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Breaking Surface

  • 2020
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
6.7K
YOUR RATING
Breaking Surface (2020)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:33
1 Video
22 Photos
AdventureDramaHorrorThriller

A winter diving trip in Norway turns into a desperate race against time for two sisters when one of them becomes trapped at the bottom of the ocean by falling rocks.A winter diving trip in Norway turns into a desperate race against time for two sisters when one of them becomes trapped at the bottom of the ocean by falling rocks.A winter diving trip in Norway turns into a desperate race against time for two sisters when one of them becomes trapped at the bottom of the ocean by falling rocks.

  • Director
    • Joachim Hedén
  • Writer
    • Joachim Hedén
  • Stars
    • Moa Gammel
    • Madeleine Martin
    • Trine Wiggen
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.1/10
    6.7K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Joachim Hedén
    • Writer
      • Joachim Hedén
    • Stars
      • Moa Gammel
      • Madeleine Martin
      • Trine Wiggen
    • 87User reviews
    • 30Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 wins total

    Videos1

    Breaking Surface
    Trailer 1:33
    Breaking Surface

    Photos21

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    + 17
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    Top cast18

    Edit
    Moa Gammel
    Moa Gammel
    • Ida
    Madeleine Martin
    Madeleine Martin
    • Tuva
    Trine Wiggen
    • Anne
    Jitse Jonathan Buitink
    • Dive Instructor
    • (as Jitse Buitnik)
    Alessio Barreto
    • Tanker Captain
    Remi Alashkar
    • Tanker Captain's Assistant
    Lena Hope
    Lena Hope
    • Woman with Puncture
    Maja Söderström
    • Ida's Daughter
    Irma Hallberg
    • Young Ida
    • (as Irma Jenny Hallberg)
    Olle Wirenhed
    • Ida's Husband
    Sofia Magdalena Larsen
    • Girl in car
    Ingrid Pettersen
    • Young Tuva
    Aiko Steurs
    • Child Under Water
    Elle Kohrs
    • Child Under Water
    Thomas Hoy
    • Extra
    Elisabeth Solheim
    • Extra
    Eskil Nymoen
    • Extra
    Ole-Magnus Utnes
    • Extra
    • Director
      • Joachim Hedén
    • Writer
      • Joachim Hedén
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews87

    6.16.6K
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    Featured reviews

    7omendata

    Great film for the budget - Realistic and well constructed!

    All really good films have a good start sequence like films like Cliffhanger or Vertical Limit and this film is no exception with a heart stopping sequence beneath a ship being sucked into its propellers which immediately grabs the viewers attention - well done to the director for paying attention to the rules of good movie making.

    Add to that some utterly breathtaking photography and drone footage and it starts looking very good indeed.

    Good acting and nice characterization, one character is focused, extremely intelligent and capable then we have the other one who obviously has problems , ruined her marriage and is a bit of nightmare and of course its the intelligent and capable one who becomes trapped and so the incompetent partner is the one who has to try everything (and mostly failing) to free her sister and save the day - it has all the things a good movie should have right from the off and it does not disappoint! As one reviewer has pointed out it is actually quite close to reality when you are diving so they clearly researched before they made the movie and having seen someone with a case of the spinal bends its quite disturbing and a completely horrifying experience even for people watching it happen to someone else as i did once so this film did bring back memories!

    You have to laugh at the one star reviewers complaining about the dog scene or this and that would not happen in real life and the sister was stupid - Err yes that is why she was chosen to be the one not trapped under the rock as she was the incompetent dimwit of the two sisters - what didnt you get? When are people like this going to stop reviewing movies? If everyone did the logical and sensible thing then the movie would last 10 minutes and be over immediately - its what is called making a fictional movie guys - perhaps stick to dominoes if you cannot review a movie properly or dont understand the construction of a screenplay! It really does disappoint me to see low brow reviewers giving a good film like this a 1 or 2 star review which means its the worst film you have ever seen and which this is plainly not if you have ever seen the Bad Batch with Keanu Reeves - Go watch that and then tell me you still think this is a 1 or 2!

