Breathe

Name: Breathe
Genre: Drama
Released: September 11, 2015
Duration: 91 min
Rating: 78

2015

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Ratings

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Breathe

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Movie Details & Credits

Film Movement | Release Date: September 11, 2015 | Not Rated

Summary: Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay her much attention. School holds no surprises either, and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou de Laâge), a confident and charismatic new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldnessCharlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay her much attention. School holds no surprises either, and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou de Laâge), a confident and charismatic new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldness and danger. The two form an instant connection, and through shared secrets, love interests and holiday getaways their relationship deepens to levels of unspoken intimacy. But with this intimacy comes jealousy and unrealistic expectations, and soon the teens find themselves on a dangerous trajectory toward an inevitable and unforeseen collapse. [Film Movement]… Expand

Director: Mélanie Laurent

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 91 min

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Critic Reviews

Katie Walsh

Sep 17, 2015

The entire piece is precisely woven together, from script to performance to execution, and the result is a chilling study of emotional annihilation and its aftermath. Read full review

Scott Foundas

Sep 8, 2015

Melanie Laurent brings a sure, sensitive hand to tonally tricky material and draws superb work from relative newcomers Josephine Japy (“Cloclo”) and Lou De Laage (“Jappeloup”). Read full review

Peter Rainer

Sep 11, 2015

At first I thought Breathe would play out like a Gallic version of “Mean Girls,” but it’s more troubling than that. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Sep 8, 2015

It's a chilly, elegantly assured little picture, a horror story with its roots not in fantasy but in the reality of hurt feelings. Read full review

Stephen Holden

Sep 10, 2015

Breathe conveys an uncanny insight into the psychology of late adolescence, when lingering childhood fantasies can combust with burgeoning adult sexuality in a swirl of uncontrollable feelings. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Sep 17, 2015

Breathe is empathetic and humane — the movie cares equally about both girls, each damaged in her own way — and it ends with a brusque, unexpected reminder that kindness and patience can easily curdle. Read full review

James Lattimer

Sep 7, 2015

Aside from the innate understanding of female friendship dynamics, it's hard to see exactly what else Mélanie Laurent brings to this overly familiar story. Read full review

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User Reviews

LeZee

Sep 24, 2015

Some friendship comes fast to scar on your life.

Very close to being a French version of the 2003 movie 'Thirteen'. About two 17-year-old girls, Charlie, a privacy girl with the asthma and the new arrival, Sarah, a sarky with the mystery background. A fresh friendship bloom unexpectedlySome friendship comes fast to scar on your life.

Very close to being a French version of the 2003 movie 'Thirteen'. About two 17-year-old girls, Charlie, a privacy girl with the asthma and the new arrival, Sarah, a sarky with the mystery background. A fresh friendship bloom unexpectedly between them, they begin to share everything. As fast they become close, the each others secret reveals, with the same speed a series of conflict forces them away with hatreds. Once again a movie based on the novel of the same name. Melanie Laurent's 2nd movie from the director's chair and she outclassed it.

Intense drama, from the beginning to the end. The story concentrates only these two girls, their first meet, relationship development and the story's conclusion. Very rarely other characters come into the frame with little to deliver speech and exhibit the act. The first half of the film exactly like the first half of the 'Heavenly Creatures'. Closely showcases the two girl's establishments of an unbreakable bond who do lots of mischievous stuffs together. And the second half was like the second half of 'Thirteen'. The fierce battle like environment like the usual catfight, but fairly avoids the overdose which makes a worthy whole.

With you, I feel bad. I lie, I am hard. You make me play the bad guy. It's unbearable.

What makes a two best friends (girls) hate each other, a boy? That's how the story switched from one way to another, a turning point in the storytelling. But this film was not all about fighting for a boy, there's something else which was the backbone to the narration. Weaknesses becomes a pointed gun to the face to deal with. The circle of to be victimized and be a victim was relatively balanced. The incomprehensible teen emotions take the story with the sequences of blames and absolves.

What I don't get is in the most of the movies is at the end why the film character sees the camera. This doubt is because the whole film explains something, but that final frame gives a different dimensional meaning. Maybe the indication of reform, like that happens in the coming-of-age movies either good way or bad. So, according to this movie... Sorry, you have watch to know it.

Impressive display by the lead two girls. Music, locations, everything was fine and holds the story till the last minute with same the intensity, then all the sudden releases it with a shocking twist. It was so quick and unexpected at that moment. So there's where I was disappointed a bit. The end should have been a more suitable one than preferable for a strong finish. But no complaints for the rest, a good teen drama which presents the evolution of love and trust to hate and disgust between two characters.

7/10… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

JLuis_001

Sep 7, 2017

An admirable and entertaining work, it is not really my style of cinema, because despite the layers under the facade the film does not go through a darker or disturbing subject, although after all this film is an exposition of adolescent themes and perhaps the problems of that age do notAn admirable and entertaining work, it is not really my style of cinema, because despite the layers under the facade the film does not go through a darker or disturbing subject, although after all this film is an exposition of adolescent themes and perhaps the problems of that age do not live up to be bigger dramas.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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