The Big Blue – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

At U–jazdowski Cinema we will present The Big Blue in a unique director’s cut — the most complete, authorial version of Luc Besson’s cult classic. Expanded with additional scenes and marked by a denser, more contemplative rhythm, it allows viewers to immerse themselves even more fully in the hypnotic world of the ocean and the emotions of its characters.

The story of the relationship between two divers, Enzo Molinari (Jean Reno) and Jacques Mayol (Jean-Marc Barr), and Mayol’s girlfriend Johana Baker (Rosanna Arquette), is a journey into the depths of the sea and into the depths of the human soul. Shot across several continents, Besson’s spectacle contains what are arguably some of the most beautiful underwater scenes in the history of cinema. This seductive, sensual tale begins in the 1950s and flows into the present day in shifting currents: from the tension and danger of breath-hold diving to awe at the sublime beauty of the underwater world.

Based on the biographies of real pioneers of freediving, The Big Blue is suspended between the blue abyss and the sun-scorched surface, where ordinary human affairs unfold. Mayol, the film’s central character, longs to escape that ordinariness: he is half-man, half-dolphin, most at home in the sea, in the company of animals.

A film created to be experienced on the big screen, accompanied by the unforgettable, innovative score by Éric Serra, Luc Besson’s regular collaborator.