Luc Besson is a film director, screenwriter, and producer. He directed using a distinctive style dubbed Cinéma du look by critics. In 1980, he founded his own production company, called Les Films du Loup, and later Les Films du Dauphin.
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Luc Besson
Le Grand bleu The Big Blue
Luc Besson
was initially unsure of who to cast in the main role of Jacques Mayol. He initially offered the role to Christopher Lambert and Mickey Rourke and even considered himself for the role until someone suggested Jean-Marc Barr.
Jacques Mayol’s lifelong passion for diving was based on his love for the ocean, his personal philosophy and his desire to explore his own limits. During his lifetime, he helped introduce the, until then, elitist sport of free-diving into the main stream.
While the film is inspired in the lives of Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca (who were alive at the time of the film's release, unlike the characters presented in it) and many aspects of the story are fictional, one of the real divers' fate was strangely predicted in the movie. In the European version of the movie, Jacques dives all the way to the bottom of the ocean and never returns - to some viewers, it's implied that he committed a suicide. In 2001, the real Jacques Mayol committed suicide by hanging himself, in Italy, at age 74.
The original ending was intentionally ambiguous, though considering the depth Jacques has swum to, it would seem he is unlikely to regain the surface alive, and he dies.
In the US version the ending is extended with an additional scene. After swimming away with the dolphin, Jacques is brought back to the surface.
In the US version the ending is extended with an additional scene. After swimming away with the dolphin, Jacques is brought back to the surface.
Majorca learned to swim at age 4 and soon began to dive, although expressing a great fear of the sea. In 1956 a friend showed him an article about a new depth record of 41 meters set by
spearfishing champions Ennio Falco and Alberto Novelli.
Majorca was led by the article to begin competing in order to achieve the title of "man who reaches the deepest.
He achieved this in 1960, when he reached 45 meters to beat Brazilian Americo Santarelli. However that same year, Santarelli reclaimed the title by reaching 46 meters, which
Majorca soon surpassed at 49 meters.
With its extensive underwater scenes and languid score (as with nearly all of Luc Besson's films the soundtrack was composed by Eric Serra), the film has been both praised as beautiful and serene, and in equal measure criticized as being too drawn out, overly reflective and introspective.
| The Big Blue Le Grand Bleu | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Luc Besson |
| Produced by | Patrice Ledoux |
| Screenplay by | Jacques Mayol |
| Story by | Luc Besson |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | Éric Serra |
| Cinematography | Carlo Varini |
| Edited by | Olivier Mauffroy |
Production company | Weintraub Entertainment Group |
| Distributed by | Gaumont |
Release date | August 22, 1988 |
Running time | 168 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Budget | FRF 80,000,000 |
| Box office | $3,580,882 |
