It’s been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do the bottom of the ocean. While no longer strictly true, the saying serves to highlight our relative lack of knowledge about two-thirds of Earth’s surface. Eleanor Mortimer’s HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE captures the alien world of the abyssal zone in all the beautiful detail it deserves.
Mortimer follows a group of marine biologists travelling to the Clarion-Clipperton fracture, a twelve-day voyage from the nearest land. The film spotlights their mission to categorise the mysterious ecosystem against the impending threat of deep-sea mining.
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE is a stylish and cheeky feat of filmmaking. Fraya Thomsen’s score is ethereal, full of sweeping harps and choral verses that cut abruptly to accommodate the mechanical whirring of machines, a bittersweet reminder of the biologists’ intrusion into this relatively uncharted ecosystem. Mortimer’s playful sensibilities are evident in the soundtrack. Portishead’s ‘Glorybox’ plays as the arcade claw-like grabber tries and fails to capture a specimen in its clumsy, metal claws. Her narration is soft and dreamy in tone, but thankfully down-to-earth, translating scientific topics into lay terms. Bordering on whimsical, she asks the biologists about their dreams, and what they would say to this sea cucumber if it could talk back? Despite all the wonder around them, the scientists feel charmingly mundane. Explorers in a final frontier planning weddings, crocheting hats and wondering what’s on the menu for tonight.
“Our connection to this strange, faraway world is a preoccupation of the film, and what it means to coexist on this planet with it. This connection is reinforced by the fact that every scientist and member of the crew also receives a credit as ‘homo sapiens’.”
The strength of the film lies in its visuals, with underwater landscapes that look utterly alien. Distant lights of civilisation look like far-off stars reflected off the black waves. Each exotic creature is framed with reverence alongside its Latin name, even when they are less than academic – the ‘Psychedelic Elvis Worm’ comes to mind. The camera takes its time to appreciate the beauty of each colourful sea cucumber and fanning plant. Our connection to this strange, faraway world is a preoccupation of the film, and what it means to coexist on this planet with it. This connection is reinforced by the fact that every scientist and member of the crew also receives a credit as ‘homo sapiens’. The highlight of the film comes in a montage of deep-sea creatures floating through the comparatively drab ISA offices in Kingston, Jamaica, as discussions take place about the fate of their ecosystem. This scene comes as a poignant reminder that we all share a home on this planet.
“The camera takes its time to appreciate the beauty of each colourful sea cucumber and fanning plant.”
It is a joy to observe these majestic creatures in their habitat, and seeing them as gelatinous dead flesh on a lab table is all the more jarring. As one scientist holds up a ghostly white specimen that looks like a giant woodlouse, ready to embalm and preserve it forever in London’s National Science Museum, we are reminded by Mortimer’s dreamy narration that “The only way the two can encounter each other physically is for one of them to be dead.” The inherently destructive nature of human contact weighs heavily on scientists and the environment, as evidenced by submersible tracks still visible on the ocean floor from an expedition forty years ago and by human litter at the bottom of the ocean. This urgency to protect the underwater world makes an interesting contrast with the incredibly slow pace of life deep under.
HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE is a thoughtful and beautiful exploration into one of the last holdouts of unexplored territory; a gentle yet deep dive into a world we seldom have access to, and that Mortimer urges us to try and protect.