No Limit

Surprised to see this rating on IMDB but for me this movie is 10/10.

Totally breathtaking from the first minute - maybe because for me water is a great mystery and every time they dive in I was stressed out, waiting to see what will happen.

A lot to learn from the story of the main character - Roxana and all the way she goes towards achieving her dream - to find her purpose.

Entangled within the hard live she had, the hard live her love had and the mistakes they want to "fix", there is a love story so complicated that you want to see it ending in a different way.

And I did not expect the ending of the movie which quite made me think of the whole story for days.

Water is undoubtedly Pascal's element. His great passion is freediving, in which he has also set the record. He runs diving courses and one day meets Roxana, who also wants to dive into the depths of the water.

At first it seems as if Roxana could get together with her diving instructor Tom (César Domboy), but it soon becomes clear that she is falling under Pascal's spell. He may be taken, but that doesn't stop the two of them from plunging into a stormy relationship. The warning signs are unmistakable - Pascal's charisma hides a toxic side that draws Roxana into a dangerous dependency.

The film broadly explores the risks and fascination of freediving, also known as apnea diving, which involves making the most of the breath before descending. This can be both fascinating and frightening, as shown by the example of Frenchwoman Audrey Mestre, who held several world records. "Sous emprise" combines the highs and lows of the sport with an intense toxic love story.

"Sous emprise - Freedom under water" shows the negative effects this toxic relationship has on Roxana in particular. It is not entirely clear why she does not fight back against these influences sooner. Overall, the film dispenses with necessary explanations. Although it is hinted early on that the protagonist is struggling with her life, there are no concrete details. Despite its weaknesses in character development and narrative style, the film is a haunting portrait of dangerous love and the search for self-discovery in the depths of the water.

The breathtaking underwater imagery and dives are particularly convincing and lend the film a visual splendor that reinforces the feeling of freedom and escape. The acting performances are solid. Furthermore, the movie is quite realistic and inspired by a true story. At the end of the movie, one wonders what actually happened and what was just fiction.

--------------- Conclusion:

Quite good - "Sous emprise - Freedom Underwater" follows a couple who share a passion for free diving. The underwater shots are visually appealing and offer exciting moments, especially when the athletes compete against each other. However, the stereotypical toxic relationship takes center stage and is merely cloaked by the sporting background.

This fiction movie I found out after watching it is actually based on the life of Audrey Mestre (1974 - 2002) a French world record-setting freediver and her husband. Since it is actually a fiction movie, it is obvious that someone took liberties and embellished this story - they either had insider information on her personal details or made up a bunch of baloney for a story as it doesn't really match the Wikipedia biography on her. This disturbs me a bit because although 20 years have passed, I have no idea what the laws are in France but I assume that someone got paid or gave permission to do this Netflix story - and I truly hope it wasn't her husband exploiting her memory for money. He was actually portrayed as her boyfriend in this movie who was a diver himself and taught her how to dive. The movie itself was kind of interesting and gave me a greater understanding of the sport itself. I have no idea why someone would want to do it although I have seen lots of Greek divers in FL get started by diving for sponges, The acting was a little bad but the likeness of the FL was very similar to the real person.

I enjoyed watching this film. It is different from all the other films you can see on Netflix. Based on a very interesting story. What this film has to offer are beautiful pictures of the see and under-the-surface world. The main characters risking their lives make you involved and worried about them every time they try to break a new diving record. At the beginning they mention though a Russian record diver named Alex Sikorsky- I could not trace this person anywhere in internet. Is this a fictional character? Sikorski is a Polish nobile family name, there was as well a Polish king with this name. So why Russian????? It lacks some basic research. Is Bonaparte an Italian name?

Once upon a time there was a film made about Gandhi who insofar as I remember was Indian. They used a British Jewish actor to play Gandhi. I still wonder why? No Indians available?

Then later on and before that they would make cowboy movies with white actors painted to look like Braves. Here in these Woke years they use actor Sofiane to play a character called Pascal which may seem a bit odd to some viewers; did they run out of Frenchmen who are not French Arabs? It seems unnecessary to me but anyway he does a great job here as the Baddie of the piece.

As regards the other main protagonist her acting is okay here only during the bar scene with the secondary love interest does she giggle a tad like a brainless model; the rest of the time she is really quite adequate even very good at times. The other acting folks here are all pretty good not stellar But pretty good.

The tale here is a total grim fest. Both main characters have childhoods that would make Dickens and Eugène Sue blush and they tell you about them. The activity they are engaged in is to a sane person so crazy that it beggars belief.

I remember the film The Big Blue (1988) from years ago (Luc Besson 1988) and this was excellent (free diving is huge in France) ; here we have what it has come to now an exaggeration a crazy hyperbolic take on free diving full of technology machines and pushing the human body to a place where it can only die.

Trying to produce no spoilers here but it does not end well surprisingly. Do not watch this film if you want something to cheer up this will not tick that box. Also it is intimated that something of the same nature happened in real time to a real female diver in The Dominican Republic; maybe just an homage; probably not a cut-and-paste

To summarise it is very adequate film well-made the acting I would rate at 75% of what it could have been; but whichever way you cut this the storyline is strong and that is a very crucial component of any movie...

PS so i went and watched The Big Blue (1988) again after all these years and that too was not a tale of joy either .... I had forgotten the ending probably just remembered the cuddly dolphs and gorgeous curves of Rosanna .... but yes in a way "Sous Emprise" is just an amped version in the more accelerated and cruel world of 2022 .... I remembered The Big Blue (1988) as chipper chirpier ... but noooooo it sure was not.