The Big Blue

Studiocanal has released Luc Besson's The Big Blue (aka Le Grand Bleu) in a UDD/Blu-ray SteelBook. It comes with 4 discs, two UHD and two standard Blu-ray. The contents of the UHD discs is identical to that of the Blu-rays.

What you get is two versions of the film, theatrical and extended cuts. If you are looking for the American cut with a replacement score by Bill Conti and a dumbed down happy ever after ending ending, look elsewhere. There is one extra, a feature length making-of documentary by Besson himself. The making-of is not the standard affair. Besson approaches it as a work of art rather than one of pure promotion and marketing. It is informative and cinematographically beautiful.

Gaumont's 4K restoration of the film is, as you would expect, of a very high quality. The main difference between the two versions of the film, approximately half an hour, are that Rosanna Arquette's Johana Baker gets a little more time to develop, as does that character's romantic relationship with Jean-Marc Barr's Jacques Mayol, and the inclusion of the scenes on a north sea oil rig. The interactions between Jacques and Jean Reno's Enzo Molinari while diving at the oil rig are quite amusing.

The Big Blue is a classic piece of cinéma du look that deserves to be seen big and in high quality.

Reviewed on: 01 Dec 2025