Cousteau was a pioneer in underwater exploration, an early conservationist forever on our television screens and The Odyssey is a handsome biography that struggles to chart his hectic life fully.
It begins in 1979 and unfolds in flashback from the marriage of Cousteau (Lambert Wilson) to Simone (Audrey Tautou) through the early voyages of his research vessel and his seemingly unstoppable desire to build a global brand.
Everything is viewed through his relationship with his favourite son Philippe (Pierre Niney) but the boy’s childhood worship turns to adult resentment of a man seemingly insensitive to the needs of his nearest and dearest.
The seas sparkle, the skies shimmer but the script refuses to shine as it soon becomes bogged down in family dramas and soap opera clichés.