Photo: Zahra Bahrami as Rahmat in Majid Majidi's Deep Breath
Damien Odoul's Deep Breath is equally indebted to Truffuat and Bresson—a frightening day in the life of a teenager (Pierre-Louis Bonnetblanc) who wakes up one day on his uncle's farm to find himself slowly drawn into an existential crisis. The attention to psychological detail is explicit, like the ghoulish group dinner where men are seen as slaves to routine behavior, and David's uncle draining the blood of a sheep and removing a pig's innards. A feast is prepared and David bemoans his boredom; he helps with chores but gets in everyone's way, seeking comfort in the music everyone else finds offensive. This is a startling vision of angst and arrested development—of not belonging to the world. Drawing a picture of a wolf on his arm, David loses himself to an inner world where he writhes in the nude alongside wild animals. Fantastical images depicting David swimming with his girlfriend inside a pool evoke the young couple's emotional distance, and when David visits his sweetheart, her fairy tale abode looms majestically above him—in stark contrast to his uncle's measly farm.
Damien Odoul's Deep Breath is equally indebted to Truffuat and Bresson—a frightening day in the life of a teenager (Pierre-Louis Bonnetblanc) who wakes up one day on his uncle's farm to find himself slowly drawn into an existential crisis. The attention to psychological detail is explicit, like the ghoulish group dinner where men are seen as slaves to routine behavior, and David's uncle draining the blood of a sheep and removing a pig's innards. A feast is prepared and David bemoans his boredom; he helps with chores but gets in everyone's way, seeking comfort in the music everyone else finds offensive. This is a startling vision of angst and arrested development—of not belonging to the world. Drawing a picture of a wolf on his arm, David loses himself to an inner world where he writhes in the nude alongside wild animals. Fantastical images depicting David swimming with his girlfriend inside a pool evoke the young couple's emotional distance, and when David visits his sweetheart, her fairy tale abode looms majestically above him—in stark contrast to his uncle's measly farm.
