Review of The Big Blue (1988) by John R — 13 Sep 2015

Said to be the most financially popular French film of the 1980's, The Big Blue sounded like another chance to examine the iconic style of Luc Besson.

The Big Blue begins by greeting its audience with the sight of beautiful marine ambiance. The cinematography of the film tracks across the ocean and the land to emphsize precisely how big it is, living up to the title. Of course, the blue part doesn't come until later as the film opens in black and white to create the illusion of age. And yet, the colour scheme is not a grim grayscale but rather a gentle tint. White is far more prominent in these scenes, reinforcing the lighthearted and easygoing nature of the entire film. It's not bereft of drama, it's just a film which embraces its cinema du look style on a level beyond surface value. When colour does enter the visual field, the true values of The Big Blue are made very obvious. It immediately gives a calming feel to the film, a literal representation of the calm blue ocean that emotional people think of when they need to revert to a calm emotional state. And that's essentially what the entire film is, 168 minutes of calming oceanic expedition and beautiful serenity. If Luc Besson set out to ensure viewers became aware that the ocean is a beautiful place in all its mystical life then he succeeded because the imagery in The Big Blue is unforgettable with every inch of water and sea life being nothing short of stunning. Anything good in The Big Blue comes from the actual underwater footage itself because even the sights of divers makes use of the cinema du look style of The Big Blue makes the movements to the point that actors beneath the sea seem almost like performance art. And all of this footage plays out against the backdrop of Eric Serra's magnificent musical score. The musical score has a true aquatic feel to it. It is gentle yet mystical like the deep reaches of the titular ocean, giving viewers a sense that they are truly there and creating an artistic experience like none other I've ever experienced. The look and feel of The Big Blue is truly magnificent.

However, when The Big Blue is not extending its narrative with drawn-out sequences of marine footage, it mostly just takes up time with extensive periods of simplistic dialogue. There is little story at the heart of the film and the cinema du look style of the film attempts to serve as a distraction from that. Unfortunately, the sense of style in the film exceeds its narrative grasp. There is essentially no story in The Big Blue, and I should have guessed that from the intro scene. The Big Blue begins with the aforementioned scenic elements before forcing in a cliche plot point about Jacques Mayol's father drowning. The way this scene is orchestrated proves to be too yielding in the face of the melodramatic mood. The film has not yet given viewers a sense of the characters as it has all been focused on spectacle, and then it suddenly throws it in their face. The sudden death of Jacques' father is established as being the character building that has been absent from the narrative so far, yet it is too conventional to effectively work as any real story support. Once the film gets to the time frame that the story actually takes more time to focus on, The Big Blue ends up focusing on two relationships surrounding Jacques Mayol. One is the competitive friendship he has with fellow diver Enzo Maiorca and the other is the romantic affair he has with Johana Baker. Neither of them prove to maintain any substance and instead rely on the visual experience to develop them, ultimately not having the prophecy fulfilled in a sufficient manner. Though the stylish nature of The Big Blue is truly beautiful, it also has its downfalls. The film is ultimately overblown and shallow, which is ironic as the film is about divers. Even though the idea of a love story about a naive young woman and a passionate gentleman who is too in love with the mystique of the sea to hold a strong love affair has some sort of potential buried within, the film does nothing with it but skin around on the surface. The Big Blue relies too much on style and lifeless dialogue instead of any kind of genuine characters.

There are so many extended periods of talking in The Big Blue, but little of the dialogue in the film actually provides any narrative building. Too much of the actual story in The Big Blue is left to the implications. The storytelling in The Big Blue comes from the heavy use of symbolism and how much the viewer can interpret the film simple because Luc Besson is unable to make it abundantly clear which begs the question of if he even understands it all himself. The story is one he has made up himself and scripted with four other people, taking very little relevance from the real-life experiences of Enzo Maiorca and Jacques Mayol even though the latter is one of the writers. And everything they experience is an abundance of overwrought melodrama attempting to sustain a narrative which actually has little going on in it whatsoever. By the end of the film I must admit that I feel as if nothing happened. Like no story actually occured and that I had just spent hours watching a Museum-quality depiction of ocean scenery. As beautiful as it all was, the absence of a story takes away any chance that I can call The Big Blue a good film. The absence of characters also leaves the feature limiting the amount of charm that the actors are able to put in.

Jean-Marc Barr is a handsome presence. The film demands he do little that is not physical and so he doesn't speak very often. And yet there is beauty in his physical effort as everything from his basic facial expressions to his accomplished swimming scenes show that he can depict everything about the fantastical head space of Jacques Mayol without saying a word. He has some really emotional moments in the film, but most of the time he is lost in his own passionate psychosis which is brought to life by the instinctive physical talents. Jean-Marc Barr easily captures the attention of viewers with his natural charming appeal and ability to act to well in the face of so much ocean.

Jean-Reno delivers a similar performance. The internationally recognized French actor is strictly of surface value in The Big Blue, yet he too brings along a sense of natural charm. The man speaks more than Jean-Marc Barr and is able to convey a greater personality as a result. He convincingly portrays the man as being brash and competitive, too often caught up in his own sense of masculine pride. He really makes an effort to be subtle about the antagonism, and the result is effective because he plays Enzo Molinari as a likable and lively character who is only slightly less friendly than Jacques Mayol.

Rosanna Arquette is stuck with the most archetypal character in the film, being the woman on the bad end of a troubled romance and having to be the single reality check in the film. And yet, the woman's ability to make a genuinely sympathetic character is a welcome asset to The Big Blue. Rosanna Arquette's natural charm and naivety makes he seem like Sarah Michelle Gellar, even in the face of so much melodrama she has to force herself through to get there. She makes the melodrama seem genuine, and in a film where there is so much of that and little else in terms of character, that is some kind of an accomplishment.

So The Big Blue has is a transcendent visual experience with an amazing musical score to aid the beautiful oceanic footage in hypnotizing viewers, yet even in such a trance the lack of genuine story, script or character is still obvious.