The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is not an individual film. Rather, it is a piece of a larger body of work – the films of writer/director Wes Anderson.
The Life Aquatic is Anderson’s fourth film and is packed with directorial trademarks established in his previous three films: Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).
These trademarks include: overhead shots of magazines and newspapers, action montages accompanied by British Invasion music from the 60s and 70s, a childlike fascination with guns and cigarettes, TV interviews of the characters, painted portraits of the characters and a slow motion ending – all of which are used in one or more of his other works.
The film stars Bill Murray as Steve Zissou a deep-sea explorer/scientist/documentary filmmaker and Owen Wilson as his, possibly, long lost son, Ned Plimpton. Both actors have worked with Anderson three times before.
Like all of Anderson’s films, Aquatic has an amazing ensemble performance from the entire cast featuring: Angelica Huston as Eleanor, Zissou’s wife; Cate Blanchette as Jane, a reporter covering Zissou; Willem Dafoe as Klaus, Zissou’s first mate; Jeff Goldblum as Alistair Hennessey, Zissou’s college roommate and nemesis; and Michael Gambon as Oseary Drakoulias, Zissou’s mentor.
The plot of Aquatic centers around the creation of Zissou’s documentary entitled The Life Aquatic. In his film Zissou plans to track down and kill the jaguar shark who ate his best friend, Esteban.
Zissou’s determination to destroy the shark gives Aquatic a solid plot-driven feeling, which is in stark contrast to his previous films – all of which were centered on the characters rather than the plot.
Although the deep-sea adventure plot of Aquatic is more expansive than his other films, its filmic elements and relationship-based themes fit right in with the rest of his body of work.
In all of his films, minus Bottle Rocket, Anderson structures the film in a different form of storytelling. Rushmore is made to seem like a play and Tenenbaums a book. The Life Aquatic is structured in the style of a documentary.
It is ironic that the film is told in the style of a documentary, a seemingly objective medium of storytelling, considering that it is Anderson’s most subjective film to date.
Zissou appears in nearly every scene of Aquatic and it is apparent that the film is being told from his point of view. The audience sees both his good and bad sides. Aquatic is Steve’s story, as he decides – during the scene in the hotel – it should be told.
There is also irony in the fact that although Zissou tries his hardest to catch only his good side on camera, his most heroic and tender moments all come when the documentary is not being shot. There is no one filming when Zissou single-handedly fights off a horde of pirates. Nor is there one when he tearfully comes to terms with being a father.
The Life Aquatic deals with personal issues that have been thematic throughout all of Anderson’s films. These issues deal primarily with family and the role of parents.
The lack of parenting by fathers is a major theme in The Life Aquatic. It is seen through Steve’s neglect of Ned, Jane’s need of a father for her unborn son, as well as all of the homosocial relationships on board Zissou’s ship, the Belafonte, where Steve serves as a father to the entire crew.
This theme of fatherhood is apparent in all of Anderson’s other films. It is especially apparent in The Royal Tenenbaums, in which Royal, much like Steve, pays no attention to his children.
The film also stresses the importance of motherhood. The crew of the Belafonte is completely lost without the maternal guidance of Eleanor. This is a theme that is especially apparent in Rushmore, as seen through Max’s desperation to find a mother figure in Miss Cross.
Steve Zissou is essentially an overgrown child. He wants to have fun and to adventure, but he is not able to take responsibility for his actions. It is not until Steve sees the jaguar shark again that he is able to come to terms with the death of his best friend and his role as a father.
It is unknown what happens to Steve Zissou after the premiere of his documentary. Rumor had it that The Life Aquatic was his last film. What is certain is that when Zissou saw the jaguar shark and shed a tear for his friend Esteban and his son Ned, he was doing much more. He was shedding his childlike nature and as a middle-aged man, finally maturing.