"L'odyssée", also known as "Jacques", is a French 2-hour movie from this year written and directed by Jerôme Salle, the man who wrote the original work that the Depp/Jolie movie "The Tourist" is based on. And even without major awards recognition, this film we have here is still among Salle's most known now. This is probably mostly due to the decent cast (Wilson, Niney, Tautou) and also because of the popularity of the central character here. It is about Jacques-Yves Cousteau, one of the biggest explorers, especially when it comes to sea and underwater expeditions. But this is only partially what the film is about. There is major focus in here on how he struggles in the relationship with his son Philippe and how it takes a major change in JYC's approach to his profession until he finally manages to bond with his son. We also find out about the man's relationship with women, especially his wife (played by Audrey Tautou from "Amélie"). And of course the job plays a really big role. We see how Cousteau becomes a big star in the United States and you could see this movie here almost as a biopic, even if it ends a long time before his death.

And still, this film is almost as much about the character played by Pierre Niney (one of France's rising stars right now),namely Cousteau's son. We see him in his very early years, but also later on as an adult and how his approach to environment and science is fundamentally different compared to his father's idea. The professional life of Commandant Cousteau constantly seems to get in the way between the two. Anyway, overall, I enjoyed the watch here. Maybe it was a good decision by Salle to focus more on the conflicts between the characters and keep the environmental message in the background for almost the entire film, but then I'd also have hoped for a different ending as these last words shown on the screen sound almost as if this was the core message of the film, which it definitely wasn't. So it is not a perfect watch, but still a fairly good one and I learned many new things about Cousteau, his life and his family. The real life characters make it an even more exciting watch. And lets be honest, there is some major irony to Cousteau Jr.'s death caused by technology and he still ends up dead in the water, a reference that shows how these two worlds simply do not fit together in terms of what nature may have in mind for us. I liked all of the acting in here and while there was an occasional weakness in the story, I certainly give this film a thumbs-up. This film has probably the best trailer I have seen all year, so maybe my expectations were simply too high. In any case, it was a satisfying watch and I think that you should check it out if you get a chance to see it. It also never drags, which is a great achievement for a film with this runtime.

If like me you were just periphically aware of Jaques Cousteau, this movie will you an insight. To the man, to the dreams and to his accomplishments, against all odds and all that. I mean some of the dialog (which may or may not be exaggerated) with film producers is just (comedy) gold. But you can see why they only had profit in their mind and he was out there for a different purpose. Now he was able to move his goals/dreams or make them bigger, by thinking outisde the box (no pun intended).

The movie is in french but there are quite a few scenes that are also in english. The main thing is, we get an insight into how he became who many got to know or read upon later on. Also an "influencer" as some might call him nowadays. An inspiring movie, that tells us to reach for the stars or the bottom of the sea - whichever is closer to your heart!

So if you dont like that genre, just skip it.

but if you like to dive in the ocean and enjoy the silence beneath the sea surface, accompanied with a great and soothing score, a very good story will give you a relentless pleasure and a moment of cinematic glory you wont forget so easy. the kåstå films where part of my childhood, and i know several friends that have become divers because of the inspiration by those films. i tried too ,when in the service, but i was a weak runner and couldnt pass the test, even though i was the fastest swimmer on the trials. so this is history, my friends, the story about one of them that didnt get the divers bends, and embraced the ocean without any frontiers.

its a good production, nice actors, and underwater images, it could have a better timelineinfo, but all in all its a gripping story after all, and that makes a grumpy old man pretty stunned, therefore a recommend