This extraordinary documentary dives under the sea to capture the intertwined relationships between sea and shoreline habitats across the planet. From the minute to the grandiose and the familiar to the unusual, Oceans is a bewitching meditation on the mysteries, harsh realities, and wondrous beauties of the sea.

Oceans shifts through ethereal footage of floating jellyfish, gliding manta rays, and corals, juxtaposed with climatic scenes of storms, bird migrations, crab battles, and chases between fish and dolphins. With minimum commentary and accompanying musical score composed by Bruno Coulais and performed by the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, the film is a hypnotic audio-visual journey from the ocean surface to the darkest crevices of the seafloor. The force of nature, as Oceans reveals, is at times playful, frequently dramatic, and oftentimes eerie.

Directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud collaborated with scientists from Census of Marine Life using advanced technology to reflect on the negative impact of human activity on oceans and enrich appreciation and respect for nature. The documentary won Best Documentary Film at the 36th Cesar Awards in 2011.

Jacques Perrin (1941—2022) was an award-winning actor, producer, and director. His career began in acting and starred in several films before establishing his own production company at the age of twenty-seven. The first film he produced, Z, received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1969. Perrin also produced and starred in several other award-winning films including La Victoire en chantant (1979), Cinema Paradiso (1988), and Il Deserto du Tartari (1976). As an environmentalist, Perrin shifted his focus to nature documentaries, some of which include Microcosmos (1996), Winged Migration (2001), and Seasons (2015).

Jacques Cluzaud is a French director. A student of law and cinema, he began his career as an assistant director in the 1980s before directing his own films. Besides Oceans, Cluzaud also collaborated as co-director with Jacques Perrin in Winged Migration (2001), Voyageurs du ciel et de la mer (2004), The Seasons (2015), and The People of the Forests (2017).