Thirty-five years later, why does Le Grand Bleu still hold such appeal?

1988: France has just re-elected François Mitterrand to a second seven-year term. With summer approaching, the soaring music makes you want to follow along and never miss the camera movement that dips to the surface of the water before plunging into the ocean. Big Blue comes out on the screens. A fictional creation by Luc Besson, the film is inspired by the story of two free divers: Frenchman Jacques Mayolle (played by Jean-Marc Barr) and Italian Enzo Majorca (played by Jean Reno). The latter, who does not recognize himself in the picture of his character, will attack with slander, and the film will remain banned in Italy for fourteen years.

Aside from controversy and a mixed first reception from critics at the Cannes Film Festival that year, the film is quickly becoming a generational hit. The soundtrack by composer Eric Serra is the best-selling soundtrack in the world; Apnea is no longer just a sporting discipline, but seduces with its philosophical dimension. underwater images serve a story… Thirty-five years later, the same Eric Cera is filming a movie concert. Big blue throughout France. Society is conquered. 45-60 year olds come with their families with children, the gearbox works.

In the video, Big Bluethe teaser

New challenges

Today’s great underwater photographer, Alexis Rosenfeld, was just starting his career at the time and met Jacques Maiol at Les Goudes in Marseille. He claims a very innovative aspect of the film character for the time. “It is difficult to embody the ocean, to show it and to tell it differently. Luc Besson brought another representation. Before that, Commander Cousteau defended the exploratory dimension, the discovery of the depths, the possibility of constantly breaking the boundaries… But the real contribution of this fictional scenario was to show another form of relationship with the sea, going beyond its concepts. competition and battles to discover the true purpose of this freediving, which is to share.

The emotion of the sea

As for technical processes, it’s hard to imagine today, when digital technology has developed underwater documentaries, that the challenge was solved back then. “big blue it was like a calling board for us photographers, continues Alexis Rosenfeld. Technically, I couldn’t understand how the cameraman Christian Petron managed some of the shots. Later I was inspired by that, the way he shot between the dog and the wolf, his contribution in terms of lighting.

Roberto Rinaldi, one of the greatest underwater directors, confirms. “Cristian Petron completely reconstructed the way of shooting, forgetting what was done before. Shooting on 16mm reinforced the narrative dimension, there were only twelve minutes in the box, so the film was built in sequence. […] The film opened a door. Cousteau had already told us “We don’t paint excuses”, which meant that every picture had to tell something. Besson managed to translate emotions with a human dimension. The rivalry in the film pits not the two characters against each other but the sea. The two men had two different ideas about it, but shared the same passion. This philosophical aspect of the sea has remained in the minds of free divers. They were no longer just in performance, but in real communion with water and depth.

Good vibes

When producer Gerard Drouet suggested Eric Serra take the plunge again a few years ago Big Blue At first, the composer was not very enthusiastic about the film concert. “I didn’t see the concept. For me, the public has seen the film or the band, but not both. However, my good education taught me to doubt myself, and I have not regretted it. There is a full house everywhere. It adds a tremendous level of emotion. I usually don’t go back, but everything there attracted me. I was the archaeologist of my own pyramid. Listening again track by track, I rediscovered the spontaneity and imperfection typical of the early work, we were 26-27 years old. It even changed the way I created after that.”

Luke never spoke to me in musical terms, but he asked me to bring emotions, feelings, and we understood each other, miraculously.

Eric Cera

Just as the image of the film lends itself to a two-tone communication with the ocean, the music gave full relief to the emotions. He burst into the screen. “We were the music video generation, the music in the movies was very prominent, which rebuilds Eric Cera. When a director meets a composer, it’s a bit like a Plutonian meeting a Venusian; one sees images and the other feels with the ears. Luke never spoke to me in musical terms, but he asked me to bring emotions, feelings, and we understood each other, miraculously. These soaring sounds created a rift in the musical landscape of the time. I remember that when I was writing, – continues the musician, I thought a little about what I was doing, I felt against the current. I always follow my emotions, but there, at that moment, I was not in the mood. The beginning of digital had hardened the sounds, everything that came out was more violent, more aggressive, and I was doing the opposite, going in a different way. That’s probably why it worked. This sweetness stuck to the film and did people a favour. And it continues.”

Freediving and the Boom of Spirituality

Umberto Pellizzari, the great apnea champion of the 1990s, is the man of all records. He still trains every day, even though he stopped competing almost twenty years ago. In 1991, when he had just won the world championship and was training with Mayol on the island of Elba, twenty-one journalists landed to film them… “There was no more room on the boat. My assistant was called Roberto, so obviously everyone called him a “Roberto, mio ​​palmo!”like in the movie,” he recalls, still amused. The spiritual dimension of apnea has been one of the legacies ever since Big blue.

For free divers, Big Blue was a bit similar Top Gun: for future pilots. Even someone who had never trained wanted to taste this feeling

Umberto Pelizzari

“I often ask my students why they practice,” says the person who now runs a school and gives lectures on the subject. One day a man answered me. “I drive long distances for my work. Apnea gives me the same feeling as opening a window wide to get some fresh air.” It is this beneficial dimension that we discovered Big Blue. For Freedivers, this movie was a bit similar Top Gun: for future pilots. Even someone who had never trained wanted to taste this feeling. Since then, freediving has continued to grow in popularity. In recent years, in Asia (South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong) there are more and more amateurs, especially among women. The latter see in the discipline the aesthetic and graceful side of dance, an almost choreographic aspect, which today is embodied by director Julie Gauthier, a former apnea champion who became a director, especially a film author. Ama:

Amorgos and holidays in Greece

Of course, not only Luc Besson created a transport from the French to the Cyclades, but, as a young woman assured. Big blue. “With a father from southern Italy and a Spanish mother, I rediscovered the atmosphere of family summers, the sun, the carving of the rocky shores…” Amorgos, one of the two main places in Greece, lives on in spirit. Big blue From the beach of Agia Anna, below the Chozoviotissa monastery, with its famous shipwreck. Every year, starting in 2017, an apnea competition, Authentic Big Blue, is organized there.

Éric Serra repeats the music Big blueJuly 22 at Pinède Gould, Juan-les-Pins, July 23 at the Théâtre antique de Vienne and August 31 at the Pellicu-live festival, Tuir (Pyrenees-Orientales). legrandbleu-cineconcert.fr: