Breathe (2017)

Directed by: Andy Serkis | 118 minutes | drama, biography | Actors: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Ed Speleers, Tom Hollander, David Butler, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Miranda Raison, Camilla Rutherford, Andre Jacobs, Terry Norton, Charles Streeter, Penny Downie, Amit Shah, Jonathan Hyde, Emily Bevan, Roger Ashton-Griffiths

Andy Serkis became world famous overnight for his unforgettable portrayal of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy (2001-2003). Although he appeared in countless other good roles after that, it remains difficult to look at him without thinking about that legendary character. With ‘Breathe’ Serkis takes a different tack; he makes his directorial debut by adapting the extraordinary story of the parents of a good friend and film producer Jonathan Cavendish.

‘Breathe’ is about British Robin and Diana Cavendish, who fell in love, got married and started a new life in Kenya in the 1950s. Robin worked as a tea importer and life smiled on the two young lovers, especially when Diana became pregnant. But then disaster strikes. Robin gets polio and is paralyzed from the neck down. He is hooked up to a ventilator and flown back to England at the risk of his own life – thanks in part to Diana’s determination.

It is the same Diana who, with her endless love and stubbornness not to give up on Robin, ensures that Robin eventually – against the explicit advice of the doctors – comes home from the English hospital. Robin has lost the will to survive in the hospital and as soon as Diana realizes that, she does everything she can to get her husband back home. Of course he succeeds and with the help of a professor friend the quality of his life improves considerably. Initially with an alarm bell close to his head so that he can warn Diana if something is wrong with the ventilator; later they jointly design a wheelchair – the first with a built-in ventilator. He watches his son Jonathan grow up and goes out to help other polio patients and have a holiday.

‘Breathe’ closely follows the life story of this exceptionally inspiring couple. Of course the story will be romanticized for the silver screen, but you shouldn’t expect many big surprises (perhaps except for a visit to a futuristic-looking German medical institute – scary). You can hardly call this directorial debut by Serkis innovative. Is that bad? Well no. What the film does well is that the story is told with a lot of respect and humor. Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as Robin and Diana are obviously in love with each other. It is their love for each other and their shared refusal to accept the limitations of medical science for what it is that makes their lives and the lives of others better. That’s nice to watch.

What the film lacks is tension and some criticism; life for Robin and Diana is painted quite rosy except for a few interludes. What would it really be like for Diana to live with a man who can only move his head so soon after her yes? And except for that one depressive moment in which Robin makes it clear that he prefers to die, all we see is a cheerful, courageous man, almost a saint. That’s easy to explain, but it could use a little more sanding.

Still, ‘Breathe’ is worth a look; because of the fine cast (note the double role of Tom Hollander!) and because it is simply more fun to watch a movie than to read a Wikipedia page to boost your history knowledge.