The red and black funnel of the Queen Mary 2 against a blue sky — ▶ Excerpt · 1′30″

200470 minDocumentary

Queen Mary 2, la reine des mers

Name: Queen Mary 2, la reine des mers
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2004
Duration: 70 min

In 1998 Carnival, the largest cruise company in the world, bought the Cunard Line. A few people inside it dared to propose a new liner in the Cunard tradition, for an American market always looking for something new: the longest, largest and most expensive ship ever built. Micky Arison, the architect Stephen Payne, the interior designer Andrew Collier and Commodore Ronald W. Warwick take up the challenge, and at Saint-Nazaire the Queen Mary 2 takes shape.

Photographs

A video camera with a furry microphone in the foreground, the unfinished hull of a liner with its red funnel in a dry dock — 2003Saint-Nazaire

The bow of the liner rising above an empty dry dock, cranes and blue sky around it — 2003Saint-Nazaire

The black bow of the Queen Mary 2 towering over the water at sunset, small boats around it — 2003Vigo

Two men in white hard hats standing beneath the red and black hull in the dry dock — 2003Saint-Nazaire, Louis-Philippe Capelle and Rob Rombout

Two men in dark jackets standing on deck in front of the white superstructure and bridge windows — 2003On board the Queen Mary 2, Gerry Ellis and Stephen Payne

Two men in white hard hats beside a camera on a tripod, the side of the unfinished liner behind them — 2003Saint-Nazaire, Louis-Philippe Capelle and Rob Rombout

A woman, a man in a dark sweater and a man in a checked jacket taking notes, seated in a lounge under a lit ceiling — Stephen Payne, Chantal Bernheim and Rob Rombout

Two men and a woman with blonde hair in a black and red top, arm in arm — 2002Louis-Philippe Capelle, Edie Bornstein and Rob Rombout

Four people in dark coats standing in the shipyard, one with a white beard and a red bow tie, two holding white hard hats — 2003Saint-Nazaire

Two men in hard hats on a high deck against a blue sky, one pointing into the distance — 2003Saint-Nazaire, Gerry Ellis and Ronald Warwick

Three men in white hard hats by a row of windows, one with a white beard — 2003Saint-Nazaire, Stephen Payne, Gerry Ellis and Ronald Warwick

Nine people in winter jackets with cameras and a sound boom, standing on a wooden deck — 2003On board the Queen Mary 2, the Discovery and Dune crews

Technical sheet

Title: Queen Mary 2, la reine des mers
Year: 2004
Runtime: 70 min
Countries: France, Belgium
Languages: English, French, Dutch
Production: ARTE Thema commission, with RTBF; Flemish co-production Sophimages
Availability: On request
Versions: Title as in Mélon 2022 (pp. 44, 50), which describes the film as a commission for ARTE Thema; the BnF also records the title Queen Mary 2, la naissance d'une légende. 70′ in Rob Rombout's catalogue (Guimarães 2016) and CV; a 24′ television version is also listed. The lead producer is still to be confirmed.

Direction: Rob Rombout
Script: Rob Rombout, Louis-Philippe Capelle
Image: Louis-Philippe Capelle
Sound: Griet van Reeth
Editing: Adriana Moreira de Oliveira
Music: Hughes Maréchal