Au plus profond

This emotional documentary film dives deep, not only into the ocean, but also deep into our souls.

What does it mean to have the deepest kind of love? This film covers it in many ways, through real characters.

For a parent who deeply loves a child, it may be to set a child free to discover his/her true passions in life.

For any person who tries to find deep meaning in life, you may feel lost many times before you find your true calling.

For those of us who have experienced deep love, we are moved by the sacrifice and selflessness that has been given to us.

Searching for our deepest love, finding it, enjoying it, losing it...this film helps us understand the triumphs and tragedies of life, and in the end, hope. Because when you see the deepest kind of love, it's a celebration of the best aspects of humanity.

Another documentary, The Rescue (2021, National Geographic), evokes similar feelings and emotions.

The whole team that participated in this documentary, including the director, editor, music as well as all the real people...thank you for making this.

Just watched this.

I'm not a freediver, but as a rescue diver, I found this beautiful and intense, and I understand the feelings that moved Alessia and Stephen and many of the comments they made.

Also having been to Dahab, I know how beautiful, but also how dangerous it can be.

But I don't think you need to do any diving or love the sea at all to enjoy this story of living the moment and pushing your limits. At times stunning, at times anxiety-inducing, it's beautifully edited and it's a great story of two people finding their calling AND finding each other.

I ended the movie with a few tears and an even deeper appreciation for "carpe diem" and for the beauty of (and respect for) the ocean.

I strongly recommend it.

Wow this movie has to be the most heart touching, movies I have encountered in such a long time! Oh my goodness this documentary was just beautiful! I know im not the only who cried. I do not think I have ever cried to a documentary before, but i can down right tell you, this one is the first. Down to the pictures, the recorded footage, the recorded audio, actal people who were really there to experience every minute of the journey that took place, was just astonishing. I love how the timeline of the story was at a steady pace. It wasnt a drag nor did not seemed to leave any important parts out. It told a beautiful story. Just AMAZING!

There's much to love about free diving, but you won't find it in this film. The subjects have so much ego, are so competitive and goal-oriented that they degrade what coule be an art, or even a spiritual practice, into just another dumb extreme sport.

The only people with an iota of self-reflection or wisdom are the characters fathers, which is kind of suprising considering how free diving can be a transcendental experience.

The sea is just a backdrop for their ambitions and awards. No mention of the physiology of freediving, the the cultures in which it is tradtionally practiced, the stunning (and threatened) marine environments where they dive. It might as well be a documentary about tennis or golf.

Where to begin. First, the biggest structural mistake in a documentary is to treat the audience as stupid. This documentary does that tremendously well. 10/10 for that.

It frames everything with a build up to a climax, only to bait and switch the climax on the assumption you dont know the story or you wouldnt look it up prior to watching. In this day and age its a cardinal sin to assume this. Its also why a documentary like Senna is one of the greats. Kapadia doesnt assume the audience is stupid and everyone knows the end, so its more about the journey. Here, its as though youre taken on one journey only to fall down a "lets pretend secret" trapdoor. 0/10.

Second main flaw is the main character isnt very likeable and that seems to be the case from start to finish. 0/10.

Otherwise it was well made. This is where the 5 marks came from.

Ps. What an utterly stupid activity.