Beautiful score, vibrant U/W Scenes, Bad Acting

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2007)

I saw this film in Paris, 1991, in "VO" (French), with subtitles. Perhaps the subtitles didn't do the storyline justice, I'll give it that, but what captured and held my attention were the beautiful score and vibrant underwater scenes. Being a Navy-trained diver, I must say Besson made the undersea world look idyllic. I also agree that the 'American cut' butchered this film and score.
I would love to get my hands on the VO DVD, if only for the original soundtrack. It seems the US-vended soundtrack is missing some of the aspects that really made the French, V.O. soundtrack wonderful ('diving bell' effect, etc.). The Americanized 'happy end' also takes away some of the sting and effect that made the French version so hard-hitting.
Lastly, the July, 2007 edition of DIVE TRAINING discussed the sport of free diving and the Grande Bleu naturally came up.
According to the author: "(t)he Big Blue," depicts the pitched battle that took place during the 1060s and 70s between the icons Jacques Mayol and Enzo Mairorca for the world free-diving record. What the film neglected to include was the upstart, chain-smoking U.S. Navy diver had challenged, and for a while, beat, this dynamic duo. Croft set the "no limits" free-diving record in both 1967 (220 feet) and 1968, 240 feet."
C'mon, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys, can't you give the US its due, and not just depict Americans as, 1) a duped, desperate rich guy, or, 2) a good-looking, mendacious, self-centered nympho?