Lifebreath

An interesting little movie that comes partly undone by the ending. Luke Perry does a fine job as a husband who is willing to do anything to help keep his ailing wife alive. She suffers from cystic fibrosis and needs a lung transplant. He devises a plan that might get her one but she's not sure she approves. An ending that seems to come from nowhere undermines a lot of what the movie was striving for.

Doesn't really contain any spoliers, but read at your own risk:

This movie is an exercise in futility. It had a wonderful premise: Wife needs transplant, Husband will do anything to make sure she gets it.

However, the execution of the script was poor. There are numerous unneeded scenes of sex with A LOT of flesh (but no nudity -- go figure). The dialog was trite and not believable. There are characters that appear briefly to move the story along with no explanation of who they are.

And the ending. No spoiler, but you could see it coming RIGHT at you -- and unfortunately it couldn't be dodged. The last 2 minutes of the film are painfully inane and hard to watch.

When I watched this movie long time ago, it deeply impressed me, mostly because of the ending. As other people have noted, it's very shocking, but to me, it totally made sense. Later, a relative of mine developed CF, I developed another lung disease and suddenly, the movie became very very realistic. I know people won't like to believe it, but even now, 2020, patients with lung diseases have very problematic existence. And yes, it is disgusting, it is sad, it is sometimes sexless, it's very hard for the relatives and most of all, the fight is for every breath. So that part of the movie is very realistic. Now, the transplant part is not realistic - double lungs transplants are hard, rare, and as a whole, it's complicated. But it's very unlikely what happened in the movie. What happened at the end, however, is very likely. I'll explain it like this - not being able to breath makes you a different person. You have to measure every movement, every desire, every thought. And if you suddenly become normal again - you become a new person. In her case, she was angry, but she didn't have a way to express it. So when she finally could express it, this was her revenge for the whole situation. A lot of people will see what he did as an act of love, but very little people would accept that kind of act of "love". So yeah, I've seen this movie long long ago, but I still have the final scence in front of my eyes. It's a hard movie to watch, but it has its value, if you want to glimpse into the life of people with lung diseases.

Very few movies address cystic fibrosis at all. This is one of the few that does, and does so in an effective fashion. You may think mucus is really "icky" and "gross" but it's a very real part of CF. People show cancer patients vomiting in movies all the time. This is NO different.

As for the sex, it's to illustrate another very real part of CF. Breathing gets in the way of *everything*. Sex goes from being a joy, to being difficult, to being a chore, to being impossible. Being that sex is such a big part of most married couples' lives, it makes sense that it was addressed. I wonder if the director knew someone with CF, because of how well it was handled. The CFer's spouse was constantly worried, and freaked out if his wife was so much as 15 minutes late. Their sex was difficult. Many things in this movie were done well, in regards to the CF.

Not my favorite movie, as I don't much like the way it ended, among other things. But I had to comment about people who complained about the really "icky" mucus. It's real. You don't even have to deal with it. Until your spouse is the one choking on that much mucus, you have no place to call it gross.

Manhattan psychics teacher Luke Perry (as Martin "Marty" Devoe) becomes increasing frustrated with efforts to find an organ donor for pretty full-lipped Francie Swift (as Chrystie). His wife is dying from Cystic Fibrosis and needs a lung transplant desperately. Donors are rare in her AB blood type, so Mr. Perry decides to take matters into his own hands. He considers "buying" an organ on the black market, but the Chinese aren't offering lungs to Americans. Volunteering to solicit blood donations leads Perry to sexy AB type Gia Carides (as Gale Pullman); but, how far will they go to secure "Lifebreath" for Ms. Swift?

This is an unexpectedly taut thriller from new director P.J. Posner, who keeps it intriguing throughout. The cast is excellent, with Perry particularly impressive in the lead. His loving, conflicted husband is able to carry the film, grabbing your interest while walking a moral tightrope. Around this time, Perry temporarily left his "90210" TV address to try big screen movie stardom; it didn't happen, but "Lifebreath" showed his potential. Swift's sickly wife is more subtly impressive, as you'll discern by watching expressions and considering her motives carefully. The ending disappoints, but Jeremy Davenport's jazzy tune helps.

******* Lifebreath (11/7/97) P.J. Posner ~ Luke Perry, Francie Swift, Gia Carides, Gary Basaraba