>>I didn't find it particuarly good; the sex scenes were weird and unnecessary.
About that, in the Director's Cut there are two sex scenes -I guess this is the version you're talking to-. I find them well done, specially the second one, with all the blue light on their bodies. Someone on the board said the sex scenes made Jacques less innocent, but I guess to say that is naive; I was relieved to see him make human stuff, and having some up and down emotional moments.
Also, you could say they are as unnecessary as they are in almost every movie; everything can be left to imagination. But, on the contrary, I found them very necessary, specially the second one: let's remember Jacques is an ocean man, always wanting to be there, with his "family" -the dolphins-. In that sex scene, in the climax of the moment, there is this curious image of Jacques naked going up in the sea. Do you remember he told a story about mermaids?? And how if you proved you loved them, you'll stay in the bottom of the sea with them forever?? Well, Jacques is not staying in the bottom, he is going up, and tells Johana: "I think I love you"... That's pretty much a big attempt of Jacques to love something else but the ocean, and so it's a powerful scene when everything we have seen tends to change because of the love he's feeling. It's in sex, perhaps the most marvelous way to connect between ourselves, that he explores his own feelings and his relation to Joanna.
By the end, is not that simple; we don't change from one day to another, but we can see him trying to stay on earth. And in the very end, when he knows Johana is pregnant, he goes up with the dolphin, but that's hard to catch since the image fades to black very soon; take a good look and tell me what you think.
(I've thought of that as a personal message of Besson. The dedication at the end, to his daughter Juliette, is his way to show her she's one of his reasons to stay here amog us).
reply
share
ytefa
21 years ago
I completely agree with you about the concept of the movie!!That is what i thought when i was watching it again and again. Throughout the movie there is a strong parallel between him and the dolphins so coming out of the sea would mean he returns to the humans.
About what u mentioned lastly,( And in the very end, when he knows Johana is pregnant, he goes up with the dolphin, but that's hard to catch since the image fades to black very soon; take a good look and tell me what you think.) does he go up????!!!!I thought he stays there forever,eternally with his 'family'. I don't know whether i would like to know...it is going to ruin my sense of the movie.
reply
share
gunas108
21 years ago
Well i saw the movie last night and was shocked by the end at first. Because for me it seemed that he is not comming back. And since he knows that she is pregnant i thought it is an ending with a bitter taste espacially after seeing that he understood while she was telling him that she is preagnant and even "forcing" her to pull the trigger of the sled. So he was not completly out of space and could think strait. (A little bit at least ;) )
But today i found out that the guy really existed and that the story was partly based on real facts. But this seems not to include a child. At least i could' not find one.
But the competition with Enzo is also a true element of the story. But it also seems that he did not die. I don't know why Besson had to make this up. So Jacques did not die if we go by the real Jacques but within the movie i would say yes he died and as i said before it makes not sense to me.
reply
share
zineliz
21 years ago
When I said "he goes up with the dolphin", I didn't mean he made it to the surface; he was just going up, and that's the last frame before the credits. To choose if he survives or ends in the ocean is a decision everyone has to make. And I prefer to think of Jacques surviving.
reply
share