well, if it isn't the little frenchman! how is the little frenchman?
you don't mind if i go instead, do you?
if you did mind, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?
roberto, mio palmo!
count!
who's is it now? you saw it but i dove for it!
roberto? how long?
i'll throw it back into the water. you dive and if you do less than six, it's yours.
brava!
you can't split a coin, stupid.
jacques! jacques!
how did it happen?
how many are, down there?
ten thousand.
dollars.
okay. you tell me. how much would you say the man's life is worth?
in my village, we have a saying: when the wind blows, the flags of all nations flap in the same direction.
dollars, roberto! we took him for ten thousand dollars!
have the car painted.
then tell him to wax it too.
a rosary for mama, a dress for angelica, something with rhine- stones for what's her name, and get yourself a suit that fits.  but most important.
find the frenchman. find me mayol.
jacques, my friend, how are you?
i leave you swimming and twenty years later, you're still in the water! what the hell are you doing? training?
that's good. you never would have recognized me, huh? check out the suit! looking good, no? you know i'm the world champion?
i dove 315 feet!
they say i'm like lazarus. you know, the guy who was raised from the dead?!
doesn't it surprise you that i just show up like this.  listen, the world championship starts in ten days in taormina. be my guest.
your ticket.
because i'm sure you're dying to beat me.
no. all you need is to want to be the best.
that's too easy! every time i beat a record there's always some dumbshit asking me: "d'you know that french guy, mayol? he's supposed to be very good! too bad he doesn't compete." so, you're going to come with me to taormina! first, because you're my friend and second, because you don't have one reason to keep on spoiling my pleasure. .  i'll see you there.
be careful with that car, it's a new paint job.
giacomino! my friend! my brother!
so you finally decided to join us? you did the right thing!
hey paolo! come stai? get my key! you remember my little brother roberto?
what room have you got?
you don't have a room? paolo? what did i just hear? i personally called you to reserve a room for my good friend jacques mayol and you treat him like a stranger?!
not only is jacques mayol a very special friend, but he happens to be one of the best divers in the world! and you're throwing him out! are you crazy, or what? stupido!
take mine. i'll take the countess' suite. she told me she was leaving for the cemetery.  she'll be more comfortable there.
i'm glad you're here.
"spaghetti del mare" it's delicious here. it's the one thing they really know how to make.
and a bottle of "frascatti". two bottles!
he moves just like a woman. it must be hard to live in two worlds like that, huh? to breathe in one, swim in the other.
anyway! nothing beats a sexy broad! huh, jacques!
 so, after all these years, you must have lots of questions to ask. am i right?
well, what are they?
well, then. i'll do the asking for you. "tell me dear enzo, how did you become world champion?" oh, that's a long story. well, after you left amorgos, i went back to italy and joined the navy. so you now have in front of you -- captain molinari, who's been on leave of absence for the past 14 years.
how do you make a living? your experiments, does it pay well?
 you married?
me neither, 'cause of my mother. she's a curse, my mamma, a tornado. stubborn as a mule! i was engaged.  for a week. after that, mamma was so mad, i tell you, pasta was bouncing off the walls.
so, not married. well, good for you. you play the field, like me. a girl in every port, huh?
damn right! that's what i tell them when people say you've turned into a fish.
forget it. i was joking.
eh! la madonna! this one is for me. i'll bet you my watch that she's in my bed tonight.
i tell you she's mine!
you know each other?
enzo molinari.
this is a great pleasure.
not at all!
it's the free diving world championship. i am by the way world champion!
there is no place in the world more beautiful than sicily!
a spaghetti del mare for the super dedicated traveling insurance agent.
where did you two meet?
i might have known. as i was telling you earlier, i'm the world champion free diver.
some people say it's the most virile sport in the world. one has to admit that when you see those men diving head first in that deep blue sea, all muscles contracted in one super human effort.
what?
ahi, ahi, cazzo! ma mamia! where? god, she'll kill me.  .  if she catches me eating pasta in a restaurant.
 mamma!
