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Parents' Guide to

Breathe

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Subtitled teen drama with bullying, alcohol, and sex.

Movie NR 2014 91 minutes
Breathe Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 15+

Based on 1 parent review

Mergaret L.
Mergaret L. Adult
March 31, 2019
age 15+

Must watch for high school age kids

This movie is absolutely incredible. I was at first a little turned off by the amount of drinking/smoking of the film but it honestly has such a good message about the impact of toxic relationships on a teenager’s life. The movie does contain a LOT of language but not very much sexual content at all and that isn’t the focus of the movie by any means. I think that high schoolers should in health/psychology class because it shows just how harmful some relationships can be and also the impact we have on other people’s lives.
See all 1 parent review

What's the Story?

In Breathe, a 17-year-old French high schooler named Charlie (Josephine Japy) is a good student and a virgin when she befriends Sarah (Lou de Laage), a self-confident new girl at school whose mother is doing good works in Africa while Sarah lives with an aunt. That is the story Sarah tells, but as her behavior becomes meaner and more erratic, Charlie discovers a sadder truth. The girls become close, and soon the sexually precocious, drinking, smoking Sarah turns against Charlie. She bullies and humiliates the devastated Charlie, who is too hurt to confide in her mother, her friends, the school, or anyone about the cruelty and lies coming from the duplicitous Sarah. When Charlie learns that Sarah, in fact, lives with her mother, an impoverished and violent alcoholic, Charlie forgives Sarah and swears to keep the secret. Sarah, proving herself a sociopath, doesn't accept the forgiveness and mercy but instead attacks again, turning it all around on poor, naïve Charlie. The result is (spoiler alert) a fatal disaster.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

Performances in this well-made film are true and persuasive, and so is the incisive dialogue designed to show how an innocent can be led by her inexperience with evil to stoop to evil herself. A sense of impending doom threads throughout the action. The film seems overlong at times, but perhaps the lyrical pulse is designed to help set up the surprise of the disturbing ending. With lots of mature content, including bullying, sex, and drinking, this subtitled French drama is best for older teens and adults.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what a teenager can do when she is struggling with problematic friends. Might she tell her parents, her friends, her teachers? Why might someone in trouble decide not to seek help?

  • Do you think drinking might make difficult emotional situations worse and more difficult to handle? Why might that be? What are the consequences of drinking?

  • If parents are having trouble themselves, do you think their teenage children would be more or less likely to have problems? Why?

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