The Deepest Breath, 2023.
Directed by Laura McGann.
SYNOPSIS:
A champion free-diver and expert safety diver seemed destined for one another despite the different paths they took to meet at the pinnacle of the free-diving world. A look at the thrilling rewards – and inescapable risks – of chasing dreams through the depths of the ocean.
Laura McGann’s (Revolutions) new documentary The Deepest Breath offers up such a claustrophobic and intimate glimpse into the dangerous world of free-diving that it’s a shame she felt compelled to frame the tragic central story in a manner which holds the audience at artificial length from the outcome. In a film that otherwise gets so much right in honouring its central participants, it’s a slippery conceit which feels manipulative, even tacky.
McGann’s doc focuses on Italian free-diving champion Alessia Zecchini, who becomes perilously obsessed with breaking the free-diving world record. Due to the extremely dangerous nature of the sport, free-divers are accompanied by safety divers to track their descent and ascent, and provide assistance where needed. Enter Stephen Keenan, an Irish free-diver who finally put down roots in Dahab, Egypt, and after a near-death diving accident decides to train as a safety diver. This eventually brings him into Alessia’s orbit, helping to train her for the grandest challenge of all – conquering Dahab’s infamously dangerous Blue Hole dive, which has claimed the lives of more than 100 divers.
The Deepest Breath opens with archive footage of Alessia being asked about her thoughts on death – a haunting primer for a documentary which leaves its central subjects’ fates in doubt until extremely late in the day. Between the lack of contemporary interviews with Alessia and Stephen, and the tearful facial expressions of Alessia’s father, it isn’t looking good for anyone, but this willfully vague approach ultimately feels excessively manufactured in an attempt to tee up a third act Big Reveal.
It’s clear from early on that we’re being intentionally kept at bay from the eventuality. But if you’re able to put that to the back of your mind, McGann’s film does offer a transfixing examination of the dangerous pull of both extreme sports and ambition, and also the meditative appeal of free-diving, of finding peace at the quietest place on Earth. Whether or not you ultimately relate to Alessia and Stephen’s desire to push themselves to the physical and mental limit, you’ll likely come away at least understanding it. That’s tempered of course by the film’s necessary focus on the immense dangers the sport presents, namely blackouts and internal lung damage or “lung squeeze,” as can be caused by prolonged exposure to underwater pressure.
But for Alessia and Stephen, danger doesn’t ever seem to faze them. Alessia, a tenaciously committed, ferociously competitive free-diver, flagrantly brushes off anyone who might encourage her to take a break for her health, while prior to free-diving Stephen was a free-spirited traveller who regularly holed up in conflict zones. That each was drawn to danger and kept death in their periphery made it almost seem fated that they eventually crossed paths, forming a unique bond through their shared passion for pushing the human body to literally new depths.
If much of the doc focuses on Alessia’s industrious quest to break the free-diving world record, it’s all ultimately a prelude to the fateful trip to the Blue Hole – an almost literal call from the void that’s deemed more perilous than Mount Everest. At the diving depths involved, there’s very little in the way of a backup plan should things go wrong, as in this case they sadly do.
It would be naive to regard documentaries as outside the realm of narrative storytelling, but the means through which the result of Alessia and Stephen’s dive is unfurled leaves a sour taste, with too much of an effort being made to deliver an emotional gotcha. The sad outcome is affecting enough that such chicanery really isn’t necessary, yet by so blatantly holding back a key piece of the presentational puzzle, it ends up beating the viewer with an emotional cudgel.
It’s a choice that doesn’t entirely sink the film, though certainly tarnishes it. It’s unfortunate given the inherent human interest of the story, and also the clear care taken with the production values. This is slickly produced as you’d expect from any co-production between Netflix and A24; from its gorgeous opening titles onwards there’s a lot to feast on here, particularly the extensive underwater diving footage, comprised of real footage seamlessly combined with well-shot reconstructions. It all makes for anxious, uneasy viewing, so perfectly capturing the claustrophobic danger of the deep.
While the unnecessary trickiness robs McGann’s documentary of a more organic throughline and payoff, and it perhaps runs a little too long for its own good, if you’re able to hone in on the achingly humanistic tale at its core, there’s much here worth savouring. The Deepest Breath fascinatingly probes the pathology of the free-diving subculture, though a questionable structural conceit adds an unfortunate layer of ick to an otherwise affecting story.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more film rambling.
