The phrase, “You are not alone,” can mean everything and nothing at the same time to someone in despair. While they may genuinely appreciate the consolation at their lowest moment, the hard work to build themselves up to accepting the hand held out to them can feel insurmountable. Breathing Underwater — the debut feature from Eric Lamhene, and Luxembourg’s official entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars — is a clear-eyed and resonant domestic violence drama that understands the struggle to get one’s life back on the level.
When Emma (Carla Juri) arrives at a woman’s shelter from the hospital, it’s like she’s landed on another planet. Initially quiet and withdrawn, she’s not quite sure what to make of the boisterous atmosphere or her fellow roommates. Bruised and processing the news that she’s pregnant, Emma can only wish to be as free as the women around her appear to be. Sasha (Alessia Raschella) is sassy but sympathetic, a young adult with a toddler on her arm trying to figure out how to navigate adulthood and motherhood. Khadji (Veronique Tshanda Beya) has seen it all, learned from her mistakes, and has little patience for those making bad choices. Meanwhile, Espe (Esperanza Martin Gonzalez-Quevedo) struggles with her ex-husband who is trying to take custody of their daughters, who already resent having to visit their mother at a shelter.
The picture might seem like an echo of a familiar strain of contemporary, European social dramas, but there is a thoughtfulness throughout that is unique. Co-written by Lamehene and Rae Lyn Lee (who also serves as director of photography and assisted with casting), the screenplay doesn’t build itself around melodramatic plot points, so much as fall into the uncertain rhythms of Emma and the women around her who slowly become her friends and confidants. The filmmakers capture the way in which overcoming trauma can be an exercise in taking one step forward, and two steps back. Even as Emma knows her husband Marc (Luc Schiltz) won’t change, she visits him twice. And despite his pleas and promises, the emotional and sexual abuse and psychological manipulation he wields inevitably and quickly resurfaces.
Similarly, the picture conveys abusers as they frequently are — hidden in plain sight. When Khadji meets her ex in a public park to drop off her kids for the weekend, he’s the smiling, well attired figure of a happy father. No one would suspect that he once beat her so badly that she miscarried. Class also holds no boundaries for abusers as Emma attempts to confront Marc, an architect, in the luxurious glass and stone home he designed. It’s a much different background than those of her friends, whose struggles are compounded by their lower economic status.
This may sound like Breathing Underwater brushes up beside the dreaded label of edutainment, but the pleasingly restrained filmmaking allows the actors to finely thread the themes of the picture. Juri, who holds nearly every frame of the movie, is simply terrific. Her performance is subtly physical as we watch Emma, practically holding herself together in the film’s early stages, gradually emerge to occupy her own space with confidence. Around her, Raschella, Beya, and Gonzalez-Quevedo are counterparts that can be as flinty, fragile, and supportive as the journey calls for.
Breathing Underwater is neither glamorous nor exploitative. Rather, it’s illustrative in the ways domestic violence manifests through economic control, words that sting like fists, and threats that can bruise more than any physical conflict. As the picture concludes, it reaches an ending that at first glance, may seem tidy and neat. Emma has the last word with Marc, finally arranging the pieces to divorce him and move on with her life. That’s until you remember she’s still at the shelter. Thus, one ending marks another beginning, as she starts over, this time on her own terms. But at the very least, she won’t be alone.
Director: Eric Lamhene
Screenplay: Eric Lamhene, Rae Lyn Lee
Cast: Carla Juri, Alessia Raschella, Veronique Tshanda Beya, Esperanza Martin Gonzalez-Quevedo, Sascha Ley, Luc Schiltz
Producers: Claude Waringo
Cinematography: Rae Lyn Lee
Production design: Julieta Fernandez
Costume design: Magdalena Labuz
Editing: Jean-Luc Simon
Sound: Alain Goniva
Production companies: Samsa Film (Luxembourg), Artemis Productions (Belgium)
World sales: Pluto Film
In French, Luxembourgish, Spanish, Italian
101 minutes