    The only disappointment is that they went for the usual hollywood happy ending when they should have ended it with what would really have happened if someone had made so many ascents and descents without the safety breaks they should take to remove nitrogen from the blood then it would really have broken movie making rules and we need this to make movies that truly shine. Overall a good exciting 7/10 nights entertainment.
    7jamosmonk

    Distracted diving is a no no.

    The cinematography is great. The many frustrating issues arise from the many situations that befall the duo, and the emergency decisions they must make. One poor decision after another. It is definitely worth a watch.
    5joeri_dp

    Beautiful scenery, well shot - but too many things that irritated me

    As some have reviewed it before me, the movie certainly has good elements:
    • the environment is beautiful !
    • the shots under & above water are really good
    • acting is good


    But personally for me, some elements were irritating as hell:
    • the main actress plays a pretty stupid person (some could argue she's maybe inexperienced as a diver and does silly things and/ or attribute her reactions to panic). But still, it's ok to be stupid in a film - but if it starts to be irritating... it's too much
    • I'm a diver and wow some pretty amazing stuff happening under water. Maybe for the non-educated viewer it looks ok, but as a diver ... it's not realistic. The amount of dives/ quick surfacing/ recompressing she's doing... don't think she'd still be walking. Freediving to 33m (in a drysuit), looking for the bottle on the bottom on one breath, ... a lot of those things are not realistic


    A pity ! I think with some small finetunings this could have been a very good movie.
    cstkbr

    Brilliant woman dependent on hilariously stupid sister to survive diving accident

    I made an account just for this. This movie is insultingly stupid. Tuva makes all the intelligent choices after a diving accident but is undone by the utter stupidity of her own sister. If you treat it as a slapstick comedy it's fun to watch, but as a suspense thriller it's just insulting to its viewers. The writer didn't even check with a diver to make sure it's basic assumptions about diving were correct. It also contains all kinds of unnecessary complications, plot holes, convoluted story lines it is just a mess. Need more characters characters characters otherwise the review is too short..
    6aronharde

    Murphy's law and a stupid lead weaken this otherwise great survial thriller

    I really like survival thrillers like this one and I thought the idea was pretty interesting. The movie introduces us to two sisters and their relationship between each other and their mom. Right off the bat you get an idea how their characters work and what kind of people they seem to be.

    Then the incident happens and you mostly follow Ida portrayed by Moa Gammel. She is trying her best to save her sister from drowning or is she? Because her character was so dumb that it was really annoying at times and I was just shaking my head screaming at the screen. She is the kind of character that is hard to root for and also it didn't feel like she was aware that everything she does is a play against time. I get that she is probably exhausted but she was moving so slow at times and also took time with lots of the things she does. And also this movie suffers from this rare phenomenon where everything that can go wrong does and this is something that a lot of survival thrillers do and I really dislike it because the only reason is that it drives the plot forward but most of the time the realistic aspects are left behind. There is also a scene involving a dog that many people will probably really dislike and it also didn't make sense and there was absolutely no reason for it to be in the movie. Overall it was a decent survival thriller that definitely had some flaws that could have been avoided to improve this flick. [5,8/10]

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      The rock under which Tuva is stuck is too heavy to move, but at around 59 mins when Ida pushes her west under it, you see the rock lifting up for a short moment.
    • Connections
      Remade as The Dive (2023)
    • Soundtracks
      What Else Is There?
      Written by Svein Berge (as Berge), Torbjörn Brundtland (as Brundtland), Karin Dreijer (as K. Dreijer) and Olof Dreijer (as O. Dreijer)

      Performed by Röyksopp

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    FAQ

    • How long is Breaking Surface?
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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 15, 2020 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Sweden
      • Norway
      • Belgium
    • Official site
      • Official Facebook
    • Languages
      • Swedish
      • Norwegian
    • Also known as
      • Глибоке занурення
    • Filming locations
      • Lofoten Islands, Norway
    • Production companies
      • Way Feature Films
      • Umedia
      • Film i Skåne
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • SEK 36,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross worldwide
      • $410,673
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 18 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.39 : 1

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