The Big Blue

In the 1960s on Amorgos, Jacques and Enzo grow up by the sea. Enzo challenges Jacques to retrieve a coin from the sea floor, but Jacques refuses. Their father, a shellfish diver, is killed when his breathing apparatus and rope are snagged by rocks, leaving the boys to witness the drowning.

By the 1980s, both brothers are renowned freedivers. Enzo performs a dramatic rescue of a trapped diver from a shipwreck off Sicily, cementing his status as a world champion and deepening the rivalry with Jacques as he pursues Jacques to return to no-limits freediving.

Jacques participates in scientific research as a human subject in the lakes of the Peruvian Andes, where researchers study his physiological responses to cold water immersion. The work documents his extraordinary endurance and foreshadows the risks of extreme depth diving. The environment and tests frame his later decisions and happenstances.

Insurance broker Johana Baker visits Jacques's research station and forms an uneasy connection with him. She fabricates an insurance problem to justify staying near him, setting in motion a personal bond that will complicate his life.

After learning Jacques will be at the World Diving Championships in Taormina, Sicily, Johana and Jacques begin dating. Their relationship grows amid the backdrop of competition and the lure of the sea, drawing them closer together.

At the Taormina Championships, Jacques narrowly defeats Enzo by one metre, securing a hard‑won victory. The win is celebrated, but it also deepens the rivalry between the two divers as they measure their closeness in depth.

As a token of their rivalry, Enzo offers Jacques a crystal dolphin and a tape measure to illustrate the slim margin between their records. The items symbolize both admiration and competitive tension that will drive their future dives.

In the next World Diving Championship, Enzo surpasses Jacques' record, pushing freediving depths into uncharted territory. The doctor warns of the dangers as the field pushes past safe limits, though the thrill of discovery keeps competitors diving deeper.

The dive doctor cautions against dangerous depths, while Jacques, Enzo, and Johana discover a new dolphin in a dolphinarium that is no longer performing. The trio breaks in at night to free her and return her to the sea, validating their bond and shared love of the ocean.

Back at the competition, other divers struggle to break records, but Jacques succeeds in reaching 400 feet (120 meters). The achievement marks a new milestone in the ongoing deep-diving contest and sets the stage for Enzo's response.

Angered by Jacques's record, Enzo prepares to surpass it despite the doctor's warnings. He pushes beyond safe limits, but is unable to return to the surface, highlighting the peril of their pursuit and the cost of pride.

Jacques dives to rescue Enzo as he falters, and Enzo dies in his arms. Enzo's final words acknowledge that Jacques was right about the depths, and he begs to be taken back down to where he belongs.

To honor Enzo's dying wish, Jacques carries his body to a depth where the human body becomes negatively buoyant and allows Enzo to sink. He himself suffers a cardiac arrest afterward and is revived by supervising divers and defibrillation.

Jacques experiences a hallucinatory dream of the ocean as he recovers, then Johana returns and reveals she is pregnant. She finds him preparing for one last dive; despite her pleas to stay, he insists he must go. She releases the ballast line, and he descends; a dolphin appears as he sinks, and he glides away into the darkness with it.