The deep sea divers

Movie
German title	The deep sea divers
Original title	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	2004
length	119 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12 ; JMK 6
Rod
Director	Wes Anderson
script	Wes Anderson, ; Noah Baumbach
production	Wes Anderson, ; Barry Mendel , ; Scott Rudin
music	Mark Mothersbaugh
camera	Robert D. Yeoman , ; Stefano Falivene
cut	David Moritz
occupation
	Bill Murray : Steve Zissou; Owen Wilson : Ned Plimpton; Cate Blanchett : Jane Winslett-Richardson; Anjelica Huston : Eleanor Zissou; Willem Dafoe : Klaus Daimler; Jeff Goldblum : Alistair Hennessey; Michael Gambon : Oseary Drakoulias; Bud Cort : Bill Ubell ("Fuzzi"); Noah Taylor : Vladimir Wolodarsky; Seu Jorge : Pelé dos Santos; Matthew Gray Gubler : Intern Nico;

Wes Anderson at the Berlinale 2005

The Deep Sea Divers (Original title: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ) is a 2004 film directed by Wes Anderson about a bizarre expedition of a marine research team.

Bill Murray plays Captain Steve Zissou , a famous oceanographer and documentary filmmaker . The fictional person of the Zissou is modeled after the real ocean researcher and filmmaker Jacques Cousteau up to the red cap .

action

The career of the aging oceanographer Steve Zissou has gone downhill more and more in recent years, his films no longer inspire audiences and his marriage to his very sarcastic wife Eleanor, his second, has seen better days. A particular thorn in the flesh is the younger competitor Alistair Hennessey, who collects all the funding and is also the ex-husband of his current wife. His last expedition, from which a documentary film was made as usual (“The Jaguar Shark, Part 1”), was also catastrophic, because his long-time and best friend Esteban du Plantier, his right hand man, was eaten by a previously unknown spotted basking shark, the Zissou gives the name Jaguar Shark. The film premiered at the Loquasto Film Festival, but failed the audience, and competitor Hennessey (also more richly decorated than Zissou himself) won the award. Zissou announces that his next expedition will aim to find the jaguar shark and kill it with dynamite - in revenge. It is clear that Zissou is going through a serious personal crisis.

Zissou and his producer Oseary Drakoulias have serious money problems with the equipment for his expedition, since he had his last hit movie nine years ago and all potential donors consider him not creditworthy. At a party on board his research vessel Belafonte , he first met Ned Plimpton, a pilot with Air Kentucky, who is believed to be his illegitimate son. His mother, with whom Zissou had a relationship 30 years ago, recently passed away. Zissou invites Ned to join his team, a little red-capped bunch (everyone has a different hat) of eccentric figures of all nationalities and skin colors, including a bare-breasted script girl and a horde of unpaid interns - a kind of family substitute for Zissou, who himself isn't a real one Family has. When the financing of the expedition fails, Ned steps in with his inheritance and moves up to Zissou's co-star, which triggers jealousy on the part of the crew, especially on the part of Klaus Daimler. With Ned's help, other investors can also be taken on board, but Zissou has to swallow a few toads: he is not allowed to kill the jaguar shark and he has to take on board an insurance employee (always referred to as the "insurance freak") named Bill Ubell, who u. a. make sure that the rotation is not excessive. To top it all, the very attractive and pregnant journalist Jane Winslett-Richardson comes on board, about whom disputes arise between Zissou and Ned - she is apparently the only halfway serious journalist who is still interested in Zissou. Eleanor decides not to take part in the trip because she senses trouble and does not want to be part of what Zissou may expect out there.

The journey starts. First, Zissou heads for the marine laboratory of his competitor Hennessey, where the crew wants to use the high-tech devices located there to track down the shark that Zissou was able to mark with a location arrow during his last encounter. You gain illegal access to the station and trigger an alarm that forces you to shut down all devices and a lot more, e.g. B. an espresso machine to steal before the coast guard arrives. However, the course determined by Zissou leads through unprotected waters, where they are promptly picked up by pirates who steal all their money and fuel. Zissou drives the pirates away almost alone in a fit of rage and kills one of them, but cannot prevent them from taking the insurance fuzzy hostage. Part of the crew wants to leave the ship, including the script girl and most of the interns, but also the reporter, who has meanwhile fallen in love with Ned. Salvation comes in the form of competitor Hennessey, of all people, who is extorting Zissou with a huge sum of money for his rescue from the cross and incidentally lets Zissou's wife Eleanor live with him. Hennessey tows the incapable of maneuvering Belafonte to Port-au-Monnaie, where Zissou immediately goes to his competitor's villa to beg his wife or her parents for money. There is a debate between the two of them, and Zissou confesses that he has probably not been at his best in the last ten years. Upon his return on board, Zissou and Ned clash over Jane. At the height of the dispute, Eleanor appears as a saving angel, she has decided to help her husband one more time and pays to repair and re-equip the Belafonte . One of the interns and Jane stay on board, the latter also because of Ned.

