Line #66 Film/TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_life_aquatic_with_steve_zissou.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''[[{{Tagline}} The deeper you go, the weirder life gets.]]'']]
3
4	->'''Festival Director:''' That's an endangered species at most. What would be the scientific purpose of killing it?\
5	(''{{beat}}'')\
6	'''Steve Zissou:''' {{Revenge}}.
7
8	''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'' is a 2004 adventure [[{{Dramedy}} comedy-drama]] film directed by Creator/WesAnderson, written by Anderson and Creator/NoahBaumbach, and starring Creator/BillMurray, Creator/OwenWilson, Creator/CateBlanchett, Creator/AnjelicaHuston, Creator/JeffGoldblum and Creator/WillemDafoe. It is a SpiritualSequel to Anderson's previous film ''Film/TheRoyalTenenbaums''.
9
10	Steve Zissou (Murray) is a world-renowned oceanographer and documentarian, and things are not going well for him. His documentaries have been getting less acclaim. His wife (Huston) -- who was once married to his archrival Alistair Hennessey (Goldblum) -- refuses to join him on his expeditions anymore. And worst of all, during the filming of his last documentary, his best friend Esteban was eaten by what Zissou describes as a "Jaguar shark", a creature that -- given the fact that the only one who has seen it was an apparently momentarily deranged Zissou -- few believe exists.
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12	Zissou announces that his next documentary will detail his search for the jaguar shark in order to kill it. When he (predictably) can't get funding through the traditional channels, he receives the unexpected help of Ned Plimpton (Wilson), a Kentucky airline pilot who believes Zissou to be his long-lost father. Zissou sets out on the search for the Jaguar shark. His eclectic crew includes Ned; Bill (Creator/BudCort), a "bond company stooge" sent by Zissou's producer to keep an eye on him; pregnant reporter Jane Winslett-Richardson (Blanchett), who ends up coming between Ned and Zissou; Klaus (Dafoe), a devoted German sailor with severe emotional issues; Pelé (Creator/SeuJorge), a safety expert with a penchant for singing Music/DavidBowie songs in Portuguese; and a bunch of unpaid college interns.
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14	Zissou is both a {{parody}} of and {{homage}} to French diving pioneer Jacques Cousteau, to whom the film is dedicated. Besides the jaguar shark, the film contains other fictional sea lifeforms (such as the rhinestone bluefin, crayon ponyfish, wild snow-mongoose, electric jellyfish, and sugar crabs) depicted via stop-motion animation by Creator/HenrySelick.
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16	----
17	!!''The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'' provides examples of:
18
19	* AmicableExes: Eleanor seems to have a better relationship with her ex-husband Hennessey than she does with her current husband Steve.
20	%%* AndTheAdventureContinues
21	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Ned]] dies very suddenly near the climax of the film, as a result of an accident born from Steve's negligence.
22	* BadBadActing: Steve's the only halfway decent actor among his crew.
23	* BangBangBANG: Averted. Despite one of the film's themes being how the unrealistic style of Steve's films comes from his surrealist reality, the guns do sound like they would in real life (as in, high-pitched pops rather than low thooms).
24	%%* BigDamnHero
25	* BookEnds: In the beginning and in the end, Zissou shows one of his documentary films at a festival, where he meets Werner, the young nephew of Klaus.
26	* BrokenPedestal: All of Steve's associates have this towards him to some extent, but it's why Jane's writing a hatchet piece on him as she circuitously blames Zissou for her boss getting her pregnant.
27	* CockFight: PlayedForLaughs in a scene between Steve and Ned when they're fighting over Jane.
28	-->'''Ned:''' I'm gonna fight you, Steve.\
29	''[Steve punches Ned in the face]''\
30	'''Steve:''' You never say, "I'm gonna fight you, Steve." You just smile and act natural, and then you sucker-punch him.\
31	'''Ned:''' You fight your way, and I'll fight mine.\
32	'''Steve:''' Oh, listen, Ned. Don't you try to...\
33	''[Ned punches Steve in the face]''\
34	'''Steve:''' ... I think your Team Zissou ring might've caught me on the lip.
35	* CompensatingForSomething: Zissou's strained machismo, promiscuity, and recurring homophobia are heavily implied to be the means with which he hopes to make up for his [[spoiler:sterility.]]
36	* CoverDrop: The exact scene depicted on the poster above is in the film [[spoiler:(minus Ned, who is put where Pelé was in the actual scene)]].
