'The Deepest Breath' delves into freediving, and comes up with a love story

Alessia Zecchini and Stephen Keenan are from two different worlds. Zecchini, from a young age, is determined to become the world's greatest freediver and goes to incredible lengths to achieve her goal. Keenan, meanwhile, wanders the earth in search of himself and arrives at the sport almost by happenstance. In time, Zecchini becomes world-famous and Keenan becomes a hero in the community. Their lives are forever changed when they meet, but with a sport as dangerous and frightening as freediving, tragedy lurks in the darkness...

Although freediving may not seem like a particularly visually appealing sport, or one that would lend itself to such deep psychological examinations and truths, 'The Deepest Breath' showcases both the beauty and the elegance of the extreme sport, and the intensity and mental strength it requires to be able to compete in it at a serious level. More than that, however, 'The Deepest Breath' and its series of interviews and reconstructions grapple with what it is that drives people to the sport and what it is to do it. So often in sports documentaries, the drama feels woven in the fabric from the get-go.

Yet, in 'The Deepest Breath', there's a fragility to it that requires a gentle hand in guiding it to the surface. The documentary follows two distinct people and characters - one is the hard-charging, utterly determined Alessia Zechinni. Through archival footage and a focused interview with her father among others, we see that Zecchini is someone who was undaunted in the face of the real dangers of the sport. That's one thing that the documentary never lets us forget. Although freediving has an almost monastic feel to it, the truth is that the body is literally squeezed to within an inch of its life and very often there are long-term impacts if it goes wrong. Death has a presence at every event.

When the documentary pivots to Stephen Keenan, there's a completely different person. His father, Peter, describes their fractured family life and the personal circumstances which then sent Stephen on a journey across the globe in search of himself and his place in it. As shown in the documentary, he ends up in Egypt where he decides to develop a centre for freediving and becomes one of the most celebrated safety divers in the sport. Again, the documentary offers no illusions about freediving and indeed, both Alessia and Stephen seem to understand the dangers. There are repeated moments when we see frightening images of people blacked out underwater, then coming up for air, faces contorted in frightening shapes from the impact of air loss.

The third act, such as it is, sees the relationship between Alessia and Stephen form into shape as both of them settle into their respective paths - Alessia on her way to becoming a world champion, Stephen as her safety diver and coach. It's when success seems so assured, and their lives together feel at their most complete, that we just know something awful is looming. It's here where 'The Deepest Breath' leaves the tender, gentler part of the story behind and turns into a forensic thriller, recounting the story with an exactitude that's so far been devoted to the emotional and psychological elements thus far. Even though we know something is going to happen, we're not sure what it is and we're not even sure who is going to be impacted in the final moments if we're unfamiliar with the story.

'The Deepest Breath' makes use of both the ethereal, otherworldly setting and the past-tense nature of interviews to give us the feeling of watching a kind of ghost story. Their lives are vibrant and full of wonder and passion, but it's all beneath a surface that they can't seem to come up from. Even though we can see them all in sharp relief, you get the sense that the damage and the tragedy of it all is still completely present in everyone's lives, and is most likely being processed on camera with this documentary. It's heavy stuff, yet director Laura McGann never once shies away from any of it.

Deeply evocative and emotionally insightful, 'The Deepest Breath' weaves together intense and often terrifying thrills with a poetic consideration of two lives, lived daringly, and a bright love that formed in darkness.