element · Joan of Arc · Angel-A · Arthur and the Minimoys (Invisibles)
Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Blue”
Categories: Films directed by Luc Besson | Free-diving | 1988 films | French films | Drama films | Romance films | Films set in SicilyHidden categories: Wikipedia articles needing clarification | Articles needing additional references from April 2008