Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5603 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-08-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 168 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Where is the theatrical release?
This is one of my favorite movies of all time but sadly I cannot recommend this cut.

Director's cuts are usually either much better or much worse than it's theatrical release sibling but this unfortunatly is the latter. The story is drawn out in a confusing and adolescent way and rather than enlightenment we find boredom. I found myself caring less and less about these people as this mess went on. The theatrical release moved quickly and clearly. I knew who these people were and what drove them. The director's cut left me with none of this. I found the added scenes a distraction and rather than pushing the story forward they tended to digress from it not leaving you with any new information and subjecting you to more of the VERY BAD soundtrack!
The music in the theatrical release was at least appropriate to the story. The theatrical release had soft, wave like earth music that wound you into the ensuing action unlike the Directors cut. The heavy synthesized jazz score that is plunked down here actually pulls you out of the film. The scenes become about the irritating 80's jazz rather than the story line.
Sadly, the entire directors cut smacks more of ego on Bessons' part ( refusing to see that the cuts/music in the theatrical release actually made it a better film,) and less of the wonderful story teller which he can be. I would love to see a Theatrical version as well on this disc and let the public decide.

so lucky to have seen this...
I stumbled across this movie at the age of 18 in 1990, when living in Europe. I couldn't believe it and didn't know who to love harder, Enzo or Jacques. It had such a profound effect on me, I then went on to read everything I could get my hands on about Jacques Costeau. After seeing the movie on TV I went straight to the video store and got out the film, and to my dismay it was a 2 hr and heavily edited movie. I cried to the video store person who had never heard of an extended version. Several months later I found a copy in a tiny video store in Ireland. I bought it on the spot. It has remained my favourite movie of all time, right up there with Cinema Paradiso, My Life as a Dog, Blade Runner and Taxi Driver.

I still take baths like Jacques uncle. It seems a nicer way to do it.

This is the only version you want.
This is the original movie. It has a totally different effect on the viewer. This is the version you want. The american version is rated PG and it is not worth watching. I now know why it was a flop in the USA and was a big hit in Europe now. This version is five stars. You will watch it over and over again. Watching this in surround sound makes a big difference. It will leave you in tears or speechless. One of the best movies of the last 25 years. Bravo Bravo