Starring: Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Ed Speleers, Dean-Charles Chapman, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Steven O’Donnell, Miranda Raison, Stephen Mangan, Jonathan Hyde
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Bio-drama directed by Andy Serkis. Based on a true story, Breathe (2017) centers on Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield) who has his whole life ahead of him when he is paralyzed by polio while in Africa and given just months to live. Against all advice, Robin’s wife Diana (Claire Foy) brings him home from hospital where her devotion and witty determination inspire him to lead a long and fulfilled life. Together along with inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Cavendish devotes the rest of his life to help fellow patients and the disabled with the hopes of transforming the lives of others like him.
Best Quotes
Bloggs Blacker: [referring to Robin] He’s practically a stranger.
David Blacker: Is he stranger than us, do you think? Not much in it?
Bloggs Blacker: [referring to Diana marrying Robin] This is your future life we’re talking about.
David Blacker: It’s your future happiness.
Diana Cavendish: The thing is, I just know this is it.
Robin Cavendish: [after Diana’s told him she’s going to have a baby] Best news I ever had. Well, since I proposed and you said yes.
Diana Cavendish: Well, you didn’t propose though, did you?
Robin Cavendish: Didn’t I?
Diana Cavendish: No. You said you had to get married before going out to Africa. Otherwise, you’d go native.
Robin Cavendish: Yeah, that’s right. You did say yes though, didn’t you?
Diana Cavendish: Apparently, I did.
Dr. Don McQueen: You inhale the polio virus from droplets in the air. The same way you catch a cold. It passes into the blood stream, into the central nervous system, and attacks a big group of cells in the spinal cord. The result is you become like a rag doll. You can’t move anything from the neck down. Can’t even breathe for yourself.
Diana Cavendish: [referring to Robin] Right. And how long will he be like this?
Dr. Don McQueen: The paralysis is irreversible. A good respiration system will maintain life for a while. We’re talking a matter of months.
Robin Cavendish: How do you live like this?
Paddy: You get used to it.
Robin Cavendish: What if I don’t?
Paddy: Well, there’s always a way out. Like Pete there got out. In his own private box.
Robin Cavendish: I’m no use to you. You really must leave me here to rot now.
Diana Cavendish: Well, it wouldn’t look very good. And apparently, I love you.
Robin Cavendish: You don’t love this. You can’t love this.
Diana Cavendish: Apparently, I can.
Diana Cavendish: So it looks as if you’re going to have to stick around for a while, doesn’t it?
Robin Cavendish: I’m sorry to say.
Diana Cavendish: I’m not sorry. I want Jonathan to know you. And maybe I can make life a little better for you.
Robin Cavendish: I don’t want your duty.
Diana Cavendish: [to Robin] Everything’s as bad as it could possibly be. But I can’t go on coming in here and have you say that you wish you were dead. Because you’re not dead, and that’s that.
Robin Cavendish: Come on, there must be something I can do to make things more bearable.
Diana Cavendish: Get me out of here.
Diana Cavendish: Robin’s going to leave the hospital.
Dr. Khan: Do you have any idea of the risks?
Diana Cavendish: Yes. Yes, I do. The risk is that he might die. Robin.
Robin Cavendish: I either go on living here, or leave here and possibly die.
Diana Cavendish: Yes.
Robin Cavendish: Well, what are we waiting for?
Paddy: Five pounds says you’ll never make it.
Robin Cavendish: And what do I get if I do?
Paddy: You get five pounds, you t’ick.
Robin Cavendish: You’re on.
Dr. Entwistle: Where do you think you’re going?
Diana Cavendish: We’re taking my husband home.
Dr. Entwistle: You don’t have my permission.
Robin Cavendish: Is this a prison? Am I your prisoner?
Dr. Entwistle: What do you think you’re doing?
Dr. Khan: It is the patient’s own wish, sir. He’s fully apprised of the risks.
Dr. Entwistle: Take him back to the ward at once.
Robin Cavendish: Diana, call the police. Tell them I’m being held against my will.
David Blacker: [referring to Teddy] He’s just doing his job.
Bloggs Blacker: He doesn’t have a job. He’s an Oxford professor.
First Woman: It isn’t kind to let them out like that.
Second Woman: On the street, where everyone can see.
Robin Cavendish: Believe me, ladies, my distress is far greater than yours.
Diana Cavendish: Bloggs told me the other day that all our friends were convinced that I’d give up on you. Apparently, they saw me as some kind of pampered nitwit.
Robin Cavendish: Well, you were a pampered nitwit.
Diana Cavendish: Oh, was I? Well, it didn’t stop you running after me, did it?
Robin Cavendish: Well, no, I’ve got nothing against nitwits. As long as they’re pretty.
'All progress has its price.' - Bloggs Blacker (Breathe) Share on X
Robin Cavendish: Just think, all those affairs I could have had.
Diana Cavendish: And me.
Robin Cavendish: It’s not too late for you.
Diana Cavendish: Isn’t it? What, and come back and find you’ve popped off while I was out?
Robin Cavendish: That would rather spoil the party, wouldn’t it?
Robin Cavendish: This chair-pushing business, is it quite hard to do over long distances?
