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'''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou''' is Wes Anderson's fourth feature length film and was released in the U.S. on December 25, 2004. It was written by Anderson and Noah Baumbach and was filmed in and around Naples, Rome and the Italian Riviera. The offbeat comedy stars Bill Murray as Steve Zissou, an eccentric oceanographer, who sets out to exact revenge on the "jaguar shark" that ate his partner Esteban. Murray's character is both a parody of and homage to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated.
It was released May 10, 2005, on DVD as part of The Criterion Collection.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Soundtrack

Film references

Real-world references

Filming details

References

External links

Plot

This movie details the adventures of the once-famed oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou. His latest film covers the death of his best friend Esteban du Plantier (Seymour Cassel) from a "Jaguar shark" attack. For his next project he is determined to find the creature and destroy it. Steve's crew aboard his "research vessel" ''Belafonte'' includes Pelé dos Santos (Seu Jorge), safety expert and Brazilian musician who sings David Bowie songs in Portuguese; Klaus Daimler (Willem Dafoe), a lovable German second-in-command who views Steve and Esteban as father figures and feels threatened by Steve's presumed son, Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson). Minor crew members include Vikram Ray (Waris Ahluwalia), a Sikh cameraman, described in Zissou's featured film documentary as a man "born on the Ganges"; Bobby Ogata (Niels Koizumi), Team Zissou's frogman who is usually seen eating (in the film he was seen eating a banana as Ned was diving and a sandwich in the sauna); Vladimir Wolodarsky (Noah Taylor), crew experimentator and original score composer; Renzo Pietro (Pamel Wdowczak), screen editor; and Anne-Marie Sakowitz (Robyn Cohen), script girl who is usually seen topless throughout the movie. She commits mutiny and jumps ship with Zissou's pack of unpaid college interns (who attend the University of North Alaska) after being raided by pirates.
Ned is a polite, innocent and childlike Southern gentleman whose mother had recently died. After meeting Steve at a film premiere, he takes a break from his job as an airline pilot in Kentucky to join the Zissou crew, and finances the new film when no one else will. Steve is also followed by a reporter Jane Winslett-Richardson (Cate Blanchett), who is a fan of his and pregnant with her married boss's child. She eventually falls in love with Ned. As a result, a rivalry develops between Ned and Steve, the latter of which is himself infatuated with Jane. The ''Belafonte'' crew sets off on one last mission, facing pirates, financial problems, rescuing a "bond company stooge" (Bud Cort) hired by Zissou's producer Oseary Drakoulias (Michael Gambon) and Zissou's successful, suave, rich, and "part-gay" nemesis Alistair Hennessey (Jeff Goldblum), and reuniting with his wife Eleanor (Anjelica Huston) who was once married to Hennessey. But while searching for the Jaguar Shark, the Zissou helicopter crashes, injuring Steve and killing Ned. Although it is revealed that Steve is sterile, Steve and Ned are as close as genuine father and son. Steve finally tracks down the shark but decides not to kill it, both because of its beauty and his lack of dynamite. Viewing the shark finally validates a daily existence that Steve feared may have become meaningless. Eleanor is moved by this and falls for Steve again. The finished "film-within-a-film" is a hit, and Steve wins an award, regaining respect worldwide.

Cast

★ Bill Murray - Steve Zissou

★ Owen Wilson - Edward "Ned" Plimpton/Kingsley Zissou

★ Cate Blanchett - Jane Winslett-Richardson

★ Anjelica Huston - Eleanor Zissou

★ Willem Dafoe - Klaus Daimler

★ Jeff Goldblum - Alistair Hennessey

★ Michael Gambon - Oseary Drakoulias

★ Noah Taylor - Vladimir Wolodarsky

★ Bud Cort - Bill Ubell, "Bond Company Stooge"

★ Seu Jorge - Pelé dos Santos

★ Robyn Cohen - Anne-Marie Sakowitz

★ Waris Ahluwalia - Vikram Ray

★ Niels Koizumi - Bobby Ogata

★ Pawel Wdowczak - Renzo Pietro

★ Matthew Gray Gubler - Intern #1

★ Antonio Monda - himself

Soundtrack

Main articles: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (soundtrack)

