Along with Claire Foy (Golden Globe winner for Netflix’s The Crown), Miranda Raison (My Week with Marilyn), Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Insurgent), Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), and Diana Rigg (Game of Thrones), Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) acts in the upcoming period piece, Breathe. It seems like the former Spider-man actor has found his niche in complex period pieces, having also garnered praise for his roles in Silence and Hacksaw Ridge, for which received an Oscar nomination for earlier this year.
Directed by Andy Serkis, the film follows the story of a real-life couple, Robin Cavendish (Garfield) and his wife Diana (Foy). After Robin’s polio leaves him paralyzed from the neck down, he and his wife ultimately choose for him to go home with her, where she takes care of him. Furthermore, professionals explain that Robin’s illness has given him less than a year to live, and perhaps even less so if he leaves the hospital. The film follows his adjustment, as well as how he interacts with his newborn son, who he may never see grow up, and his advocacy for others with polio who are in positions similar to his.
Notably it would be unfair to write this article without mentioning the importance of the people who it represents, as well as the necessity to ensure that the movie treats its characters and the real life people who have similar disabilities. Most notably, the recent film Me before You, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin was under fire for its representation of a man who is paralyzed. Time has yet to tell if the film is fully progressive and accountable to those who it represents, but we’re hopeful that the film successfully performs its job in an empathetic and balanced manner.
The film will open in the 2017 London Film Festival. For those who have an interest in watching the film in the UK, the film will be simulcast to certain movie theaters on the night that it opens. Bleeker Street and Participant Media will release the film in select theaters on October 13.
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