Breathing Under Water is a beautiful, Portuguese-language film from director António Ferreira that tells the story of a boy's journey towards self-discovery and independence in the sleepy Portuguese seaside town of Estoril. The film follows the story of a young boy named Francisco, played by Alexandre Pinto, who is struggling to come to terms with the death of his father, a well-known and well-respected doctor in the community. Francisco is being raised by his mother, played by Joana Costa, who is also a doctor and is struggling to cope with her own grief and her increasingly distant relationship with her son.
As Francisco grapples with his own feelings of loss and isolation, he is drawn towards the ocean and the strange and beautiful creatures that inhabit it. He becomes obsessed with the idea of diving and spends much of his time diving off the rocky cliffs that surround the town. It is here that he meets a group of free-divers, including a beautiful girl named Maria, played by Joana Santos, who take him under their wing and teach him the art of holding his breath and diving deeper than he ever thought possible.
As Francisco learns to navigate the treacherous waters and the mystical creatures that live beneath the surface, he also begins to confront his own fears and anxieties. He is haunted by the memory of his father and the knowledge that he will never be able to live up to the man that he was. As his relationship with Maria deepens and he becomes more and more obsessed with diving, he begins to withdraw from his mother and the rest of his family, leading to a series of startling and heart-wrenching revelations.
Breathing Under Water is a deeply moving and visually stunning film that explores themes of grief, isolation, and the power of nature to heal and transform us. The cinematography is breathtaking, with sweeping vistas of the ocean and the cliffs that surround the town, beautifully capturing the sense of awe and wonder that the characters feel as they explore the underwater world. The performances are also outstanding, with Alexandre Pinto delivering a subtle and nuanced portrayal of a young boy struggling to find his place in the world.
Overall, Breathing Under Water is a powerful and meditative film that will resonate with anyone who has ever been touched by loss or has ever found solace in the beauty of the natural world. It is a testament to the power of cinema to capture the complexities of human emotion and to inspire us to embrace the unknown and the mysterious, even in the face of our deepest fears and uncertainties.
Breathing Under Water is a 2000 drama with a runtime of 45 minutes.
It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.7.
