Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
Encore Entertainment

Cat.no: EE 1130

Cert: 15

Running time: 168 minutes

Sides: 3 (CLV)

Year: 1988

Pressing: 1998

Chapters: 29 (28+1)

Sound: Dolby Surround

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)

Price: £24.99

Extras : Original Theatrical Trailer

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Director:

Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element, Atlantis, Nikita, Subway)

Producers:

Patrice Ledoux

Screenplay:

Luc Besson and Robert Garland

Music:

Eric Serra

Cast:

Johanna: Rosanna Arquette (Hope Floats, Crash, Pulp Fiction, Desperately Seeking Susan, After Hours, Black Rainbow, Flight Of The Intruder, In The Deep Woods, Nowhere To Run, Son Of The Morning Star)
Jaques Mayol: Jean-Marc Barr (Hope And Glory, Breaking The Waves, Europa, The Plague)
Enzo Molinari: Jean Reno (Mission: Impossible, Leon, Godzilla, )
Dr. Laurence: Paul Shenar
Novelli: Sergio Castellitto (La Carne, Portrait Chinois, The Starmaker)
Uncle Louis: Jean Bouise
Roberto: Marc Duret
Duffy: Griffin Dunne (After Hours, My Girl, An American Werewolf In London, I Like It Like That, Stepkids, Who's That Girl?)
Priest: Andreas Voutsinas
Bonita: Valentina Vargas (Hellraiser 4: Bloodline, Dirty Games)
Jaques' Father: Claude Besson

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In a place where man has only just begun to venture, Jaques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr) has discovered a secret. For Jaques can dive without oxygen to depths never before reached... depths beyond human endurance, beyond pain and reason.

For Enzo (Jean Reno), who competes against Jaques, it is the glory and the obsession of winning that drives him to these incredible depths. For Johanna (Rosanna Arquette), it is her extraordinary love for Jaques that will bring them together, although she knows his heart belongs to the sea.

As the very lure of the ocean, which once brought these three people together, seems destined to tear them apart, Jaques' diving achievements go beyond human capability and it becomes apparent that he is something more... something more than just human.

The three main actors in this film all have a solid role to play and each fulfill it perfectly.

Jean Reno plays the cocky know-it-all diving champion who is convinced that no-one will ever beat him, no matter how fierce the competition and sets off on that determined path, while Jean-Marc Barr comes across as the sexually-inexperienced young man who just takes life as it comes and tries to do his best.

Inbetween them is the gorgeous, quirky Rosanna Arquette, the actress who has never seemed to be accepted by the Hollywood in-crowd, only having done a couple of big films, Nowhere To Run, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and her new film Hope Floats, instead spending most of her time appearing in low-budget, arthouse or low-rent films such as Hope Floats, Pulp Fiction, Desperately Seeking Susan and After Hours, the latter in which she co-starred with this film's Griffin Dunne who has a brief cameo in two scenes as her boss.

Good support also comes from Marc Duret as Jean Reno's brother, Roberto, while Besson proves that nepotism rules by giving a cameo to his father early on in the film as the father of Jaques.

The picture quality of this release is almost excellent, the only spoilers being a couple of brief jumps in the picture on side 3 (at 7:20 when Enzo's girlfriend knocks on Rosanna's door; and at 13:47 as Barr stands upright at the water's edge just after Rosanna jumps into the sea), plus some sparklies during the end credits.

I don't know how anyone has ever managed to watch this film in fullscreen as the 2.35:1 Cinemascope image is the only way to do justice to Besson's underwater visuals.

The sound quality is excellent, the main highlight being Eric Serra's unsurpassable music score. During the opening credits, if the combination of gliding sea shots and the theme tune don't bring tears to your eyes, you're not human...

One thing that would improve the disc is more chapters. The 29 here split up the main scenes into individual chunks, but a few extra would be appreciated to split up those which have more than one topic running through, eg. chapter 6 "New York, New York" which takes in both Rosanna's home and work life. The last chapter is reserved for a fullscreen theatrical trailer.

Several versions of this film have been released worldwide. The first French release had a music score by Besson's favoured composer, Eric Serra, and ran for some 132 minutes. The American issue was trimmed to just 118 minutes and featured a more upbeat ending and a new musical score by Bill Conti. The main European release also ran for 118 minutes, but featured the same ending as the French edition. The latest and most complete version, The Big Blue: Version Longue, is the director's preferred cut and contains approximately 36 minutes of additional material.

If you're wondering which bits have been put back into the film, look for the parts in English containing French subtitles, such as those featuring Rosanna back at her flat in chapter 6, plus all scenes involving her and her boss.

Overall, this is a mighty achievement - a perfect film, perfect sound and damn near-perfect picture quality. Even if you haven't seen this film before and have only learned of Besson through his Hollywood offerings, you owe it to yourself to own this masterpiece... and then get Nikita, Leon and Subway which are already available on PAL.

FILM	 		: *****
PICTURE QUALITY		: ****½
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: *
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OVERALL			: ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.