37	* DeathByIrony: The [[spoiler:helicopter that Steve poorly maintains winds up crashing while he and Ned are riding in it.]]
38	* EveryoneIsBi: Steve implies as much when Hennessey brings up a rationale for his failings as a husband.
39	-->'''Hennessey''': We've never made great husbands, have we? Of course, I have a good excuse. I'm part-gay.\
40	'''Zissou''': Supposedly, everyone is.
41	* ExpyCoexistence: Steve is a blatant MockCousteau, but a comment from Steve establishes that Cousteau does exist in the universe of the film, as a rival to Steve.
42	* FamousNamedForeigner: Seu Jorge's character being named Pelé dos Santos sounds like a big joke to any Brazilian, being a reference to the world's greatest soccer player.
43	* FictionalPinballGame: There's a "Zissou" pinball machine on the boat.
44	* FiveTokenBand: Team Zissou, as listed in the beginning of the film:
45	** Esteban du Plantier
46	** Klaus Daimler: "Calm, collected, German."
47	** Vikram Ray: "Born on the Ganges."
48	** Bobby Ogata
49	** Renzo Pietro
50	** Vladimir Wolodarsky
51	** Anne-Marie Sakowitz
52	** Pelé dos Santos
53	** Eleanor Zissou
54	** Seven marine science students from the University of North Alaska ([[MauveShirt one of whom]] is later identified as Nico).
55	* FanserviceExtra: Anne-Marie, the script-writer who is frequently seen topless and who makes little contribution to the plot.
56	* FixItInPost: Steve's reaction to some of his more blatant gaffes. Eventually, after [[spoiler:falling down a flight of stairs, he announces that he wants to leave it in and "give 'em the reality".]]
57	* GeneHunting: Ned Plimpton believes that Steve is his father. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that Steve is sterile, but in the meantime, both have become as close as father and son.]]
58	* GentlemanAdventurer: The image Alistair and Steve try to foster through their films. Although Alistair's not much of an adventurer and Steve's hardly a gentleman.
59	* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: [[spoiler:The Belafonte is taken over by pirates]] because Ned wasn't doing his job (due to having been put on the roster as "Kingsley Zissou"). Pelé is playing his guitar on deck when [[spoiler:they get boarded]]... ''and doesn't notice until [[spoiler:the ladder hits the hull]]''.
60	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Steve and Esteban before the latter's death.
61	* HypercompetentSidekick: Most members of Team Zissou.
62	* IJustWantToBeLoved: Steve's primary reason for letting Ned join his crew is that his supposed son genuinely (and naively) admires him.
63	* InnocentlyInsensitive: Having been raised by one who he very much loved, Ned compliments Jane that she would be a very good single mother, not understanding that she didn't want to raise her child alone.
64	* TheIntern: The crew includes a bunch of unpaid college interns, whom the entire crew treats like crap and are forced to do menial jobs and loot one of Hennessey's research stations. They finally have enough and quit after the pirate attack, which Steve responds to by giving them all "Incomplete" in their evaluation (seeing as he doesn't want to pass them but doesn't want them to fail, either). The lone holdout eventually [[MauveShirt becomes a full crew member and gets his name mentioned on film]].
65	-->'''Steve:''' Anne-Marie, do the interns get Glocks?\
66	'''Anne-Marie:''' No, they all share one.
67	* JerkassWithAHeartOfGold: Steve, definitely.
68	* KnowNothingKnowItAll:
69	** Steve is occasionally implied to be this.
70	--->'''Steve:''' Oh shit, she's right. I guess we'll have to loop that line.
71	** Steve at one point reveals that no-one on his crew had any previous background in oceanography before joining, so he may not have had it as well.
72	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: During a scene when Zissou insists that his films are documentaries and thus inherently truthful, the camera zooms out enough to show that the ship they're standing in is a constructed set.
73	* LukeIMightBeYourFather: The central reason for Ned wanting to connect with Zissou is his belief that he is Zissou's son. [[spoiler:It's revealed that this would be impossible because Zissou is sterile, but this doesn't stop them from growing as close as a father and son, and Ned is credited as Zissou's son in the credits of the documentary he premieres at the end.]]
74	* MediumBlending: Cartoonish [[StopMotion stop-motion]] animation is used to depict many underwater scenes and most of the sea life that appears in the film.
75	* MetafictionalTitle: InUniverse, ''The Life Aquatic'' is the title of the documentary film by Zissou that is showed at a festival in the beginning.
