Beautiful film

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 1999)

Anyone expecting an action film similar to Besson's later films La Femme Nikita, Leon (aka The Professional), The Fifth Element, or Joan of Arc (aka The Messenger) is bound to be dissapointed, but this is still required viewing for anyone interested in the films of Luc Besson (well, actually, I'd say all of his films are). I just love Besson's visual style, here aided by Carlo Varini's excellent cinematography. From La Femme Nikita on, Besson would use Thierry Arbogast as his DP. Some incredible location shooting and underwater photography, the diving scenes of the two main characters are simply stunning. I wonder what kind of training these actors had to go through. Jean Reno, one of my favorite actors, gives a great performance, as always. Overall great film. Definately try and find the original European version, the American version is missing about 40 minutes, has different music (Eric Serra's music is a major component in Besson's films, changing it would be like replacing the Ennio Morricone score for a Sergio Leone film or the Bernard Herrmann score for an Alfred Hitchcock film), and has a more Hollywood-like ending. Also definately try and find it letterboxed, some films are watchable pan and scanned, this is not one of them.