Under Paris

The story makes pollution, overfishing, climate change, and harm to wildlife part of the shark’s origin. Mika’s Save Our Seas group turns those concerns into a public campaign that shapes the central conflict. Mika and Ben are shown as a same-sex couple, but their relationship is brief and is not the main subject. The film also causes reckless activists to die, so its message is mixed rather than a full defense of activism.

The mayor protects the triathlon and the city’s image after people die. She orders officials to hide reports of the shark because money and Olympic attention are at stake. The army later fires into the river and makes the disaster worse. The police are mostly shown as honest and helpful, so the film attacks bad decisions by officials rather than all Western institutions.

A handful of small X accounts called the film woke programming because it has a female climate scientist, activist women with dyed hair, and what they called DEI casting. Several Reddit comments made similar claims about the environmental message and the same-sex activist couple. The complaints had little reach and did not become a boycott, review-bombing drive, or major news story. Other audience comments mocked Mika and welcomed the film’s treatment of reckless activists.

Xavier Gens has a low creator score and has spoken about ocean protection. The available records for Yannick Dahan and Maud Heywang show no clear DEI or identity-politics campaign history. The producers have some projects about women, migration, and social inclusion, but no strong activist public profile. This background adds only a small amount of woke context.