Actress/director Mélanie Laurent sensitively explores the ways abuse is passed down through generations.
Based on the
novel by
Anne-Sophie Brasme, French actor/director
Mélanie Laurent (most notable for her starring role as Shosanna in
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds [2009]) tells a devastating tale of a perilous friendship in her second feature,
Breathe. After two young high school girls rapidly form an intense bond - with more than a little romantic undercurrent - their relationship deteriorates just as quickly into a see-saw of manipulation and obsession.
Breathe - hauntingly, and empathetically - shows the cycle of domestic abuse, and the way it can pass down from parents to children. It shows the ways it can manifest into bullying at a young age, and how victims become abusers, relaying the same psychological abuse and emotional manipulation that was used on them onto others. The film also shows the silent suffering of many victims, clearly in torment, but unable to or unwilling to give up on the relationship, whether afraid that speaking out will make it worse; preferring cruel treatment to the absence of any attention at all; or so far under their abuser’s control that they take their words as fact.
Breathe is a powerful drama, with gripping performances, and a harrowing final scene that will continue to play in your brain long past the credits.
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