'Learning to Breathe Under Water' review: empathetic crowdpleaser
Variety calls Rebekah Fortune's "Learning to Breathe Under Water" an empathetic crowdpleaser—a grief drama that literally puts a shark in the roof to cover a hole in the heart. Guy Lodge's review praises Rory Kinnear, Maria Bakalova and breakout child actor Ezra Carlisle after the film's warm Karlovy Vary premiere.
Key Takeaways
- Variety's Guy Lodge hails the film as a likable, heart-on-sleeve tearjerker unlikely to divide audiences.
- The story reimagines Oxford's real Headington Shark as the centerpiece of a grieving Irish family's home.
- Eleven-year-old Ezra Carlisle earns the review's strongest praise as earnest young narrator Leo.
- Indie distributors are expected to pursue the family-friendly festival title as Neon eyes a U.K. launch.
- Lodge notes minor third-act shortcuts but credits Fortune with accessible, unsentimental grief storytelling.
What Is 'Learning to Breathe Under Water' About?
Directed by Rebekah Fortune from a script by Richard Brabin, "Learning to Breathe Under Water" follows middle-aged British artist Peter (Rory Kinnear) and his pre-teen son Leo (Ezra Carlisle) after the death of their wife and mother. They live a quiet life in a nondescript Irish town until a concerned teacher recommends Anya (Maria Bakalova), a freewheeling Bulgarian au pair who slowly draws the household out of its melancholy.
Fortune's previous feature, 2017's "Just Charlie," explored a teen soccer prodigy's gender dysphoria. Lodge writes that she again shows a gentle aptitude for articulating complex emotional struggles from a youthful point of view, assisted by naive animated intrusions that illustrate Leo's imagination.
How Does the Headington Shark Fit the Story?
The film takes its cue from a 25-foot fibreglass shark—or at least its rear half—adorning a terraced house in suburban Oxford, England. The Headington Shark is protest art devised in 1986 by sculptor John Buckley and homeowner Bill Heine as a statement against nuclear warfare and military airstrikes.
Fortune relocates that eccentric sculpture to Peter's home, where a gaping hole in Leo's bedroom ceiling accommodates the beast. The boy murmurs secret thoughts into the shark's synthetic belly as one-sided therapy. Lodge notes that production designer May Davies uses ocean-blue interiors versus sunshine-yellow mementos hidden in the attic as visual shorthand for the family's psychological state.
Who Delivers the Standout Performances?
Sympathetic turns from Oscar nominee Bakalova and BAFTA nominee Kinnear help raise the film's profile, but Lodge awards top marks to 11-year-old Irish actor Carlisle, recently seen in "Hokum." He calls Carlisle immensely appealing but never cloying as the gravely earnest, often accidentally funny protagonist and narrator.
Anya is not "Mary Poppins levels of magical," Lodge writes, but her cheer softens Leo and nudges Peter toward rejoining the outside world. When Anya tells Leo he is funny, he replies, "People say that, but they don't laugh"—a line Lodge cites as proof of Carlisle's unaffected vulnerability.
Will the Film Find a Distributor?
Warmly received at Karlovy Vary in the Special Screenings sidebar, the title should continue to please crowds on the festival circuit before being scooped up by indie distributors with an eye for offbeat but audience-friendly fare. That timing aligns with broader industry movement: Variety reports Neon is eyeing a U.K. distribution launch, with former Studiocanal U.K. boss Danny Perkins reportedly consulting on a potential British operation.
For more festival and streaming coverage, see our Streaming & TV Alerts hub. Lodge's verdict is clear: Fortune's thoughtful charmer dramatizes trauma and healing in terms accessible to all ages without patronizing its young protagonist.