Luc Besson's Le Grand Bleu | The Big Blue (1988)

In Hadrien Bels's novel Cinq dans tes yeux (2020), there's a rather icy conversation between 'Stress' and a young woman on the beach in Marseille. He asks her what she's studying, and when she says cinema he asks if she's at university or perhaps (oh the sarcasm!) with Femis. No, 'BTS Audiovisuel'.  And she wants to be a film director! And what about her taste in films? Le Grand Bleu, she replies. Contemptuously, Stress says 'Ah OK'. Stress has been weaned on films, and when he reels off a list of directors she thinks she's heard of Pasolini, but thinks he's crap ('chiant').

Being a prime example of le cinéma du look, Le Grand Bleu is largely set in and under the sea, with wonderful photography. Unsurprisingly, it was a great hit with the regular filmgoer, but rather less so with the critics: starring Jean Reno as Enzo Molinari and Jean-Marc Barr as Jacques Mayol, the film concerns their rivalry, their suicidal free-diving without an aqualung. In the end Jacques leaves a pregnant Johana (Rosanna Arquette) to join the underwater world forever. And essentially that is the story, which I found tedious and pointless.

In Cinq dans tes yeux, Stress's mate Nordine (who's obviously not received the same film education), says 'Le Grand Bleu, that's the guy swimming with dolphins [...] honestly, that's a lovely film'. Oh yeah, but...