The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (directed by Wes Anderson) is definitive, simple, colorful and mastered. Anderson utilises his uniqueness through mise-en-scene, which makes his films so interesting and engaging to watch.
His interesting colour palettes for his films are intensely intriguing, for ‘Grand Budapest’ it was wonderfully vibrant pinks and purples, for ‘Life Aquatic’ it was blues and yellows. These palettes detour from the themes of grief, the futility of revenge and the anxiety of the future in this film, which can be seen through the setting of the boat. The boat symbolizes Zissou’s achievements, his youth and the simplicity of the past but it also grounds him for failure, as he relies on it for his success.
Costume plays a big part in this film, especially the Zissou uniform. The characters within the film are a team, their uniform brings a comical aspect to it as they are all grown men dress in the same outfit. But despite the comicality of it, the costumes bring a sense of resolution to their mission. Conclusively, the costumes satisfy the visuals it also propels the narrative forward, which can be seen when Steve gives his son a uniform welcoming him quite literally onto the team.
The lighting on this film is quite minimal in terms of the quality, as it stays the same brightness almost the entire way through. There aren’t many distinctive moments where highlights or shadow is used. Yet there is a unique gradient cast over the film which can only be described as Andersons own style. Anderson sticks mainly to artificial light throughout the film with varying moments of natural.
His films are somewhat ethereal, almost slightly off center from normality, which is how you can describe the entirety of mise-en-scene on this film.
