Deep impact

An underwater love story about climate change and terrorism: Submergence is no romcom

VETERAN GERMAN DIRECTOR Wim Wenders has always been an unconventional traveller into exotic environments. He’s responsible for the definitive Harry Dean Stanton performance in 1984’s Paris, Texas, the American Southwest so alive you can smell it; and 1999’s Oscar-nominated documentary Buena Vista Social Club, a joyful celebration of all-star Cuban musicians. And long before Matt Damon and his gleaming gnashers showed up in The Talented Mr. Ripley, the filmmaker gave us a much scuzzier Tom Ripley in 1977’s The American Friend. Even he, though, was illuminated and educated by Submergence, the 2013 book by foreign correspondent-turned-novelist J.M. Ledgard, set in a windowless Somalian cell and the depths of the Greenland Sea.

It’s in the water where we meet French-australian biomathematician Danielle Flinders (Alicia Vikander), who is determined to uncover the secrets of the ocean floor and spends much time in the film in a submersible. James Mcavoy, meanwhile, is spy James More, imprisoned by jihadi fighters and put through hell. Having fallen in love before being flung apart by their missions, we flashback to when they inhabited less confined spaces, with More now piecing together his memories, and Flinders desperate to reconnect while discovering new life among the big deep.

Metaphysical and meditative, with multiple, many-levelled depths to explore, this romantic epic is perfect Wenders fodder. Prepare for a deep dive.

SUBMERGENCE IS IN CINEMAS THIS SUMMER