The Big Blue: Version Longue PAL Laserdisc

The Big Blue: Version Longueis director Luc Besson‘s definitiveversion of the film about the timeless, magical, mysterious sea – a place onearth as untouched as the far reaches of space. For two men, its unknowndepths will become the ultimate test of their courage. For one woman, theultimate test of her love.

In a place where man has only just begun to venture, Jaques Mayol(Jean-Marc Barr) has discovered a secret. For Jaques can dive withoutoxygen to depths never before reached… depths beyond human endurance, beyondpain and reason.

For Enzo (Jean Reno), who competes against Jaques, it is the glory andthe obsession of winning that drives him to these incredible depths. ForJohanna (Rosanna Arquette), it is her extraordinary love for Jaques thatwill 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 humancapability and it becomes apparent that he is something more… something morethan just human.

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

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

Inbetween them is the gorgeous, quirky Rosanna Arquette, the actresswho has never seemed to be accepted by the Hollywood in-crowd, only having donea couple of big films, Nowhere To Run, starring Jean-Claude Van Dammeand her new film Hope Floats, instead spending most of her time appearingin low-budget, arthouse or low-rent films such as Hope Floats, Pulp Fiction,Desperately Seeking Susan and After Hours, the latter in which sheco-starred with this film’s Griffin Dunne who has a brief cameo in twoscenes 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 earlyon in the film as the father of Jaques.

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

I don’t know how anyone has ever managed to watch this film in fullscreenas the 2.35:1 Cinemascope image is the only way to do justice to Besson’sunderwater visuals.

The sound quality is excellent, the main highlight being Eric Serra’sunsurpassable music score. During the opening credits, if the combinationof gliding sea shots and the theme tune don’t bring tears to your eyes, you’renot human…

One thing that would improve the disc is more chapters. The 29 here splitup the main scenes into individual chunks, but a few extra would be appreciatedto 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. Thelast chapter is reserved for a fullscreen theatrical trailer.

Several versions of this film have been released worldwide. The first Frenchrelease 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 minutesand featured a more upbeat ending and a new musical score by Bill Conti. Themain European release also ran for 118 minutes, but featured the same ending asthe French edition. The latest and most complete version, The Big Blue:Version Longue, is the director’s preferred cut and contains approximately36 minutes of additional material.

If you’re wondering which bits have been put back into the film, look for theparts in English containing French subtitles, such as those featuring Rosannaback 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 anddamn near-perfect picture quality. Even if you haven’t seen this film beforeand have only learned of Besson through his Hollywood offerings, you owe itto yourself to own this masterpiece… and then get Nikita, Leon andSubway which are already available on PAL.FILM : *****PICTURE QUALITY: ****½SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: *——————————-OVERALL: ****

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Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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