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Movies & TV

ONE BREATH

ONE BREATH (EIN ATEM)

Contemporary World Cinema D: Christian Zübert. Germany. 110 min. Sep 12, 7 pm Scotiabank 2 Sep 14, 3:30 pm TIFF Bell Lightbox 3 Sep 19, 9 am Scotiabank 2. See listing. Rating: NNN


This starkly directed diptych drama initially follows Elena (Chara Mata Giannatou), who travels from her native Athens to Frankfurt in search of opportunities. Upon learning that she’s pregnant, Elena ditches a gig in a nightclub in exchange for work as a nanny. When disaster strikes under her watch, Elena disappears, and writer-director Zübert shifts perspectives to that of Tessa (Jördis Triebel), Elena’s bossy, shrewish employer, who is suddenly plunged into panic and sets out on a desperate search for her child.

Zübert’s bifurcated narrative is designed to force us to question our sympathies, though so much of One Breath is played at such a fever pitch that we connect less with individual characters than with the high-tension scenario. It’s effective as far as it goes, though the resolution feels too pat.

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