76	* MockCousteau: The titular main character.
77	* MsFanservice: Anne-Marie spends half of her scenes topless. Depending on your interpretation, Zissou may have left this in his films for that purpose, so this could be stealthily lampshading the concept of fanservice.
78	* NationalStereotypes: Klaus's nephew Werner wears stereotypical German lederhosen in all his scenes.
79	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Subverted with Bill the Bond Company Stooge. Steve expects him to follow them around on the expedition interfering and telling him what he can and can't do, but nothing of the sort happens other than briefly complaining [[spoiler:when they raid Alistair's laboratory for equipment]]. He is seen doing his accounting work in one shot.
80	%%* OhCrap:
81	%%--> '''Steve:''' This is gonna hurt.
82	* TheOner: The film likes to follow the characters over the multi-stage set figuring the ship as they walk out from one room to the other, all in a single shot.
83	* OneSteveLimit: Quite literally. Esteban is the Spanish form of Stephen, meaning the two friends had the same name.
84	* PercussiveMaintenance: On the last instance of the lights going off, Steve hits a wall and they come back on.
85	* PosthumousCharacter: Esteban was eaten by the "jaguar shark" before the start of the film. His character only appears in the documentary film showed by Zissou at the festival.
86	* PreAssKickingOneLiner: "I said... get your ass THE HELL OFF OF MY BOAT!"
87	* PrecisionFStrike:
88	** This scene between Steve and Jane:
89	--->'''Jane:''' I'm going to have to start locking my effing door.\
90	'''Steve:''' It was locked, I kicked it in. Why don't you just curse like other people?\
91	'''Jane:''' Because I'm trying to get out of the habit before I have my fucking baby!
92	** Also:
93	--->'''Alistair:''' Is this my espresso machine? Wh-what is-h-how did you get my espresso machine?\
94	'''Bill:''' Well... uh... we fuckin' stole it, man.
95	* RunningGag: The ship's electricity shutting down without warning, showing that it is overall in a poor shape.
96	* RuthlessModernPirates: The pirates Ned refers to as hijackers until [[InsistentTerminology Steve corrects him]] [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy (and reminds him that he was supposed to be on watch)]].
97	* SapientCetaceans:
98	** The concept of hyper-intelligent dolphins is averted.
99	--->'''Zissou:''' Son of a bitch, I'm sick of these dolphins.
100	** As the dolphins watch Ned get it on with Jane and turn to face each other and "laugh" when Steve walks by the monitors to check again, it's entirely possible they're just screwing with him. They later prove this by leading Eleanor to the rescue mission boat.
101	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After unsuccessfully trying to dissuade Steve from going on his hunt for the Jaguar Shark (which she believes, rightfully, will go wrong), Eleanor opts to leave the crew rather than be a part of the disaster that will ensue.
102	* ShortCutsMakeLongDelays: "You wanna pay for the extra gas?" Considering that [[spoiler:the ship's fuel was set ablaze after it was boarded by pirates]]...
103	* SitcomArchnemesis: Early on, Steve refers to Hennessey as his "nemesis", most likely out of jealousy that the latter is richer, more handsome and more successful.
104	* ShoutOut:
105	** Near the end, the team runs through a pond, [[spoiler:and only Steve gets covered in leeches. The exact opposite of what happens in Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}, with everyone ''but'' Venkman covered in marshmallow]].
106	** The closing credits are a shout-out to the closing credit sequence of ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'', which co-starred Jeff Goldblum. (Pointed up by the fact that Alistair is the last character to join the march.)
107	%%* SpiritualSequel: To ''Film/TheRoyalTenenbaums''.
108	* StopMotion: Most of the fantastic species Steve encounters are animated thusly, with the work done by Creator/HenrySelick.
109	* TeamPowerWalk: In the closing scene, the whole crew walks side by side to get back to the boat.
110	* TechnicianVsPerformer: Hennessey's a much more legitimate scientist while Zissou compensates for his flimsy knowledge on the subject matter of his field by a genuine love of adventure.
111	* TheTalkShowWithHostName: Not a talk show, but uses the formula.
112	* TranslatedCoverVersion: Pelé is always singing Music/DavidBowie songs translated to Portuguese.
113	%%* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Steve Zissou, and how.
114	%%* WellDoneSonGuy: [[spoiler:Klaus]].
115	----

Context Film / TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou