A new film exploring the vibrant marine life of the North Sea marks veteran underwater cinematographer Peter van Rodijnen’s first foray into producing and narrating. Above all, it is a cameraman’s film. Packed with beautiful, hard-to-capture footage, it showcases two decades of refined craft.

North Sea, Nature Untamed opens with elegiac credits featuring magnified shots of plankton – the most bizarre and delicate of sea creatures. It then establishes itself upfront as a clear homage to underwater pioneer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. A young Rodijnen watches the 1980s TV series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, then strolls down a beach. In the voiceover, Rodijnen embraces Cousteau’s legacy, framing his two decades of underwater filming as a direct continuation of the Frenchman’s work.

True to Cousteau, the ideal narrative for such a film is a “mission,” echoing the global voyages of his flagship, the Calypso. Yet North Sea, Nature Untamed abandons this structure. Instead of tracking the narrator’s journey, the film moves through loosely connected sequences showcasing charismatic species like puffins and basking sharks. Throughout, Rodijnen reflects on his personal connection to the North........

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