Encyclopedia of French Film Directors

262 • COUSTEAU, JACQUES-YVES
fi lm in 1988. Other credit (as actor): 1989 Paul et
Moustache (short, Jean Bourbonnais).
Filmography
1975 Entracte pour un Chien perdu (Super-8 short;
also screenwriter)
1976 Coup double (short, also screenwriter)
1988 Rouget le Braconnier (also co-screenwriter, codialogist)
1990 Générique (short)
1994 Jazz Boccage
Louis Sclavis Sextet
Marc Ducret Tentet (short)
Marc Perrone Tentet
1995 Orchestre National de Jazz
Steve Waring Quintet
Didier Levallet Tentet
2002 Un Cow Boy en Ariège (short)
2004 La Bande à Bazil (short)
2005 Les 20 Ans du Lion (short)
COUSTEAU, JACQUES-YVES (June 11, 1910,
St.-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde, France–June 25, 1997,
Paris, France)
The son of an international lawyer, he entered the
naval school of Brest in 1930 and became a gunner
offi cer. He became interested in the exploration of
the underwater world in 1936, taking part in the invention
of the Aqua-Lung, a portable breathing apparatus
and perfecting a waterproof 35-mm camera for
underwater diving in 1939. After the scuttling of the
French navy in Toulon in November 1942, he returned
to civilian life and shot his fi rst documentary on the
seabed. Then he conceived a new camera and a diving
suit. After World War II, he founded the Group of
Underwater Researches and the Club of Underwater
Alpinism in 1945. In 1950, he leased a ship, La Calypso,
from brewer Thomas Loel Guinness for a symbolic
franc. The movie he co-directed with Louis Malle (Le
Monde du Silence / Il mondo del silenzio / UK and USA:
The Silent World, France / Italy) won the 1956 Cannes
Film Festival Golden Palm and the Hollywood’s Academy
Award for best documentary. Le Monde sans Soleil
/ Il mondo senza sole / USA: Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s
World Without Sun / World Without Sun earned him the
Academy Award for best documentary in 1965. By
1966, the movies he directed were mainly gathered
as episodes of TV series (1966–1968 The World of
Jacques-Yves Cousteau; 1968–1976 The Undersea World
of Jacques Cousteau; 1977 Oasis in Space; 1977–1981
Cousteau’s Odyssey’s Series; 1982–1984 Cousteau’s Amazon
Series; 1985–1991 Cousteau’s Rediscovery of the
World I; 1992–1994 Cousteau’s Rediscovery of the World
II). He appeared in and narrated most of them. From
1946 (Par Dix-Huit Mètres de Fond, co-authored with
Philippe Tailliez, Editions Durel) to 1998 (L’Aventure de
l’Equipe Cousteau en Bandes Dessinées, in collaboration
with Dominique Serafi ni, seventeen volumes from
1985 to 1998), he wrote or co-wrote several books,
including Le Monde du Silence (in collaboration with
James Dugan and Frédéric “Didi” Dumas, Editions
de Paris, 1952) and L’Homme, la Pieuvre et l’Orchidée
(Editions Robert Laffont, 1998). He was elected at the
Académie Française in 1988.
Filmography
1942 Par Dix-Huit Mètres de Fond (documentary;
also producer)
1943 Epaves (documentary; also producer)
1944 Paysages du Silence (documentary; also producer)
1948 Les Phoques du Sahara (documentary; also
prod)
1949 Autour d’un Récif (documentary; also producer)
Une Plongée du Rubis (documentary; also producer)
Carnet de Plongée (documentary; co-director
with Marcel Ichac; also producer)
1951 La Fontaine de Vaucluse (documentary; codirector
with Louis Malle)
1952 La Mer Rouge (documentary; also producer)
1953 Un Musée dans la Mer (documentary; also
producer)
1955 Station 307 (documentary)
Récifs de Coraux (documentary)
1956 Le Monde du Silence / Il mondo di silenzio / UK
and USA: The Silent World (documentary; codirector
with Louis Malle; also screenwriter,
cinematographer; France / Italy)
1957 La Galère engloutie (documentary; co-director
with Jacques Ertaud)
1958 Histoire d’un Poisson rouge / USA: The Golden
Fish (documentary; co-director with Edmond
Séchan; also producer)
1960 Vitrines sous la Mer (documentary; co-director
with Georges Alépée)
Prince Albert I (documentary)
1964 Le Monde sans Soleil / Il mondo senza sole /
USA: Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s World Without