Respire (2014)

Dir. Mélanie Laurent

“Charlie is 17 years old. She is at that age where life is all about hanging out with friends, emotions, convictions, passions. Sarah is the new girl in town. Beautiful, bold, with a history and a strong personality. A star from the get-go. Sarah chooses Charlie.”

I don’t quite know what to say about Respire other than I can finally announce my absolute favourite film of 2014. Mélanie Laurent is a truly impressive director and the drama she’s chosen to tell here is quite unique despite the hallmarks of many so-called “coming of age” films; I wouldn’t say that about this film though, there is no great revelation about self or the world around the characters, just a story of two people who enter each others lives and whether the force that’s brought them together is a good or malevolent one is yet to be discovered. Joséphine Japy and Lou de Laâge are faultless throughout. I haven’t seen either of them before but they’ll definitely be two to watch in the future. The film takes you on quite the emotional rollercoaster and when you think the ride is levelling out or at the least coming to a halt it really surprises you. When I finished watching the film my initial thoughts were “wow, holy shit”. So instead of trying to go into it to much maybe I’ll just stick with that frank summation.