In the meantime, the insurance company has given a sign of life, and Eleanor can identify the Ping Islands as the starting point. The Belafonte sets out for Little Ping, abandoned a few years ago after a severe storm, and they find the floating wreck of Hennessey's research vessel near the coast. Zissou goes ashore with a crew of eight. There they search a derelict luxury hotel where Zissou was spending their honeymoon with his first wife. At first they don't find the pirates, and Zissou sees himself at the lowest point in his life. In the process, however, he and Ned get closer, and Zissou finally actually recognizes him as his son. At the same time, the relationship with Klaus improves, who now fills the gap that Esteban had previously occupied and rises to Zissou's right hand. As they leave the hotel, they find the graves of Alistair Hennessey's crew who were killed by the pirates, and Zissou himself ultimately locates the pirates who are holding the insurance fuzzi and Hennessey prisoner. He succeeds in freeing his rival, who is injured in the process, and together they leave the island, not without blowing up the pirate ship after a violent firefight.

Wes Anderson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston at the Berlinale 2005

The search for the shark continues, but the tracking device is defective and Zissou is about to give up. Ned persuades him, however, to look for the animal with the ship's decrepit helicopter. Shortly before the start, Ned receives a love letter from Jane, and with his processing of the Team Zissou flag he also wins Klaus' heart, Zissou himself sees him as an equal partner and family (i.e. team) member. Unfortunately, while searching, the helicopter crashes and Ned is killed. Producer Drakoulias and several Air Kentucky employees arrive aboard the Belafonte for Ned's burial at sea , the whole team is present, and Zissou even makes up with Hennessey. Shortly after the burial, the technical department reports that the tracking device is working again and that the jaguar shark is stuck in a deep-sea trench at the other end of the reef. The entire Zissou team, plus Jane, Drakoulias and Hennessey plus the last remaining intern, set off on Zissou's research submarine Deep Search (ex Jaqueline , the name of his ex-wife), and together they witness how the jaguar shark emerges from the dark and they can film it. Finding the animal is a key experience for Zissou and also for the others and also a turning point. The expedition has reached its destination, even if Ned lost his life. Jane publishes her article, which the previously very high-handed Zissou lets go unchanged, he realized that he can live with his personal weaknesses. "The Jaguar Shark, Part 2" will be a great success at the next Loquasto Festival, Zissou wins the award - but that is obviously no longer so important to him, he has overcome his personal crisis and can continue to live his life. Klaus' nephew takes the place of Ned, and Zissou can continue his role as a father, which he has hardly found. Jane's child, who has now been born, also joins Team Zissou (blue suit, red cap), as does the only remaining intern. Zissou's last words before the fade-out, as he sits alone on the stairs in front of the festival building and thinks deeply, are "It's an adventure ..."

backgrounds

The film has its own aesthetic, which is partly based on oceanographic films from the 1960s and 1970s. For example, the imaginative sea creatures are animated using old-fashioned stop-motion technology. Wes Anderson said in an interview with the taz : “We invented fish by adopting their real appearance and then changing the details. There is, for example, the seahorse, which is colorfully striped. I worked with Henry Selick ; he animated the fish and marine animals. It was almost like working with an actor, because as much as the actor is about bringing the script side to life, Selick is about bringing these objects to life. "

In addition to compositions by Mark Mothersbaugh and some pieces by Sven Libaek, the score consists mainly of songs by David Bowie , which are played on an acoustic guitar by security expert Pelé dos Santos ( Seu Jorge ) and sung in Portuguese.

The journalist reads aloud to her unborn child In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust .

According to Wes Anderson, the crew's sneakers, which were clearly visibly removed from an adidas box, are not a product placement , but a reminder of his childhood.

criticism

As with other Anderson films, the reception of criticism is divided. Anderson's fans are already talking about a new genre, and his critics have tried in vain to win a smile from the calculated slapstick. Plot, situations, emotions, relationships and dialogues are always on the verge of absolute artificiality, which is liked by some, and bored by others.

"From a mixture of family history, father-son drama and adventure film, Wes Anderson distills a quiet comedy that not only caricatures the genres by means of an emphatically cheap, yet very well-considered style, but also appeals to deconstruct their often artificial character."

- International film lexicons

“The deep sea divers inspire in the intoxication of the deep with unique humor as well as unbelievable colors, sets and costumes, as you can only experience in a film by Wes Anderson. So hold your breath ... and immerse yourself in the fabulous world of Steve Zissou ... "

- film lexicon

“After 'The Royal Tenenbaums', Wes Anderson is again presenting a comedy story with this film. But the jokes do not want to ignite, leading actor Bill Murray as a marine biologist in the midlife crisis is more melancholy than funny and the story ripples just as flat as the waters in which the expedition team fishes. What is being sold here as bizarre just seems out of place. Despite the strong cast, this is a leap into the deep end. "

- prism

“Basically, the events in every Wes Anderson film can be summed up as follows: Something comes big, goes round and then disappears. … You can be happy with this structure and you can be of the opinion that at some point it sucks. Always new attempts, from which nothing comes from which nothing follows. "

- film headquarters

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.