Adrian said:
THE BIG BLUE: I love the photography but found the acting a bit shallow. One thing that pissed me off was seeing a tropical environment underwater (the scene with Mayol as a kid feeding a moray) while diving in the Aegean!
Adrian
Adrian I couldnt agree more. On the surface its Greece (Karpathos) and underwater its the Bahamas (if I remember the the movie credits correctly). Another mistake in the same scene is that although Jacques is presumably diving alone in a desolate area, notice the background when he makes a hurried ascent after being frightened by the dolphin: You will clearly see an anchor rope probably from the boat of the film crew!
As far as the movie goes in general I liked it very much for the reason alone that it conveys the relationship between the heroes and the sea as one of passion and tragedy.
Beyond whatever inaccuracies and incompatibility with the true events I think this movie was a success because it made no efforts to conceal or justify Jacques defective personality.
For all purposes the movie shows Jacques as a complete idiot, inadequate lover, whose only fulfillment is derived from his underwater activities. That is what my girlfriend pointed out after seeing the version longue of my favourite movie. My reply was that being stupid and indifferent can be vital in achieving good relaxation and maintaining low heartbeat for someone that descends -100m, where a flicker of strong emotion can kill.
In this respect the movie was a success since it tells the story of a man who is unmoved by the demands society, a friend, or a woman, make on him and resorts to give his life an "artificial" purpose and measure of achievement by pursuing depth. "Artificial", because I think, diving served as a form of sensory suicide, flowing from an inner need to distance himself from the world and anesthetising himself from perceiving his flawed personality and emotional incapability.
A very prophetic movie one might say, in many ways we shall never fully understand. Perhaps Luc Besson himself is still baffled by the way events in Jacques life later unfolded and perhaps not, but in retrospect I often recall a sense of premonition whilst watching "The Big Blue", about the real Jacques Mayol. God rest his soul.