Diana Cavendish: Well, it’s harder than a pram, I can tell you.
Teddy Hall: [to Robin, after he arrives in Spain to find them partying] You could at least have the decency to be on the point of death.
Dr. Clement Aitken: Is that chair breathing? Like a sleeping lion. Glorious.
Dr. Clement Aitken: I have never, in all my career, seen anything like this. You just made this up?
Teddy Hall: Well, pretty much, yes.
Dr. Clement Aitken: Only way to get anything done.
Teddy Hall: I like this man. Is he a doctor?
Robin Cavendish: Yes. And he’s the Director of the Disability Research Foundation.
Diana Cavendish: Which he invented.
Robin Cavendish: Yes, and made himself director.
Dr. Clement Aitken: Well, if nobody else will do it, you have to do it yourself.
Diana Cavendish: So are we “plucky” or “pitiful”?
Robin Cavendish: [referring to Lady Neville] I think definitely “plucky”. These old dowagers are tough as nails.
German Receptionist: [referring to Robin] I think he should be in hospital. No?
Bloggs Blacker: You’re quite right. No.
Dr. Clement Aitken: May I begin by noting an interesting fact. At this conference on Managing The Lives Of The Severely Disabled, there are no disabled people present.
Conference Chairman: Dr. Aitken, forgive me, but the severely disabled are on life-support machines. So how could they be present?
Robin Cavendish: Why do you keep your disabled people in prisons?
Conference Chairman: In prisons? No. No. We have some of the finest facilities in the world for the severely disabled.
Robin Cavendish: I know, but they’re run by prison guards.
Conference Chairman: No, not at all.
Robin Cavendish: Well, patients are kept out of sight. Not treated as part of healthy society.
'I've accepted the risk of dying because I don't want to just survive. I want to truly live.' - Robin Cavendish (Breathe) Share on X
Robin Cavendish: But let me ask you, when you look at me, what is it that you see? Do you see a creature that’s barely alive? Or do you see a man that’s escaped the confines of the hospital walls? Now, I have a machine under this very seat that breathes for me. And at home, I have a ventilator right by my bed. I also have a remarkable group of friends. And, most vitally, I have my wife. But, as you see, I can do nothing for myself. And yet here I am.
Robin Cavendish: Now, when I first became paralyzed, I wanted to die. Yeah, I wanted to die. I did. But my wife wouldn’t let me. She told me I had to live. To see our son grow up. So I went on living because she told me to. Because of her, really, and with her, and for her. And every day since then, I’ve accepted the risk of dying because I don’t want to just survive. I want to truly live. So I implore you, go back to your hospitals, and you tell your disabled patients that they too can truly live. You all have this power to open the gates and set them free.
Robin Cavendish: I’m going to let myself go.
Diana Cavendish: And what about me?
Robin Cavendish: You’re going to be free at last.
Diana Cavendish: No. No. God, you’re a stupid, stupid man. What do you think I’ve been doing all these years? Hmm? Your life is my life.
Colin Campbell: I want you to know what a difference you’ve made to my life. It’s not always been easy for me. Every time I come here, I go away stronger. And it’s not because you’re worse off than me. It’s who you are, Robin. Or who you’ve turned yourself into. God knows how.
Robin Cavendish: I expect you know this, but just in case. No one could have loved you as much as I’ve loved you.
Diana Cavendish: I know.
Robin Cavendish: My love. And my life.
Diana Cavendish: Me too, Robin. My love. My life.
Diana Cavendish: You’ve given me a wonderful life.
Robin Cavendish: It wasn’t quite what you expected.
Diana Cavendish: No.
Robin Cavendish: No, nor me.
Diana Cavendish: Thank you. For choosing to live.
Trailer:
I just wanna say thank you to Jonathan Cavendish, who got his all courage for creating this AMAZING Life story. I can’t even handle to not letting my tears fall.
And for you Robin, I hope you’ll be proud to your Son.
Xo, Bella.
Breathe … Film review
I read no reviews
So no BS was accrued!
I was pleasantly surprised &
only at the end realised it was based on a true story.
It’s a moving tale of a seemingly in love couple that are struck by a tragic event that leaves the husband with paralysis. This is the trigger that exfoliates the true love of the wife to figure out how to keep her man alive.
It’s moving
It’s compelling
It’s commanding
It’s outstanding
The trials & tribulations of being disabled are exposed, a new direction away from the suppose are explored.
It’s realistic in its delivery, sometimes tear shivery & yet peppered with humour.
Love, friendship & honour are explored in depth,
it never feels inept. It’s stumblingly humbling & yet aspiring with inspiration.
It’s an eye opener & heart softener for the plight of the less able is always blighted by preconception. The fight & drive of the main character is magnanimously portrayed by the lead actor. It’s unbelievable in ambition & knocks away all the obstacles of inhibition.
The spirited performance of the whole cast is truly commendable. This film tears away the cliched labels of the disabled with aplomb. It’s a mixed bag of emotion, devotion & evolution.
So if you like to watch a ‘real’ movie just take my tip as it’s worth the trip.
Kam Copyifulike 2017