Breathe

18 March 2019

Breathe 2017

• Director: Andy Serkis
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Tom Hollander, Pennie Downie, Amit Shah, Hugh Bonneville
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Other Boleyn Girl, Boy A, Doctor Who
• Claire Foy – The Lady in the Van, Wolf Hall
• Tom Hollander – The Night Manager, The Invisible Woman, About Time, Hanna, Gracie, The Soloist, In the Loop, Valkyrie, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Pirates of the Caribbean, Rabbit Fever, A Good Year, The Darwin Awards, Pride and Prejudice, The Libertine, Gosford Park
• Pennie Downie – Hamlet, Invictus, The Girl in the Café
• Amit Shah – The Hundred Foot Journey, Hustle
• Hugh Bonneville – The Hollow Crown, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, From Time to Time, Lost in Austen, Bonekickers, Daniel Deronda, Notting Hill, Tomorrow Never Dies, Frankenstein
• Why? Andrew Garfield
• Seen: 14 March 2019

             It’s the 1950s. Robin (Garfield) and Diana (Foy) fall in love, get married and move to Kenya. They’re very happy. Then Robin is stricken with polio. He’s paralysed from the neck down and can only breathe with a respirator. He’s given just months to live.

       They return to England. He wants to die but Diana won’t let him. Against all medical advice she removes him from the hospital and takes him home. Against all odds he survives.

       The first half is a bit run-of-the-mill dread disease defeated by love and courage, but it becomes more interesting when Robin and his team become activists for improving the lives of the severely handicapped and as the film deals with the question of one’s right to end one’s life.

       The acting is good too.

4* of 5