Amazon.com reviews for
Grand bleu, Le (1988)

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The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu) (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: In this, French director Luc Besson's (The Professional, The Fifth Element) first English-language film, a deep-sea diving competition in the Mediterranean is the setting for a story of childhood rivalry and new romance. Jean-Marc Barr plays a diver obsessed with the sea who falls in love with an investigator for an insurance firm (Rosanna Arquette) as he prepares for the challenge of his life. Matters are complicated further when his old friend and the current diving champion (Jean Reno) happens on the scene, and both become locked in a duel of sorts to see who can go deeper into the sea and transcend the gulf between man and the mysteries of the deep. Some of the metaphysical ramblings about the divers' abilities becomes a bit far-fetched, but stunning undersea photography combines with exotic locales and with Besson's attempt at a lyrical romance to create a visual feast with an engaging mood to match. --Robert Lane

The Big Blue (Director's Cut) (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: A hit in Europe but a flop in the U.S.--where it was trimmed, rescored, and given a new ending--Luc Besson's The Big Blue has endured as a minor cult classic for its gorgeous photography (both on land and underwater) and dreamy ambiance. Jean-Marc Barr is a sweet and sensitive but passive presence as Jacques, a diver with a unique connection to the sea. He has the astounding ability to slow his heartbeat and his circulation on deep dives, "a phenomenon that's only been observed in whales and dolphins… until now," remarks one scientist. Kooky New York insurance adjuster Joanna (Rosanna Arquette at her most delightfully flustered and endearingly sexy best) melts after falling into his innocent baby blues, and she follows him to Italy, where he's continuing a lifelong competition with boyhood rival Enzo (Jean Reno in a performance both comic and touching).

Besson's first English-language production looks more European than Hollywood, and it suffers from a tin ear for the language. At times it feels more like an IMAX undersea documentary than a drama about free divers, but the lush and lovely images create a fairy tale dimension to Jacques's story, a veritable Little Merman. More dolphin than man, he's so torn between earthly love and aquatic paradise that even his dreams call him to the sea (in a sequence more eloquent than any speech).

Besson has expanded the film by 50 minutes for his director's cut, which adds little story but slows the contemplative pace until it practically floats in time, and has restored Eric Serra's synthesizer-heavy score, a slice of 1980s pop that at times borders on disco kitsch. Most importantly, he has restored his original ending, which echoes the fairy tale he tells Joanna earlier in the film and leaves the story floating in the inky blackness of ambiguity. --Sean Axmaker