As well as an ocean explorer and conservationist, Jacques Cousteau was most famously a film director whose dazzling underwater footage captivated several generations. Check out our roundup of his five best films, and dive deep into his extraordinary life in Becoming Cousteau, in cinemas 12 November.
THE SILENT WORLD
This pioneering nature documentary follows Jacques-Yves Cousteau as he investigates aquatic habitats in various locations around the world. Featuring whales, sharks and many other varieties of marine life, the film doesn't shy away from the brutality present in the natural world, but it also paints a fascinating picture of underwater exploration, as Cousteau and his associates strive to reach previously unseen ocean depths. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
voyage to the end of the world
On his ship "Calypso," as well as in a submarine, Jacques Cousteau and his crew sail from South America and travel to Antarctica. They explore islands, reefs, icebergs, fossils, active volcanic craters, and creatures of the ocean never before seen. This voyage took place in 1975, and Captain Cousteau became one of the first explorers ever to dive beneath the waters of the frozen South Pole.
clipperton: the island time forgot
Today, the only inhabitants of this environmentally inhospitable Pacific island are birds and crabs. Yet over 80 years ago, Clipperton hosted other visitors: a demented rapist and a terrified group of women and children. Cousteau returns to the island to recreate the deadly series of events - from the death of the brave French captain to the courage of the widow who killed her torturer - through the eyes of one of the survivors, then a child.
savage world of the coral jungle
The Calypso team travels to the coral reefs of the Indian Ocean, an area teeming with animal and plant life, and where numerous complex relationships between different species are played out on a daily basis.
whales
The Calypso divers study finback, sperm and killer whales, monitoring their migratory habits by planting small tags in their skin. Captain Cousteau also recounts the romance and legend of the great whales.