''Voyage to the Edge of the World'' () is a 1976 French nature documentary film directed by

Jacques-Yves Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the A ...

, his son

Philippe Cousteau Philippe Pierre Cousteau (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979) was a French diver, sailor, pilot, photographer, author, director and cinematographer specializing in environmental issues, with a background in oceanography. He was the second son of ...

and Marshall Flaum. The film follows a four-month expedition through

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

undertaken between the end of 1972 and the beginning of 1973. It was Cousteau's third and last full-length film, following ''

The Silent World ''The Silent World'' () is a 1956 French documentary film co-directed by Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle. One of the first films to use underwater cinematography to show the ocean depths in color, its title derives from Cousteau's 1953 book ' ...

'' (1956) and ''

World Without Sun ''World Without Sun'' () is a 1964 French documentary film directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. The film was Cousteau's second to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, following ''The Silent World'' in 1956. Content The film chronicle ...

'' (1964). As a difference with those two earlier Cousteau films, both mainly narrated by Jacques-Yves Cousteau himself, on this film Jacques-Yves'

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

alternates with co-director Philippe Cousteau's voice.

Plot

In December 1972 The Cousteau Society sets out on a four-months expedition through Antarctica. The expedition is supported by Monaco's

Oceanographic Museum The Oceanographic Museum (), is a museum of marine sciences in Monaco City, Monaco. This building is part of the Institut océanographique, which is committed to sharing its knowledge of the oceans. History The Oceanographic Museum was ...

and the La Rochelle Natural History Museum, the latter represented on board by Raymond Duguy (1927 - 2012), its director at the time. Divers and scientists of the expedition observe the fauna and the ice formations of the frozen continent. Footage is filmed on board the '' Calypso'' but also on land (for example at

Deception Island Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbour, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volc ...

), underwater, over

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less density, dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's oceans. Much of the world' ...

or from the air, by means of a

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carri ...

and a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

. ''Voyage to the Edge of the World'' was the first film to show underwater footage taken from the submerged inside of

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s or

iceberg An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". Much of an i ...

s. It also was the first film to show high depth footage in Antarctic waters (thanks to the diving saucer SP-350 ''Denise'').

Paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Michel Laval, ''Calypso'''s

Chief Mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...

, died on Deception Island, 29 December 1972, when he was struck by the tail propeller of the helicopter of the expedition.Hero and Calypso at Deception Island, 1972-73
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References

External links

* 1976 films 1976 documentary films 1970s French films 1970s French-language films Documentary films about nature Documentary films about underwater diving Films directed by Jacques Cousteau French documentary films {{nature-documentary-film-stub

Plot

See also

References

External links