"The Odyssey", French Cousteau biopic - Netflix

[Schwob]

"The Odyssey", a French Cousteau biopic from 2016 is on Netflix. Apologies if this is old news. I only noticed this evening. If it's pointed out on SB I could not find it, ... hence the notice for others potentially interested, who might be unaware. Watched and thought if it as worthwhile to watch ... subtitles and some cheasy plastic looking shark and all. There would be so much more to tell so...

 

[KathyV]

"The Odyssey", a French Cousteau biopic from 2016 is on Netflix. Apologies if this is old news. I only noticed this evening. If it's pointed out on SB I could not find it, ... hence the notice for others potentially interested, who might be unaware. Watched and thought if it as worthwhile to watch ... subtitles and some cheasy plastic looking shark and all. There would be so much more to tell so...

I will look for it, thanks!

 

[uwxplorer]

Worth the watch even though the underwater scenes won't be new to SB members. The film is in French (with some occasional sequences in English - with a French accent), hence the subtitles (which can be turned off ). Apparently, it cost more than it garnered at the box office, which might be why it wasn't dubbed.
I don't think there is any "cheesy plastic looking shark and all", at least not in the version I saw. In fact, I would say that the cinematography is top notch.
Very different from the otherwise excellent Life Aquatic inspired by the same topic.

 

[Schwob]

I don't think there is any "cheesy plastic looking shark...

I do concur and edited my OP to reflect. When the first shark approaches in the scene outside of the cage and was seen frontal slightly from above we paused for a little while to talk and that paused image was stuck in my head. Reviewed the scene all in one and visually nothing cheesy looking about it.

 

[KathyV]

We just watched it and thought that it was excellent, thank you for the head's up

"The Odyssey", a French Cousteau biopic from 2016 is on Netflix. Apologies if this is old news. I only noticed this evening. If it's pointed out on SB I could not find it, ... hence the notice for others potentially interested, who might be unaware. Watched and thought if it as worthwhile to watch ... subtitles and some cheasy plastic looking shark and all. There would be so much more to tell so...

We just watched it and thought that it was very good, thank you for the head's up!

 

[CT-Rich]

I watched it last night. There were a few shots where the sharks wer clearly CGI and it did detract from the movie some. But over all I liked it. Most likely, this was bio-pic about a French hero and not really made for external consumption.

Other than reading his books and watching his shows as a kid, I have not read much about JYC as a man or a husband. What I have heard was not always complimentary. He was a man of his times. The modern environmental movement didn’t start until the 1960s and the pre WWII world view of a French officer was probably very colonial, imperialist and man conquers nature. Dynamiting reefs, shooting feeding sharks and staging events for dramatic effect were not beyond the realm. He did evolve over time and to his credit when re-releasing The Silent World, he left in the portion where they were shooting the sharks, because it was what they did.

My. guess is they sugar coated it a fair amount, anyway, but still fun to see the vintage gear hear the story...

 

[drbill]

True that environmental awareness back in the 40s and 50s was not what it is today, but JYC learned through his experiences and changed his thinking as he matured. I'll have to check this out before I leave Netflix.