''Breathe'' () is a 2014 French
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
film directed by
Mélanie Laurent
Mélanie Laurent (; born 21 February 1983) is a French actress and filmmaker. She has received two César Awards and a Lumière Award. Internationally, Laurent is known for her roles in ''Inglourious Basterds'' (2009), '' Now You See Me'' (2013 ...
, based on the novel of the same name by
Anne-Sophie Brasme. The film stars
Joséphine Japy,
Lou de Laâge
Lou de Laâge (, born 27 April 1990) is a French actress.Thierry Chèze ''L'Express (France), L'Express'', 11 April 2013Sophie GrassinLou de Laâge, le charme à l'état pur ''Le Figaro'', 11 May 2012Khadija Moussou5 choses à savoir sur Lou de ...
and
Isabelle Carré. It was screened in the
Critics' Week section at the
2014 Cannes Film Festival.
It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin (director), David Dobkin's film ''The Judge (2014 film), The Judg ...
.
In January 2015, the film received three nominations at the
20th Lumière Awards and also two nominations at the
40th César Awards.
Plot
Charlie is a teenage high school student whose parents are breaking up. At school she is assigned to take care of new student Sarah, a white girl who has recently moved from Nigeria, where her mother works for a charity, to live with her aunt. The two quickly become inseparable. During
All Saints' Day
All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the Church, whether they are know ...
Sarah tells Charlie that her mother is unable to visit and she'll be alone. Charlie invites Sarah to spend time with her mother and her mother's friends for the holiday.
Sarah's attitude towards Charlie abruptly changes when they are on vacation when Charlie introduces Sarah as a classmate and not as a friend. Sarah then alternates between being warm to Charlie and being cold and freezing her out. When they return from their vacation Sarah ignores Charlie and Charlie practices asking her what is wrong when she sees her at school. However, when Sarah gets to school Charlie warmly embraces her acting as though nothing is wrong.
Charlie continues to grow suspicious of Sarah and the way she acts. In front of their group of friends she points out inconsistencies in Sarah's stories about her mother. Sarah casually threatens to tell Charlie's friends about her abusive father, which Charlie confided to her in secret. In order to find out the truth about Sarah, Charlie follows her home from school where she learns she lives in a rough part of town with her alcoholic mother.
At a New Year's party Charlie tells Sarah that she saw her mother and that she, Sarah, isn't really mean. Sarah threatens to kill her if she tells anyone, and the two stop being friendly. After Charlie hears Sarah telling another one of their friends that Charlie never lost her virginity with her ex Lucas because she cried too much, she threatens to tell everyone about Sarah's mother. In retaliation Sarah graffitis "Charlie is a whore" all over the school. Though her friends try to rally around her, Charlie does nothing to stop Sarah's abuse.
Eventually Sarah shows up at Charlie's house crying because her mother hit her and she felt she had nowhere else to go. Charlie readily forgives her, telling her that she is only upset when they're apart. However, the next day at school Sarah once again ignores her, even giving a necklace she was given by Charlie's mom to another girl as a present. Charlie lashes out by attacking the girl.
Sarah comes by Charlie's place to collect her things after school is out for the summer. They sit on Charlie's bed, and Sarah taunts Charlie by saying that Charlie is an abuser playing a victim. Sarah tells Charlie that she plans to move to Paris with another friend to attend college while Charlie will be stuck in their small town for the rest of her life. Charlie cracks and pushes Sarah, who hits her head on a drawer. Sarah climbs back up and falls back onto the bed and begins laughing. Enraged and extremely distraught, Charlie suffocates her with a pillow.
When Charlie's mother returns home, Charlie cries an apology, telling her mother that "She is upstairs," before having a panic attack. Her mother goes upstairs and screams upon finding Sarah's body. Charlie manages to slow down her breathing and looks directly into the camera before it cuts to black.
Cast
Production
Filming took place in
Béziers
Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...
from 25 November 2013 to January 2014.
Reception
On the
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has a rating of 93% positive reviews, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Breathe'' finds writer-director Mélanie Laurent opening a sensitive, well-acted window into the bittersweet upheaval of adolescence."
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gives the film a rating of 78 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
References
External links
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{{Mélanie Laurent
2014 films
2014 drama films
2010s coming-of-age drama films
2010s female buddy films
2010s high school films
2010s psychological drama films
2010s teen drama films
2010s buddy drama films
Films directed by Mélanie Laurent
Films based on French novels
Films shot in Hérault
French buddy drama films
French coming-of-age drama films
French female buddy films
French high school films
2010s French-language films
French psychological drama films
French teen drama films
Gaumont (company) films
2010s French films