Dont read it if you dont want to know the ending.
This is an enchanting film with absolutely amazing scenes and pictures. The story is very intense, at times very dramatic and at times very sweet. This is a film which I enjoyed tremendously watching as it let me sink into different moods as I marvelled at the scenes of blue seas and horizons. The colors are mystical and the hero becomes an interesting personality to investigate into. At some point the film confused me. It did not turn out as I wanted it to and the end was very strange. When it ended I couldnt believe it, as I didnt get what happened it the end. I think something very very sad happened.
And now a few things about the story.
A french little boy Jacques, lives on a Greek island with his father. His mother is american but left them and returned to the usa. He is a scared little boy that never talks much, never asks any questions and has no ego in him. Something like Jonathan livingstone seagull.. he learns to swim extremely well and especially to dive deep as his father used to do. The little boy learns to hold its breath for a very long time. Another boy, who is bigger and older is also a very good diver and always has everything his way. He boosts to be the best diver. The loss of Jacques father inflicts great pain in his soul and he gets engrossed more to the world of the sea. The dolphins now are his family.
As an adult Jacques has developed an incredible ability to dive very deep. He practices yoga breathing techniques and slowers his heart beat. That allows him to hold his breath for a very long time. He is now a professional diver and is called for dangerous missions. In his free time he still dives and swims in the sea, side by side with dolphins. Jacques has become a lonesome, romantic creature that finds pleasure in the beauty of the underwater worlds. In one of his missions he meets a young lady in Peru who falls in love with him. Apparently he is also in love with her but the sea is still closer to his heart. When they both live that place, she decides to go and find him. She discovers him in Sicily where he met the old enemy of his. He has been challenged now to the world championships of divers. A romance blossoms there, Jacques and Enzo (his rival who already has been a world champion) become friends but they are both very serious about the competition.
Now the film reaches its peak in the relationship of the american lady and Jacques. It is a completely sweet and romantic relation. Despite the championships that are taking place, he does allow her to enter his world. There is a lot happening here which I cant describe at all, you just have to see it. At some point though, and after you really enjoy the magical colours of the sea, the emotions of those two people and the friendship that blossoms under the italian sun... the film has a twist. The competitions become too dangerous, Enzo and Jacques dive too deep and break each others records. It seems that both have suicidal tendencies and they find more pleasure and peace underwater, than with people around them. The doctors claim that the competitions are no longer safe. Jacques also has started to neglect his girlfriend who has abandoned everything, her job and life to be with him. She dreams of a baby with him, and he just stares at the ocean. They make love for the first time and then he spends a whole night swimming in the darkness of the sea with a dolphin... She tries to make him listen, but in vain, his attention is elsewhere.
The end is very tragical. The sea becomes the tomb of Enzo in a dramatical way, somehow by the hands of Jacques. And Jacques is last seen in the water looking for Enzo but probably finding the mermaids. I believe he died in the end as well diving but I am really not so sure. He leaves his girlfriend screaming and crying so that he will not dive in the end, but he does dive... and she seems to respect his wish as Jacques did respect Enzos wish to die in the sea.
If they all had a bit less respect for each others wishes they might have been alive in the end :P.
1 comment:
A very good summary of the film except for the ending. In my view, Jaques was never really happy on the surface of the sea amogst the company of humans; as shown throughout his characters development. He is withdrawn when it comes to relationships with people but only opens up when there are dolphins involved. His 'competition' with enzo is based on a childhood competition but from which they see themselves as equals.
At the end of the film she realises that he will only ever be happy amongst the world of dolphins, a world she cannot exist whithin yet she loves him enough to let him go so that he may be happy. I recon he does die in the end but that is the place he wanted to be in, the place where he was happy.
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