Just a Breath Away

This is one of those apocalyptic movies that makes you think that if this planet ever did have enough of humanity and it’s toxic ways, it could quite possibly eradicate us all without too much trouble. This time, it’s Paris that gets the end of the world treatment as a deadly mist emanates from the ground and permeates all the houses killing all it meets. Luckily, “Mathieu” (Romain Duris) and his family live in a higher-rise and so can live above the fog that has consumed all below them, but for how long? He hasn’t just himself to worry about, either, as his wife “Anna” (the very sparingly seen Olga Kurylenko) and their bubble-wrapped daughter “Sarah” (Fantine Harduin) are also there as are his parents. Gradually, the water and the power stop working and they both have to get to street level and forage for food - amidst an increasingly dog-eat-dog (or whatever they can find) environment. What chance survival when the gas starts to rise? I like Duris, I think he’s an engaging actor who usually delivers and here he takes an admittedly not very remarkable script and turns out a character that we can empathise a little with. Initially I did wonder if it wasn’t a little unfair that the posh folks in the penthouses would all be spared, then I twigged that it was their role to die slowly of starvation and/or thirst - so that was ok. It can’t have had much budget and so nobody is going mad with visual effects which I thought gave it a slightly more menacingly authentic look to it, and the scenes at the end reminded me a bit of “Titanic”. It just goes to show that Hollywood needn’t have a monopoly of existential drama, and this one is better than most, I’d say.