The Big Blue
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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1988's The Big Blue (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.
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 to date, 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.