As with all of Anderson's previous films, Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh composed the original score. In addition to Mothersbaugh's music, the soundtrack features songs by older artists and, most notably, David Bowie songs performed in Portuguese by cast member Seu Jorge (who adapted some lyrics to make them relevant to the film's story). All of the David Bowie songs featured in the film are originally from the albums: 1967's ''David Bowie'', 1969's ''Space Oddity'', 1971's ''Hunky Dory'', 1972's ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' and 1974's ''Diamond Dogs''. Anderson also enlisted the services of Australian film composer Sven Libaek.
A soundtrack album for the film was released in 2004. In 2005, ''The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions featuring Seu Jorge'' was released, containing a number of Jorge's performances that were cut from the film.

Film references

★ In "This is an Adventure," one of the Criterion Collection extras, a scene featuring Willem Dafoe is described in one take by Wes Anderson as "Christlike." This slyly refers to Willem's portrayal of Jesus in the Martin Scorsese film ''The Last Temptation of Christ.''

★ At one point Steve Zissou and Klaus Daimler are standing outside Jane Winslett-Richardson's cabin door. Steve says "Not this one, Klaus", a little homage to the character of Jules in the Truffaut film ''Jules et Jim.'' Jules and Jim have been happily sharing their girlfriends, but when Catherine comes onto the scene, Jules is smitten.

★ There is a scene from the documentary in which Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Cate Blanchett are arranged in a row and are pointing forward, looking straight ahead. This is a reference to an earlier Anderson film, ''Bottle Rocket'', where characters Dignan, Anthony and Bob are arranged as such for the cover.

★ Both scenes involving aerial shots of character's feet (in the Hot Air Balloon as well as the shot before the helicopter crashes) are homages to Fellini's ''8 1/2''.

★ The scene during the credits, in which the characters walk along a pier, was inspired by the film ''The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension''. When the characters board the ship, there is a man wearing a pilot's uniform and smoking a pipe at the top most point of the ship, before the rest of the crew have boarded. This is Ned reappearing for a "curtain call" (per the director's commentary). Jeff Goldblum appears in both ending sequences.

Real-world references

★ The scene at the end of the movie with Steve walking the red carpet with Klaus's nephew on his shoulders was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola walking with daughter Sofia on his shoulders at the Cannes Film Festival in the late '70s. The scene is the same down to the white knee socks and black shoes Sofia wore.

★ "Zissou" was the nickname of French photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue's older brother. The portrait of Lord Mandrake, Zissou's mentor, is based on a famous photograph of Lartigue, and the photographer (who died in 1986) is even credited as playing the part in the end credits. Wes Anderson also referenced the photographer's work in ''Rushmore''. Although Anderson had made up the main character's unlikely name, it was eventually learned that there is a real Steve Zissou, a trial lawyer in New York. After being contacted by the film's production company, Zissou granted permission for his name to be used in the film, and he is listed in the film's credits.^[1]

★ The name of Zissou's research ship was the ''Belafonte''. The name is a parody of Jacques Cousteau's ship ''The Calypso''. Harry Belafonte is a famous singer of Calypso music.

★ The surname of the character Jane Winslett-Richardson, played by Cate Blanchett, is presumably taken from the surnames of British actresses Kate Winslet and Miranda Richardson.

★ Shortly after Zissou's sterility is revealed, he is seen suggesting his nickname should be "Papa Steve". This is a reference to Ernest Hemingway (aka Papa Hemingway), whose books dealt with themes of impotence, death and macho adventure. There is also a fair similarity in their appearance, especially the beard.

Filming details

★ The ship used as the Belafonte is the former HMS Packington (M1214).

★ The orca shown briefly in the film is known as "Valentin" in real life. He resides at Marineland Antibes in Antibes, France. The gag he appears in was originally written for Rushmore, when Max is looking into purchasing fish for the aquarium.

★ The Jaguar Shark was one of the largest stop motion puppets ever created for a film, measuring over eight feet long.

★ Zissou wears a Russian-made Vostok Amphibia watch in the movie.

References

1. Real Steve Zissou Deeply Attached to His Name

External links

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★ The Criterion Collection DVD

★ Interview with Wes Anderson Interview Magazine