When a ship appears for the first time in years, Emmeline does not light the signal fire, and asserts to Richard's angry disbelief that the island is their home now. When Richard tries to initiate sexual contact she rebuffs him he hides and masturbates.
Richard is shocked at the idea of breaking the law, and they argue. Associating the blood with Christ's crucifixion, she concludes that the altar is God, and tries to persuade Richard to go to the other side of the island to pray with her. She ventures to the forbidden side of the island and sees the altar. She is frightened by her first menstrual period and refuses to allow Richard to inspect her for what he imagines is a wound.Įventually, Richard recognizes his own attraction to Emmeline. He dies after a drunken binge and the children rebuild their home on a different part of the island.Īt puberty, Emmeline is uncomfortable with her sexual attraction to Richard and declines to share her "funny" thoughts with him. He also warns them against eating the deadly scarlet berries. Paddy cares for the children and forbids them "by law" from going to the other side of the island, where he had found an altar with bloody remains from human sacrifices. In the late Victorian period, two cousins, nine-year-old Richard and seven-year-old Emmeline Lestrange, and galley cook Paddy Button, are shipwrecked on a lush tropical island in the South Pacific. Shields won the inaugural Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for her work in the film. The film was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, Almendros received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and Atkins was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor. In spite of the criticism, the film was a commercial success, grossing over $58 million on a $4.5 million budget and becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 1980 in North America. The film was panned by the critics, who disparaged its screenplay, execution, and Shields' performance however, Almendros' cinematography received praise. The Blue Lagoon was theatrically released on June 20, 1980, by Columbia Pictures. But, without either the guidance or the restrictions of society, emotional and physical changes arise as they reach puberty and fall in love. The film tells the story of two young children marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific. The music score was composed by Basil Poledouris and the cinematography was by Néstor Almendros. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romantic and coming-of-age survival drama film directed by Randal Kleiser from a screenplay written by Douglas Day Stewart based on the 1908 novel of the same name by Henry De Vere Stacpoole.