Lifebreath

A husband, Luke Perry, loves his ill, but unfaithful wife enough, to kill a suitable organ donor in order save her life. Luke Perry = Martin Devoe

Francine Swife = Francine Devoe

Manhattan psychics teacher Luke Perry (as Martin "Marty" Devoe) becomes increasing frustrated with efforts to find an organ donor for pretty full-lipped Francie Swift (as Chrystie). His wife is dying from Cystic Fibrosis and needs a lung transplant desperately. Donors are rare in her AB blood type, so Mr. Perry decides to take matters into his own hands. He considers "buying" an organ on the black market, but the Chinese aren't offering lungs to Americans. Volunteering to solicit blood donations leads Perry to sexy AB type Gia Carides (as Gale Pullman); but, how far will they go to secure "Lifebreath" for Ms. Swift?

This is an unexpectedly taut thriller from new director P.J. Posner, who keeps it intriguing throughout. The cast is excellent, with Perry particularly impressive in the lead. His loving, conflicted husband is able to carry the film, grabbing your interest while walking a moral tightrope. Around this time, Perry temporarily left his "90210" TV address to try big screen movie stardom; it didn't happen, but "Lifebreath" showed his potential. Swift's sickly wife is more subtly impressive, as you'll discern by watching expressions and considering her motives carefully. The ending disappoints, but Jeremy Davenport's jazzy tune helps.

******* Lifebreath (11/7/97) P.J. Posner ~ Luke Perry, Francie Swift, Gia Carides, Gary Basaraba

This is a response to the first comment. The annoying mucous dripping down her face and the productive cough is what a person living with cystic fibrosis deals with. This movie was very realistic when it came to the symptoms of CF. I am a survivor of CF due to a double lung transplant. Very health 32 year old woman who is very successful. As for the ending of the movie: It was quite strange and fortunately did not happen to me. Plus the way his wife got her lungs was also far fetched. In real life this does not happen. I was a bit confused as to why the movie ended the way it did. I think the movie could have been a bit more thought out dealing with reality. It was definitely far fetched but did keep me tuned in.

An interesting little movie that comes partly undone by the ending. Luke Perry does a fine job as a husband who is willing to do anything to help keep his ailing wife alive. She suffers from cystic fibrosis and needs a lung transplant. He devises a plan that might get her one but she's not sure she approves. An ending that seems to come from nowhere undermines a lot of what the movie was striving for.

Doesn't really contain any spoliers, but read at your own risk:

This movie is an exercise in futility. It had a wonderful premise: Wife needs transplant, Husband will do anything to make sure she gets it.

However, the execution of the script was poor. There are numerous unneeded scenes of sex with A LOT of flesh (but no nudity -- go figure). The dialog was trite and not believable. There are characters that appear briefly to move the story along with no explanation of who they are.

And the ending. No spoiler, but you could see it coming RIGHT at you -- and unfortunately it couldn't be dodged. The last 2 minutes of the film are painfully inane and hard to watch.