Sink or Swim
Directed by Gilles Lellouche
- drama
- comedy
The story
40-year-old Bertrand has been suffering from depression for the last two years and is barely able to keep his head above water. Despite the medication he gulps down all day, every day, and his wife's encouragement, he is unable to find any meaning in his life. Curiously, he will end up finding this sense of purpose at the swimming pool, by joining an all-male synchronised swimming team.
What it’s like
Warm, bright natural light fills the municipal pool and the cramped changing rooms of a French provincial town, with ordinary tiles, fogged windows and wet concrete rendered in soft daylight rather than gloss. The camera stays close and unfussy, drifting with the men as they practise, and the underwater shots turn the water into a blue-green haze where bodies and limbs blur into something graceful and absurd. The score leans on buoyant, cheerful melodies that never fully lose their wry edge, so the mood shifts easily between tender and playful. Vibe: good-humoured, bittersweet, gently uplifting. It suits a lazy weekend afternoon, a comfort rewatch, or a night in when you want something light that still has a heart. Its comedy comes from earnest characters fumbling a ridiculous hobby, and its emotional arc follows a man with depression slowly finding footing among people who accept him as he is. Language, some crude jokes and mild sexual humour appear, but there is no violence and little that is frightening. The film is for viewers who enjoy humane comedy about everyday struggle and want something that is cheerful without being saccharine.
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