The Big Blue
(1988)
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Jacques (Barr, BREAKING THE WAVES) and his friendly rival Enzo (Reno, THE PROFESSIONAL) are considered masters of free-diving and have made a career out of this one-of-a-kind competition. Jacques feels an unusual bond with the sea and Enzo is in it for the sheer danger involved. A new dimension of their lifelong rivalry is generated by the beautiful Johana (Arquette, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN) who leaves her career in New York to accompany the two men on the international diving circuit. Beautiful underwater cinematography and a stunning score enrich Besson's celebrated English-language debut. |
Action director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) pays homage to the ocean-exploring documentaries of Jacques Cousteau with this stunning, if slightly pretentious, underwater cult epic. The story — about two rival free divers (Besson regular Jean Reno and Jean-Marc Barr) competing for the depth record — is a little shallow, and Rosanna Arquette's role as a New York insurance investigator who meets Barr in Peru does seem rather like an afterthought. But Reno mines great humour from his macho mother's-boy role, Barr looks impossibly handsome, and the sensational ocean photography is absolutely magnificent — the first plunge into the watery alien blackness is pure cinematic magic.