According to the original plan, the opening ceremony of this year's Paris Olympics and water competitions such as the Ironman Triathlon will be held on the Seine River. However, an unexpected disaster struck suddenly. Strange waves suddenly appeared in the Seine River, and a shark appeared! Sharks churned in the river, causing chaos. The boat was overturned, and the athletes struggled desperately to survive. The scene was terrifying. Some people were bitten to death by sharks, and some fell into the water and drowned...
Is such a scene realistic? of course not. This is actually a thrilling plot in the movie "Under Paris".
The Seine flows through the heart of Paris, passing the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral. In these waters, director Xavier Jans "released" the monster shark - a man-eating shark that has been genetically mutated due to environmental pollution and can live in fresh water and reproduce itself.
▲ Movie screenshot
The ending of the movie ended in disaster. When the athletes were competing in the river, sharks appeared and began to eat wildly, staining the Seine with blood. To make matters worse, when the army arrived and opened fire on the sharks, they panicked and hit a World War II-era artillery shell left at the bottom of the river. The huge explosion triggered a tsunami-like flood that destroyed almost all of Paris.
84 million views
The most-watched French film in Netflix history
This fresh French thriller debuted with a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (now down to 66%). Since its release on June 5, the film has accumulated 84 million views, making it the fourth most-watched non-English film on Netflix.
director Xavier Jans revealed in an interview with Red Star News that the film has become the most watched French film in the history of Netflix. He said, "This means that the audience is touched by the message of the film, and at the same time, they are also entertained. For me, touching the hearts of the audience is the most important."
▲Director Xavier Jans
In the film Global warming and anthropogenic climate change are mentioned several times, setting these factors as important causes of shark variation. Xavier Jans told Red Star News that he hopes to use the language of the film to arouse people's attention to environmental issues, such as plastic waste in the ocean, water pollution, global warming, etc., as well as the use of weapons. "The expression of the film is a metaphor. Sexual. We talk about bombing in the film and also discuss what global warming will cause if we don't take action." Jens's concern for environmental issues stems from his sense of responsibility to the next generation. "I have a ten. I hope to leave a clean planet for my 20-year-old daughter."
In the ending of "Paris Abyss", the audience saw the complete failure of the "good guys" group. Jens explains that such cinematic language is "provocative because of its satirical nature, where all 'characters who are supposed to be heroic figures' are caught off guard in reality because they only make bad decisions. Ultimately, humans, whether The mayor of Paris and our hero shown in our film all suffer the consequences of these bad decisions and ultimately endure the climate catastrophe."
▲ Behind-the-scenes footage
Jens still leaves a message for "humanity" to "try for hope." signal of. In the film, a student suggests to the protagonist Sofia that caring about the environment is pointless because it is already too late to prevent the effects of climate change. Sofia responded that even in the face of failure, it’s still worth trying.
chose to be released before the Olympic Games
just to make more people pay attention to environmental issues
In addition to environmental issues, another key theme of "Paris Abyss" is that disasters reveal the long-term greed and indifference of mankind. This echoes the real-life reaction of French government officials during preparations for the 2024 Summer Olympics. According to reports, the French government has invested more than 1 billion euros in cleaning up pollutants in order to hold the competition in the Seine, a river that has made headlines for "substandard water quality." This move triggered protests from environmentalists and citizens.Protesters believe that the authorities can choose not to hold the race on the Seine, so that the funds can be used to improve public services in the city and other livelihood issues.
It is reported that as the Paris Olympics approaches, the water quality of some sections of the Seine River where the events are planned to be held is not up to standard, causing concern. The Paris Olympic Organizing Committee announced a backup plan for this purpose, which may postpone the competition. If the water quality still cannot meet the requirements, the triathlon swimming competition will be canceled and the marathon swimming will be held in other waters.
▲Athletes jump into the Seine for pre-race training
"We used the Olympics as a metaphor," Jens elaborated. "We wanted to highlight the dangers of human greed. It's very important to talk about this issue because it's what floats on The root of the garbage patch in the Pacific and the reason why we fail to protect species like sharks - it's all about money," he said. "I'm really proud of the mayor character that we created, the mayor of the show. The actor is proud because she really showed something through her performance. "
▲The Olympics are approaching, and the French government sets up stands on the banks of the Seine.
When talking about the timing of the film's release, Jens particularly emphasized that it was chosen to be close to the Paris Olympics. The timing of the release is not a coincidence, but intentional. "We did pick the date and chose to release the film before the Olympics." He explained that the underlying irony and metaphors in the film are related to the upcoming Paris Olympics, and "the Olympics are the most high-profile event in the world this year."
"Like Adam McKay used warnings to raise environmental issues in the movie " Don't Look Up ", we are trying to do something similar. We want to use the Olympics as a platform to discuss environmental issues, and we want to use the 'shark' as a catalyst, to discuss environmental issues," Jens said.
James said, "The coming of the Olympics provides an excellent opportunity for the public to discuss environmental issues. If we don't do it (at the Olympics), then when will we do it?"
Red Star News reporter Deng Shuyi
Editor Zhang Li Editor-in-chief Wei Kongming
