Jean, Isabelle, and her son Damien have left everything behind to sail around the world. During a stopover in Djibouti, they meet Mike, a taxi driver. Jean, anxious about setting sail again toward the dangerous Gulf of Aden, decides to take Mike aboard against Isabelle's wishes.
Albert Mahuzier, a filmmaker, invented the concept of family adventure after the war. From then on, with his wife and nine children, they continued to travel the world.
In a France fresh from the last war, their films caused a stir, and large audiences came to the "connaissance du monde " conferences to discover the adventures of this unique family.
Although Isabelle is a writing a book in the movie, and although Damien is HER son ("he calls me papa" ,Jean says) , their motive is not to share their experiences with eventual audiences;the heroine confesses she did not find her place in a society she shuns ;Mike is a rootless man, and his motive makes sense and explains his final attitude;as for Jean,he's the weak link in the script ,his character being not developed enough .
Except for the first scenes ,all the action takes place on the boat and it's a huis clos, recalling sometimes Roman Polanski's first feature film "knife in the water" atmosphere ,without the sex rivalry; add some elements of René Clément's "plein soleil " aka "purple noon" : Isabelle writes a book like Marge , and the last scenes ,although,on their own, they are absolutely successful (and suspenseful)
The artistic choice is particularly interesting : all the "thriller -like" scenes are seen through the eyes of isabelle , hidden away in her cabin ,or on a lifeboat far from the tragedy (later shown as a fleeting flashback)
Slow-moving, but a latent threat which hangs over a quiet life on a boat in the sun.
