BREATHE (12A)
THIS is the inspirational true story of a young man, who contracted polio in 1950s Kenya and was confronted with the grim reality of spending his final days confined to a hospital bed, paralysed from the neck down and reliant on machines to carry out basic bodily functions.
Encouraged, by his spirited wife, to embrace life rather than shrink from it, the patient blazed a defiant trail by venturing outside of the hospital ward in a specially constructed wheelchair fitted with a batterypowered mobile respirator.
There are strong echoes of The Theory Of Everything in Andy Serkis’s directorial debut, which is anchored by sterling performances from Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as the married couple.
Robin Cavendish (Garfield) is a globe-trotting adventurer who sets his sights on the lovely Diana Blacker (Foy). He wins the fair maiden’s heart with charm and they head to Kenya, where he operates as a tea trader.
Marriage beckons and as the couple prepares to welcome a child into the world, Robin contracts polio.
He tearfully prepares for death but Diana refuses to accept their son will grow up without knowing his father.
Supported by a kindly doctor (Amit Shah) and her twin brothers Bloggs and David (both played by Tom Hollander), Diana sneaks Robin out of hospital. They solicit money from wealthy patron Lady Neville (Dame Diana Rigg) to build a wheelchair designed by pal Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville) and work with Dr Clement Aitken (Stephen Mangan) to share the invention with the world.
Breathe is a classy, moving and quintessentially British love story.
Garfield and Foy kindle smouldering screen chemistry, and they wring out tears by the gallon in heated exchanges borne of fear and frustration.
Serkis directs with a light touch, delivering one stand-out sequence when a plug is accidentally pulled from a socket. At that heart-stopping moment, we hold our breath too.