Sundance 2023: The Deepest Breath
Sundance Film FestivalThe documentary genre has found a new life in embracing unbelievable true stories that push the audience's expectations of what is possible by humanity itself. Screening as part of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, Laura McGann's The Deepest Breath takes this focus to explore the life of champion freediver Alessia Zecchini who finds herself obsessed with setting world records and pushing what she was capable of, even if that meant pushing through blacking out under the water and dancing with death on a daily schedule. The Deepest Breath looks to capture her efforts and soul in a manner that blends the styles of previous documentaries such as Free Solo and Fire of Love. Due to fundamental faults in narrative, however, The Deepest Breath fails to come close to reaching the strengths of those two features.
There is no denying that the most powerful force within The Deepest Breath is the strength of humanity itself. It is shocking to follow Zecchini as she pulls off historic dive after historic dive with the audience understanding the risk to safety with every attempt. The filmmaking is strong with immersive visuals despite the natural limitations of capturing an event like this. In this sense, The Deepest Breath finds a success somewhat similar to that of Free Solo in that the actions the film is capturing are such a spectacle on their own that it is enough to pull the audience to the edge of their seats and create a memorable viewing experience.
There is, however, a clear difference between the film and Free Solo: the access each film has to its subject. Free Solo enhances its spectacle with a fascinating capture of the inside of Alex Honnold's mind and ideology which allows him to push himself and risk his life. The same success can be found in Fire of Love as the film contextualizes its archival material with enough first-hand sources and narrative work to bring a larger context of the love between the late Katia and Maurice Krafft to life. Without those sources or that direct access to its subject both in real-time and reflection, The Deepest Breath is only allowed to have light speculation in its attempt to paint a portrait of obsession within Keenan. To paint the figure with this quality is undeniably morally questionable as it feels like the film is building this mainly out of thin air using its editing. It is unclear why the film never is able to have direct access to its subject like Free Solo, but the effects are noticeable.
Because of this lack of access, the film also struggles to find many depths to explore when it comes to grander thesis. The film presents the objective facts of the events and hints at deeper motivations, but the film finds very little to actually say as far as putting these puzzle pieces together. Had the film had a better angle or emotion it was exploring such as the usage of love on Fire of Love, this could have been an emotionally moving piece. As is, it feels somewhat hollow and forgettable in terms of larger takeaways.
While The Deepest Breath is a competent documentary when it comes to showing the thrilling actions and achievements of Alessia Zecchini, the film fails to expand or evolve deeper than this. The film struggles to find the poignancy and purpose it clearly is seeking and comes up short when compared to other recent documentaries which achieved that The Deepest Breath was after.
