Our take
Mélanie Laurent both directed and wrote this, her fifth movie.
She offers an impressive display of deft film-making and honest, insightful storytelling. Charlie is a teenage high school student, there’s seemingly nothing unusual about her. When Sarah, a Nigerian girl, joins her school, they quickly form a transformative friendship.
Breathe sometimes veers to darkness, which helps to make its portrayal of the bond between two teenagers genuine, and unexpectedly fun.
What it won
Cannes
1 nom
César Awards
1 nom
The story
Charlie, a 17-year-old girl tortured by doubt, is thrilled when she becomes friends with Sarah, but when Sarah tires of Charlie and looks for a new friend, their relationship takes an ominous turn.
Elsewhere
"This is well-observed stuff, the hysteria of a new friendship, and the moments when the abyss opens up, yawning underneath what once seemed perfect."
— Sheila O'Malley
"An obsessive friendship between two teenage girls unfolds with equal amounts of tenderness and terror in Breathe, a modest but acutely observed and affecting adolescent portrait."
— Scott Foundas
Streaming arrival
