Fifty years ago today, Friday, June 20, 1975, was released on American screens Jaws – What means “jaws”- and that will give a title in French The sea teeth. A film directed by a very young Steven Spielberg that recounts the search for a great white shark that devoured humans in a small resort by the sea on the east coast of the United States.
What would be a B series film will have an immediate and planetary success, to the point of becoming a cult. And contrary to what announces the movie of the film, illustrated with a colossal shark, open mouth, ready to devour a swimmer, the squad, the main character of the film, is almost absent. That will not avoid The sea teeth to terrorize entire generations of bathers and bathers.
“The film is stronger since the shark is invisible”, analysis for BFMTV.com Olivier Bonnard, co -director with Antoine Coursat of the documentary Sea teeth, a monster successtransmitted in art.
The shark made his first victim of the first images of the film. But it is not a tooth, nor a fin does not appear on the screen. “We only listen to this music that will represent and incarnate the shark,” says the documentary filmmaker. Music that has become iconic signed John Williams: two notes, Mi and FA. A reason that repeats, accelerates and signs the film. And the shark.
“From the opening scene, the viewer will associate the appearance of this music with the shark,” continues Olivier Bonnard. “Music works in a visceral way, it’s like an alarm signal. Encarna this invisible threat.”
During the second Squale attack: it is not yet the shadow of a shark in the water. The director only shows the blood pond that left after a Baigneur has been devoured and the grated remains of his pneumatic mattress.
“In the fear record, it is much more effective to show the damage of the monster than the monster itself,” he greets the document manufacturer.
“You will need a bigger boat”
During the following attack, the monster’s force is shown: a powerful but always invisible beast is torn by a wooden ponto. The Pontón crawls the ocean first and then turns, suggesting the threat of the shark that returns to attack fishermen who fell into the water. “It is the brilliant demonstration than the less we see, we are afraid,” continues Olivier Bonnard.
“It is the power of suggestion and out of the shirt that gives free rein to imagination. No image, so realistic, even in 3D, can compete with mental images.”
You have to wait an hour to see a fin, then the underwater silhouette of the monster that revolves around its next dam. Twenty minutes later, we discover the sharp teeth of the shark, with the famous replica of the local police chief, embodied by Roy Scheider: “It will need a larger boat,” or in French “will need a larger boat.”
“The sea teeth, It is a very successful striptease, “summarizes Olivier Bonnard.
“Spielberg reveals the shark very gradually. First a piece of spoiler, then a little more, until it can be seen completely. It is a movie lesson.”
The film will also be the source of a new film genre: the “Sharksploitation”, a subgenre of the operational film with sharks or shark attacks. Latest: Under sena, Who organizes a female Mako shark that threatens the world triathlon championship in SENA, in Paris. Success last summer in Netflix and the first French production to exceed 100 million visits.
The first box office success
However, originally, the shark should have been much more present in The sea teeth. But when Steven Spielberg begins to film, neither the mechanical writing nor the stage have ended: the film and the dialogues are written the day before for the next day.
And when Bruce, the nickname given to the false shark, is finally ready, is the disaster: flows and the salty water grids the electronic circuits. Bruce weighs a ton and a half and was tested in fresh water; However, filming takes place in the open sea for greater realism. None of the different shark models, designed by the creator of the giant octopus of Twenty thousand leagues under the seas – Those who measured more than eight meters will not do the trick.
Therefore, Steven Spielberg must film a shark movie without shark, or at least without the animated shark that was planned. Therefore, the camera and the films of his shoulder change in a countergry, marrying with the point of view of the shark.
“We really don’t know what the part of the legend and truth is in all this,” said Olivier Bonnard. “What is certain is that if the shark had worked, we would have seen it more. But if the film resisted the test of time, it is also because we cannot see the shark.”
Steven Spielberg will recognize him in the documentary John Williams music: “My shark did not work. And I didn’t suspect that John (Williams, the composer, editor’s note) was going to give me a shark that walked thanks to music. His musical shark was much more effective than my mechanical shark.”
In a few days, the 12 million dollars of budget are reimbursed. The following year, the film won three Oscar (edition, music and sound). A success that will be at the origin of a saga. Three movies will follow, without Steven Spielberg, but with mixed commercial and commercial successes.
Jaws The first box office success in the history of cinema will remain and open the way to the franchises. He will also launch Steven Spielberg’s career, so far little known to the general public and will allow him to mark the history of cinema.
“There are not many films that are also fifty years later.”
Source: BFM TV
