Andrew Garfield shines as disability-rights champion
Biopic ‘Breathe’ is a fond but superficial tear-jerker about a polio patient
“Breathe” is meant, no doubt, as a sincere homage to the late disability advocate Robin Cavendish, who died in 1994 after living with polio for 36 years.
Commissioned by his son, producer Jonathan Cavendish (who plays a minor role in the film) and directed by Jonathan Cavendish’s business partner, actor Andy Serkis, the movie has the tone of a eulogy delivered by a dutiful son: affectionate, complimentary and maudlin.
The story by screenwriter William Nicholson (“Everest”) jumps from one major episode in Robin’s life to another. But with none of those episodes delving into his interior life, “Breathe” remains a superficial tear-jerker.
The tale begins in the late 1950s, with Andrew Garfield playing Robin as an athletic, dashing adventurer. Robin woos Diana (Claire Foy, of TV’s “The Crown”), and after they marry, they fly to Kenya on business. But after Diana announces her pregnancy, tragedy strikes.
Her 28-year- old husband collapses, becomes paralyzed and can breathe only with the assistance of a mechanical ventilator. Upon returning to England, Robin grows depressed, yearning for death, but Diana will have none of it. Ignoring the warnings of his doctor, Robin — with Diana’s help — leaves the hospital.
From this point forward, “Breathe” follows Robin as he pushes for more and more freedom, ultimately designing — with the help of his inventor friend Teddy ( Hugh Bonneville) — a line of mechanical chairs for the se- verely disabled.
When the movie sticks to the matter- of-fact — the difficulties of using an iron lung, for instance — it can be downright harrowing. One scene shows the young Jonathan unplugging the machine, without his mother’s knowledge, and his father feebly gasping for breath.
As an actor, Garfield accomplishes a great deal with limited mobility, conveying, with his eyes alone, both resignation at his circumstance and frustration that he cannot do more.
Scenes in which Robin and Diana are told that they cannot do something — whether by doctors or relatives — are followed in short order by scenes of them persevering in just that activity.
“Breathe” relies too heavily on Jonathan’s memories without ever really getting inside Robin’s head — an approach that no amount of acting can compensate for. If its subject were around to see this film, would he appreciate the tender care that his son obviously took in making it? Or might he be annoyed to have so little attention paid to what he himself was thinking?