Otherwise known as A Breath Away, or Just A Breath Away - might be simplest to call it by its original French title, Dans la brume! I reported on my viewing of The Night Eats the World (2018) the other day and Dominique Rocher, who directed that, is credited with being a writer for this one. Confused already? Thankfully the film and story here is a tad simpler.
Whilst the former was a French Zombie film, Hold Your Breath shares some of its themes around the topic and tone of isolation. So another disaster movie set in Paris, but this time it's about a fog/mist/cloud which seeps up from under the ground following an earthquake. The mist rises towards near-rooftop level, so the trick is to get above it. If you don't, and you breath it in, you die. Unless you're a dog. Well, some breeds of dog. Apparently. Yes, there are some plot inconsistencies servicing some thrills later!
The family that the film focuses on comprises mum, dad and daughter who has an incurable disease (Stimberger Syndrome) and has to live in a techy-bubble to stay alive - which needs to be powered at all times. It feels as though the story is set a little in the future, but not a long way. Mum and dad are scientists, though it's never revealed in what field or capacity - for the purposes of the story, they're just brain-boxes!
Daughter Sarah's 'bubble' is located on the second floor where she lives with mum (dad seems to live across the way - we're not ever given any backstory on that either - whether they are separated or just choosing to live separately) but unfortunately, this is under the level of the mist. Fortunately, it doesn't matter as her bubble keeps the mist away from her. As long as she has power to keep it going. And therein lies the focus of the story, as the power goes out! There are batteries for backup, but not indefinitely - and they have to be regularly changed.
Mum and dad get together amidst the crisis and, as they can't stay on the second floor, head up to the top floor where a kindly old couple take them in and try to help them keep Sarah's bubble powered. They have a walkie-talkie link to Sarah from within a reasonable distance, so upstairs is fine. The characters don't know what's going on any more than the audience do - we're all kept in a similar bubble to Sarah's, in fact!
The thriller bit of the story unfolds as the parents have to dart across the city to get an air-tight suit for Sarah, in order to get her out of the bubble, building and city heading off to some relative's place on higher ground. Where, presumably, there's also another high-tech bubble for her to survive in once they get there! So mum and dad have to find oxygen, climb buildings, survive explosions, fall into the Seine, hold their breath when dashing between places when they have no oxygen, clamber over rooftops, deal with corrupt cops taking the law into their own hands, track down a lab where said suit is located - you get the idea. Most of it is a race against time and not getting trapped in the mist, so as to snuff it.
Having said all that, the film portrays the story at a fairly leisurely pace. There's no zombies lurking around as you might expect in this kind of film - just mostly dead bodies (staying dead!) and eerie, quiet, mist-filled streets full of wrecked cars and abandoned belongings. The eerie bit is done quite well, plenty of atmosphere, a bit of tension here and there in a nicely produced and presented story that almost ends up being a short 90-minute family drama rather than disaster flick.
I don't know any of the cast or crew, though I get the feeling I should know mum, played by Olga Kurylenko at least, as she was in a Bond film - Quantum of Solace. Romain Duris plays dad and Fantine Harduin, Sarah - who, surprisingly given the focus of the story, has the least screen-time and acting to do! In actual fact, the old couple upstairs are the most interesting characters played by Michel Robin (Amélie, A Very Long Engagement) and the late Anna Gaylor. They all do very well though and remain fairly convincing throughout.
It's a nice little film, short and sweet, which you can get engaged with as long as you're not looking too closely for the plot holes! A nice idea, fairly well done, which you can get on most streaming services now, including Roku and Tubi.