mamma. roberto and an elevator.  isn't that enough?
coffee only, i'm diving tomorrow. you remember little jacques, jacques mayol.
 and his friend, johana.
c'mon, you two.  jacques, we have to get ready for the ceremony tonight. we have a new world champion.
get in the car!
roberto! the bow-tie!
very good.
very chic. anyway, you don't have anything else, do you?
then, it's very chic. avanti!
a one day hero!
a new world record! that's great! it gives me something to beat tomorrow! you ever been to tahiti?
i'll take you there. we'll live in the sun. you'll cook fresh fish and we'll make love under the coconut trees.
yes, of course, i'll do the hula!
he looks strange, doesn't he? like a baby that just learned to walk.
forever. we used to live on the same island in greece, when we were kids.
little. very little. and skinny, very skinny too. that is compared to me.
exactly! what is it johana? you're so crazy about him, you don't see the truth?!
forget it, don't think of jacques as a human being. he's from another world.
italy!
there is nothing like music. it speaks from the heart. can you tell me why we bother diving in the dark, the cold, without ever taking the time to breathe? huh? can you tell me why we do it?
why?
my father used to see them everywhere too.  but the only one he ever caught was my mother.  actually she caught him.
ah ha. you finally want to know about women.
no.  it depends.  sometimes they are.  what, exactly do you want to know?
everything about what?
 so, between mamma, roberto and the sisters, we yell and scream all day long. except with angelica. she just cries. and then finally, we all end up kissing. can you explain that to me?
because that's what love is all about. it's a pain in the ass but keeps us together. a large and beautiful family!
why?
huh? well listen to him! do you hear that?
he looks me in the eye like some fuckin' gold fish, and says: "i'm going to beat you".
listen to her! "that's what he's here for"! he's here to loose, that's what he's here for. first of all, i'm unbeatable. second, how old are you?
as i said, second of all you're too skinny. you've got tiny lungs. i still don't understand how you can dive without getting sick.
look at me. these aren't lungs. these are.  tanks. how long can you hold your breath?
we'll see.
eh? si! avanti!
i'm meditating, can't you see? jacques does two hours of yoga before going down. i can take a five minute nap, can't i?
what do you know about the sea? huh? nothing! so you just put your tubes and tin cans away. the sea is mine! i know when she is ready for me and when she isn't. and today, she is ready. understand?
brave.
ah! jacques!
don't be sad, i only took back what was mine.
here, it's a present.
tonight we're having a little party among ourselves. 8 o'clock in my suite?
tell me.  can you explain why you are soaking wet?
jacques! my friend! come on in!
i think my brother told you i was indisposed, that should do it, no? i'm allowed to be indisposed, right? so, you just tell the press that the "big" enzo molinari, overwhelmed by his inspiring descent to 324 feet, will not be able to receive this trinket because he is.
because he is?!
brave!
because pasta should be eaten "al dente". so the trinket will just have to wait a bit.
mamma! la pasta?!
 it's easy. you go down. you come up. .  right, johana?
don't you agree, jacques?
ah! la pasta!
what's the matter? you still have a bunch of things to ask me? you want to know the price of tea in china of how we landed on the moon? is that it?
 i'm listening.
hey! will you slow down! when did you learn how to drive?
and the lights! running lights, stealing stretchers! you'll have us in jail.
you can stop that now, she has all the water she needs.
all right, we did it. let's go back to the party.
jacques, the dolphin is home now. and that's where we're going. come on! hurry up now. our girlfriend is freezing over there.
you going to sleep here, all by yourself?
sinister is what i'd call it! ours is so much cheerful! why don't you come and stay with me.  there's plenty of room in my suite.
yes, the mamma is is there.
you don't need a stretcher to take her with you. you know that, don't you?
the dolphins aren't the only ones who don't feel very good sometimes.
you really do have a few things to learn about women!
congratulations jacques! it's wonderful! wonderful!
i'm happy for you!
here.  here.
little presents, nothing much.  i knew it, i just knew it! look here!
roberto's watch! i won it! he bet that you couldn't beat me!
