Wes Anderson Week: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
By far my favorite of his films. An excellent review. The jaguar shark does it to me too.
YOU CAUGHT ME WITH ONE FOOT OFF THE MERRY-GO-ROUND TONIGHT.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) is Wes Anderson’s fourth film. It originated as a tribute of sorts to Jacques-Yves Cousteau, the great under sea explorer and ecologist. The Team Zissou uniform, consisting of a red hat paired with a robins egg blue shirt, was actually inspired by Cousteau’s trademark seafaring dress. Even Steve Zissou’s ship, The Belafonte, was named with Cousteau in mind: his vessel was an old minesweeper named the Calypso, and Harry Belafonte is, of course, a well known calypso singer. One should also consider a much earlier mention of Cousteau in Anderson’s work, a quote from Rushmore (1998): “When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself”.
These are just a few of those special details Wes Anderson ever so carefully infuses into each of his cinematic endeavors. He began with a childhood love of Cousteau and the spirit of nautical adventure, and ended up creating an entire world (imaginary stop motion sea creatures included) around this fantasy. It’s a self-described “adventure comedy” that plunges into the depths of the relationships between husbands and wives, fathers and sons, captain and crew, a man and his mission.
I remember seeing the film for the first time in theaters, and recall having mixed feelings. Most of the humor passed right over my head. I shrugged it off at the time, and instead walked away incredibly perplexed by Anderson’s use of a Portuguese rendition of David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel”.
However, after a second viewing, The Life Aquatic quickly claimed its place among my very favorite films. In fact, I’m now rather obsessed with its positively brilliant humor and bizarre plot (which is, basically, to exact revenge on a shark). Yes, I’ve dressed as a Zissou intern for Halloween - and was joined by a team of friends to boot. Yes, I made a replica of the Belafonte ship flag, with N for Ned and Klaus represented as a Dolphin. Yes, during my first semester of undergraduate studies I started up a Zissou Interns Society at my school. Oh, the fond memories of driving around with friends while listening to Mark Mothersbaugh’s fantastic “Ping Island / Lightening Strike Rescue Operation” theme, pretending that we were on a mission! My car even had the official Team Zissou Intern sticker on it. If ever I was needed for active sea duty in the name of aquatic exploration, I was ready.
My very favorite Zissou-related memories took place in an old record shop, where a new friend of mine sat down to a piano we’d come across and began to play one of the film’s themes (Mark Mothersbaugh’s “Let Me Tell You About My Boat”) out of nowhere. Well, let’s just say that I knew we’d be friends for life at that moment. I had to walk out of the shop, put my head against the wall, take a huge, deep breath, and walk back in to collect myself. We’d just met in a foreign country and accidentally found this piano, and “Wait…you play piano? Wait what are you playing? ..what!?”
Of course, how could one write about Wes Anderson and not discuss his remarkable soundtracks? Sure, they may now be subject to some scrutiny or cliche, but do you remember how you felt as that very first note of The Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside” began to play? I do, I had chills. And when Captain Zissou inhales his smoke on the lookout while Bowie’s “Life On Mars” reaches its climax across the nearly frozen scene? It seems to me that the perfection of the musical choices only underscores the absolutely gorgeous cinematography. One could take a film still from almost any point in this movie and it would appear meticulously crafted and beautiful. The film was shot on the Italian coast, so what could one expect but stellar views, sun bleached colors, and sweeping seascapes? Even after Zissou liberates his team from the pirates and his boat is still aflame, he is shown standing in his bathrobe while a marvelous solar halo hangs above him.
(And, really, Seu Jorge’s acoustic Portuguese renditions of David Bowie songs - which he translated and arranged for guitar himself - were an absolute stroke of genius.)
Musical perfection aside though, I can say with great confidence that The Life Aquatic is one of the most dually poignant and hilarious films I have ever seen. There are moments of character interaction that simply could not have been achieved better with any other cast or director. Anderson, in fact, wrote the part of Zissou with Bill Murray (and only Bill Murray!) in mind. This fixation stemmed from a fantasy shot that Anderson had originally wanted to use in Rushmore, when Murray’s character would have been looking for specimens for the new salt water aquarium that he intended to fund for the school. That shot was finally realized in The Life Aquatic, in a montage where Murray (now as Zissou) hand feeds a killer whale.
