• Director(s):

    PHILY (HUGH), GUIDOIN (JEAN-LUC)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE FRANCE, LES FILMS EN VRAC, POLE PRODUCTION ET COMMUNICATION

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2015

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

I had always promised Marie I’d take her to see the whales. French Polynesia is the first island on the humpback whales’ long migration route from the Antarctic to the warmer waters, where they go to reproduce. The phenomenon takes place once a year, so it’s now or never! 

11 years ago, I managed to photograph a whale calf. This time, we want to photograph the whales’ fascinating maternal behaviour as close up as possible. To help us rise to the challenge, we have arranged to meet a naturalist who is an expert on whales, Axel Lopez. Axel speaks “whale” the whole time. We have the same approach to animals. We get lucky – during our first trip out to sea we manage to photograph three whales – a rare event! A few days later, we see a mother with her young. Beneath our flippers stretches a garden of coral, a favourite place for the whales, as their predators - sharks and killer whales - do not venture there. The female and her baby whale are there, motionless and peaceful, without the male. Ideal conditions. The mother has wedged the whale calf under her throat to stop it floating to the surface. Being only a few months old, the whale calf has not yet mastered lung ballast, a technique well known to divers, consisting of holding just the right amount of air in the lungs needed to stabilise.