you still collect them?
you don't have that one, do you?
oh it's nothing. i knew it. i told roberto "he's very good that little frenchman, very good". i lost my title but i won a watch!
no, it's the recipe for spaghetti "frutti del mare". you see i was right in getting you out here. you're a world champion, my friend!
it's a measuring tape.
you see this is your record, three feet more than mine! looking at it from here, it doesn't look like much, does it?
keep your little measuring tape, my friend, it will be a nice souvenir when i beat you next.
no problem, i enjoy talking in my sleep.
wake me up at 11:00.
hmmm! something wrong?
is it the girl?
did she leave?
hey! i'm going to take care of you! i've got this job, on an oil rig, no sweat! i'm taking you along.  come on! get your bags packed! you're coming with me, i tell you!
we'll make a great team, the two of us. you'll see!
is that the way you talk to the best diver in the world? and to his friend jacques mayol!
so what!? his job is to hand out the paychecks. and he does that very well, let me tell you.
you still thinking about her?
don't think about her anymore! let me tell you, you're just making yourself unhappy! there are so many women in the world!
plenty of women everywhere right?
it isn't lit yet.
listen we're not supposed to piss either but that doesn't stop you from carrying "it" on board?!
 what's your name again?
and where did you say you were from?
 i was seventeen, i loved her so much i tried to die for her. two years later i couldn't even remember her name! let me tell you, time erases everything!
you'd rather think about it and make yourself miserable?
i give you this. you're stubborn.  dumb, but stubborn.
what's with the voice?
and.  does the voice come back?
try speaking to me?
here, give me your finger.
hey! d'you have any other complaints? just make a list and we'll stick it on the porthole! okay?
go on, suck your finger.
come on, suck your finger, you'll be seeing mermaids everywhere!
a thousand commanders and we get a belgian from alcoholic's anonymous.
jacques! johana!
"that"! this is not a "that".  this is bonita mariposa, the famous spanish actress. .  who is going to be careful with the varnish.  and who has come to spend a few days with us. where's mamma?
he's really going totally deaf!
i'm sorry uncle louis.
in the flesh. i have that honor!
mamma, bonita is an actress like sophia loren, anna magnani.
a shit dive.
those goddamned frogmen doctors waiting around at 200 feet they just kill your concentration.
there's no law down there! the only law is what your lungs can take. .  have fun! they waiting for you down there, to take the temperature of your ass.
anybody can have a bad day!
it's never the sea! it's roberto, mamma, that stupid actress.  oh shit! jacques, what do you know? go do your hindu exercises and don't break my balls!
let them try.
thank you, thank you very much!
good luck to you all!
fabulous, what a dive, huh?
he's right. what's the point of knocking yourself out?
that's good.
i'll see you in amorgos.
is he here?
okay, now we have a good five minutes to have a nice peaceful talk.
checking out the competition.
what else is there?
you risk your life when you cross the street.
because you'd laugh.
i dive in search of god. if i go deep enough i'm going to find him. to me, the sea is a religion.  that surprises you, doesn't it?
no. jacques is a creature of the sea. he isn't meant to live on earth, among us.  you should know this, johana.
you really think so? did you tell him you were pregnant?
you told bonita, but you didn't tell him, right?
don't.
because he won't understand and it will just hurt you.  jacques has been put on earth by complete mistake. and he's only waiting for one thing: that some god up there will turn him into a fish! how long has that moron been down there?
that idiot!
the fool was asleep! if i weren't around, he'd already be dead!!! is that who you want to live with? well, good luck! you better learn to look after him because i won't always be here to do it!
long enough to die. listen, if you really want to die, that's your problem, but don't do it under my nose, okay?
i'll never let you take away my title. d'you hear me? never!
 you should start playing the piano, the piano is really refreshing, it clears the sinuses. very good the piano! tomorrow is going to be a big day!
i'm concentrating.
you say that because you have the title!
well that's very nice of you.
you were right.
 it is much better down there. it's a better place.
 push me back in the water.
jacques, take me back down.  please.