''The Odyssey'' (French title: ''L'Odyssée'') is a 2016 French-Belgian biographical

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by Jérôme Salle and written by Salle and

Laurent Turner Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

, based on the non-fiction book ''Capitaine de La Calypso'' by

Albert Falco Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia * Albert Productions, a record label * Albert ...

and Yves Paccalet. The film stars Lambert Wilson,

Pierre Niney Pierre Niney (; born 13 March 1989) is a French actor. He made his acting debut in the two-part television miniseries ''La dame d'Izieu'' in 2007, followed by films such as ''LOL (Laughing Out Loud)'', ''The Army of Crime'', ''Romantics Anonymous ...

, and

Audrey Tautou Audrey Justine Tautou (; born 9 August 1976) is a French actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 18 on television and her feature film debut in ''Venus Beauty Institute'' (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the Césa ...

Premise

The film follows Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a French ocean-going adventurer, biologist, and filmmaker. It sticks to historical events, and was based on documentation and interviews with people who worked with Cousteau. In 1949, Cousteau was an eccentric naval officer in France, with a beautiful oceanside house, who wanted to be a pilot. But he quits the Navy to explore and document the ocean. His boat, Calypso, was a 1941 minesweeper. The film is a biopic covering aquatic adventures over thirty years. Cousteau is revealed to be an adventurer but also an inventor. He designed the autonomous regulator, but also had romantic views of colonising the sea. The film documents the decline of his finances and fortunes and banks pull out as the era of 'robotics' and automation begins as a more plausible financial investment than Cousteau's ideas of civilizations living under the sea. While he was influential and ambitious, he is revealed to be disloyal to his wife Simone, who remains on the Calypso year-round while Cousteau travels extensively. He conflicts with and is reconciled with his environmentalist son, Philippe, who is also a filmmaker. A major trip to Antarctica sees him working with his son and loyal crew, to make films he has promised to his investors and producing essential revenue as his business was failing. Cousteau is then showing gathering fame and travelling the world in the late 1970s. The death of Philippe on 28 June 1979, in a PBY Catalina flying boat crash in the Tagus river near Lisbon is the low point in Cousteau's life. Cousteau is shown to be a popularizer of the hidden wonders of the sea, and the person who raised the most awareness of the ocean and the need for environmental protection for many decades. His role in brokering the moratorium on resource exploitation in Antarctica is mentioned in the closing credits.

Cast

* Lambert Wilson as Jacques-Yves Cousteau *

as Philippe Cousteau ** Ulysse Stein as young Philippe Cousteau *

Simone Melchior Cousteau Simone Cousteau (née Melchior; 19 January 1919 – 1 December 1990) was a French explorer. She was the first woman scuba diver and aquanaut, and wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. Although never visible in th ...

* Laurent Lucas as Philippe Tailliez * Benjamin Lavernhe as

Jean-Michel Cousteau Jean-Michel Cousteau (born 6 May 1938) is a French oceanographic explorer, environmentalist, educator and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau. Life and care ...

** Rafaël de Ferran as young Jean-Michel Cousteau * Vincent Heneine as Albert "Bebert" Falco * Thibault de Montalembert as Étienne Deshaies * Roger Van Hool as Daddy * Chloé Hirschman as Jan * Adam Neill as David Wolper * Olivier Galfione as Frédéric Dumas * Martin Loizillon as Henri Plé * Chloé Williams as Eugenie Clark

Production

Principal photography on the film began on 7 September 2015 in Croatia, where filming took place on islands Hvar, Vis, and

Biševo Biševo (, Chakavian: Bisovo, it, Busi) is an island in the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. It is situated in the middle of the Dalmatian archipelago, five kilometers southwest of the Island of Vis. Its area is and it has a population of 15 (as of ...

. Shooting was also done in South Africa,

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

, and The Bahamas, and it ended on 8 January 2016.

Release

In France, the film was released on 12 October 2016 by Wild Bunch.

Reception

The film was regarded by critics and audiences as lacking direction and good character development. The undersea and Antarctica scenes were deemed to be stunning, and received an award. Rotten Tomatoes gave a score of 63% based on 19 reviews.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odyssey, The 2016 films Belgian biographical films Films directed by Jérôme Salle Pan-Européenne films French biographical films French historical adventure films Belgian historical films Biographical films about military personnel Biographical films about scientists Biographical films about writers Biographical films about photographers Films about film directors and producers 2010s biographical films 2010s historical adventure films Films shot in Croatia Films shot in South Africa Films shot in Antarctica Films shot in the Bahamas Cultural depictions of Jacques Cousteau Environmental films Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films featuring underwater diving Films based on non-fiction books French-language Belgian films 2010s French films