THR, reviewing from Cannes:
A sober, compelling drama distinguished by its intelligent restraint, controlled visual style and a matter-of-fact observational approach that gives it bracing dramatic integrity, Breathing marks an assured move into directing for Karl Markovics, a veteran Austrian actor who starred in the 2008 Foreign-Language Oscar winner The Counterfeiters.
Whether it’s his own cool compositional eye or that of accomplished cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, Markovics lets us know we’re in sure hands from the movie’s first few expansive widescreen shots. He also has a swift, economical way of getting us inside the head of taciturn protagonist Roman Kogler (Thomas Schubert), whose loner world is a place of little warmth but even less self-pity.
An 18-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center on the drab outskirts of Vienna, Roman has lived in confinement since he caused the death of another boy four years earlier. With no family or connections, he has been nixed for release at numerous parole hearings. He holds scant hope that an upcoming one will be different. His counselor (Gerhard Liebmann) reminds Roman that his chances would be improved if he could hold down a job in the work-release program.
He signs on for a trial period as a mortuary service provider, transporting corpses. This seems an unlikely road to stability, especially given his unfriendly treatment from co-workers. But as he assists in the solemn rite of bathing and dressing the body of an old woman, something approaching mutual respect is born between Roman and the the most antagonistic of his colleagues (Georg Friedrich)…
Markovics’ contemplative screenplay supplies information in subtle strokes. He places a refreshing trust in the audience’s ability to absorb the complexities of his characters without being bombarded with exposition and explanatory dialogue. The film’s perceptiveness means that its themes of atonement, of reconnection with the world, and of hope all emerge quietly, without needing to be spelled out or cushioned by artificially cozy consolation.
The unembellished realism of the acting and unhurried fluidity of Alarich Lenz’s editing keep the relatively uneventful story engrossing. The film’s look is carefully composed without being overly formal. Markovics and Gschlacht frame Roman in ways that seem to underline his alienation while hinting at his growing receptiveness to the idea of actually entering life rather than just allowing it to happen all around him.
In other international news this morning, Iran’s Oscar committee has placed A Separation on its short list of films to be considered for submission.