When we first meet him, Steve Zissou is dejected, down on his luck, arrogant, and Hemingway-esque in appearance. His best friend was just eaten by a shark of mythical proportions. Zissou appears to be unavoidably lovable - though I’m always torn between my sympathy, anger, and adoration for him - and it’s hard to believe that any one other than Murray could have pulled off such a balancing act. I don’t know how it happens, but each time I watch that final scene in the submarine, where everyone firmly grasps his shoulder, I can’t keep myself from tears. I can never quite say if I’m tearful in that moment because Zissou unravels the perpetually flawed human characteristics within each one of us, or if it’s simply the perfect use of Sigur Ros and the final awe of seeing the jaguar shark in all of its massive glory. All I know is that there is hardly a scene in cinema I enjoy so much.
And this is what I truly do adore about Anderson’s work. The main characters are always flawed and distanced - possibly brilliant but also socially hindered or impaired in some way. In the end, however, these characters are always resolved, and more so they are always resolved within each other and not through some solitary epiphany. Those arms all stretching out to embrace a flawed and failing Zissou echo Anderson’s previous film, The Royal Tenenbaums, when Royal (Gene Hackman) gives Ari and Uzi a new dog and apologizes to his son (Ben Stiller), who seems to forgive him for everything in that moment by simply remarking “It’s been a tough year, dad.”
In Aquatic’s culminating moment, crowded in the submarine, something entirely beautiful is born. Every one - enemy, ex-wife, intern, and B-squad captain - are united in a moment of pure communal awe. The creature which claimed the life of their friend is suddenly a sight of beauty. Life is seen as if from the outside or at its end, with clarity. You know, they know, we all know: a moment of overwhelming beauty will humble even the most haughty of souls and reduce each of us to that final haunting question “Will we be remembered?” or better put, “Were we ever really loved?”
“I wonder if it remembers me”
Okay, okay it’s a shark puppet - but I dare you to deny the poetry of that scene.
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I’ve seen The Life Aquatic so many times I could easily go into great length about the crafting of each character. I want to laugh and giggle at the outstanding performances of Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum, who each peer out at the underbelly of the sea. I marvel at the appearance of Bud Cort in the film - and still cannot believe this is the same man I fell in love with all those years ago as Harold in Harold and Maude. In an instant, though, I’m returned to a calm state as Angelica Houston and Cate Blanchett offer comfort. Ned (Owen Wilson) is so impossibly tender that it is still hard, with each new viewing, to see his optimism and naivety extinguished. The scenes in which he is listening quietly to Blanchett reading to her incredibly pregnant belly are so intimate and perfect. And, despite the loss of a gentle character, Anderson somehow manages to end the film on a warm, resolved note. Possibly my favorite resolution of crossed feelings in the film is a subtly brilliant exchange between Zissou and Hennesy, long-time foes:
Hennesy: Neither of us ever made good husbands. Although I always had an excuse, I’m part gay.
Zissou: That’s ok, they say we all are.Suddenly, it seems possible that we could all one day understand each other, even if it’s only on a small level. It may be that we are all on this journey for different reasons, or with different destinations in mind, but Anderson does not let us leave the theater feeling any less connected. No, in fact, we are all connected, and despite our own decided feelings, deep down we have an unrelenting desire for unity, community, and love.
At last, there could be no better way to end this cinematic voyage than with a send off to David Bowie’s “Queen Bitch”, in which the whole of the remaining crew reboard The Belafonte. Anderson’s final scene seems to underscore a thematic point: sure, life may be a bit of a bitch at times, but we’re not about to go giving up on it.
No, as Steve says, “this is an adventure”.
Amanda McCleod is an artist and grad student living in Brooklyn. She tumbls here.
