**Spoiler alert: There’s no way to really discuss this documentary without spoilers, at least for me, so be forewarned, and if you don’t want to be spoiled, please watch “The Deepest Breath” doc first.**
Thanks in part to filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin— the directors behind the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo” and daring extreme adventuring and peril docs like “Meru,” “The Rescue,” “Wild Life”— plus the recent thriving docu-drama engagement boon on streaming, athletes pushing themselves to the limits and beyond have seemingly entered a new golden age. But the acclaimed doc, “The Deepest Breath,” may possibly leave you with distasteful swill of salty seawater in your mouth and or at least questioning the ethical responsibility of docs that try and frame such chancy and treacherous acts as heroic feats of determination and will.
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And that’s, to be fair, because the documentary—spoiler alert—ends in tragedy. And it’s a tragedy that the film tries to negotiate to keep hidden from the viewer and yet hints at throughout (subjective results may vary). Perhaps if “The Deepest Breath” ended in hard-earned victory, it would feel triumphant like many of these docs do, and there wouldn’t be a concern. But the reality of these tragic outcomes means that the doc, directed by Laura McGann (“Revolutions,” “Wartgirl”), feels like more of a cautionary tale about fixation and following your obsessive dreams to the bitter end—a consequence you’re not even sure the film actually intends given the way it often takes a more uplifting tact.
So much is alluded to about glorious “freedom” in the doc; the freedom of chasing your dreams, the freedom to dive to insanely unnatural depths, the freedom to swim in emancipating open water free of rules and traditional order. But it’s clear from the earliest stages of the doc that freedom is an illusion, and there will be great costs to contend with. Shot with beautiful clarity—at least the more staged images of slow-motion water and waves, distinctly different from the more traditional, captured-doc footage—there’s almost an irresponsible quality to the film, creating this fantasy of underwater liberation while knowing fully well that it all ends poorly.
“The Deepest Breath” centers on a champion free diver (headstrong Italian diver Alessia Zecchini) who trains to break a world record with the help of an expert safety diver, Stephan Keenan. The two form an emotional bond, and then the doc follows the collision-course paths they took to meet at the pinnacle of the freediving world.
“Collision course” may be a loaded phrase, but it’s clear from following the doc’s mood, even if it’s carefully subtle, that things are going to end in tragedy for either both or one of these people. And once you’ve broken that suspension of disbelief and have figured out the doc’s ruse, the film begins to feel more and more distasteful, especially as it does its best to manipulate more of a positive take on things and obfuscate what’s to come.
While “The Deepest Breath” does set up the notion that freediving is dangerous, from a certain perspective, that might be the most convenient euphemism one can come up with. Free diving, at least the kind depicted in this film, feels like a flirtation with death at all times. The doc continually shows divers coming out of the water comatose, near death, out of breath, and or fighting for their lives as rescue divers try to revive these turning-blue athletes who seem anything but heroic in the moment. At best, they seem to have a death wish, and the doc’s collision of sweeping water vistas, intensifying music, and wind-swept hair on beaches juxtaposed next to footage of people nearly dying—and in some cases, divers that did perish— just feels distressing and very off-putting.
Perhaps it’s because McGann can’t hide what’s coming despite the doc trying to cloud it with so much murky and dark water. “The Deepest Breath” isn’t hiding the fact that there are daring hazards involved with athletes risking their lives for world records, but it is exactly forthcoming either, and the failure to effectively thread that needle is its biggest problem.
Unlike many athletic/daring docs of this ilk, it soon because terrifyingly obvious just how treacherous and unsafe this sport is and how anyone participating in it is perhaps delusional and/or insane. Take in point the many scenes of revival that don’t seem very ethical or responsible. Safety divers in the doc are shown to be almost akin to the audacious but hasty medical students in the psychological thriller “Flatliners,” where they experiment with “near death” experiences in order to glean insight into the afterlife.
But this is a documentary about real people, not a fictional movie, and the only real trophy is the bragging rights of having survived. There are fine lines between intrepid, stupid, and reckless, and “The Deepest Breath” doesn’t seem to be fully considering the rash and careless aspects of these people in exchange for trying to entertain the viewer, keep you glued to your chair and clench you in a suspenseful holding pattern or whether anyone lives to see the next sunrise.
The documentary algorithm says don’t reveal anything too early, or audience interest will drop off like some metric taxonomist judiciously watched the fickle ebbing and flowing engagement rhythm. But at some point, withholding information in order to keep audiences entertained feels dishonest, and thoughtlessly calculating.
This is to say nothing about the undercooked romance of the film. Alessia and Keenan clearly have a growing passion brewing in the film that possibly never got a chance to fully bloom. There’s clearly deep affection and deep amour between them, and it creates an extra layer of drama—once again, they are seemingly feeding and pushing each other towards a dangerous edge, perhaps deluded by the rush and fantasy of love—but the romance also doesn’t feel as developed as it needs to be and at one point seems to forget about it altogether.
“Don’t take a dive for granted; You don’t know which dive will be your last,” a talking head says ominously at one point in the documentary. That’s perhaps one of the rare times “The Deepest Breath” feels genuinely honest, not trying to mask its perils with luminous images, “courageous” notions of risk, and a majestically soaring score (one that’s both genuinely gorgeous and employed with dubious influence).
“The Deepest Breath” wants the viewer to be thrilled and awed by the idea of chasing a dream through the silently beautiful depths of the ocean. But it’s also deeply evident to the perceptive and conscientious viewer that these ocean depths are also scary, frightening, and not to be trifled with. No one wants to suggest that if you fuck around, you’ll find out when lives are on the line, but intentionally or not, “The Deepest Breath” will certainly compel you to consider the difference between a brave inhalation hold of nerve and an empty gasp of heedless folly.  [C+]
“The Deepest Breath” is available now on Netflix.