Submergence

James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander star in Wim Wenders' beautiful but shallow adaptation of JM Ledgard's novel

Film Review by Gianni Marini | 28 Feb 2018
Film title: Submergance
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Alicia Vikander, James McAvoy
Release date: 18 May
Certificate: 15

Wim Wenders’ adaptation of war journalist JM Ledgard's novel is a beautiful, romantic and flawed tale about the space between people and the enduring power of memories to close that space. Alicia Vikander is bio-mathematician Dani, who is tortured by loneliness on a ship in the Greenland Sea awaiting her first deep-sea submersible dive. James McAvoy is spy/water-engineer James, imprisoned by Jihadist fighters on the Eastern coast of Africa. Both offer captivating performances despite a lacklustre script.

Dani, unaware of James’ situation and unable to contact him, is enraged by memories of their brief but intense romance just months previous. For James, these memories comfort him as he repeats Dani’s name in the hope that he can bridge the space between them across the world. As one scene dissolves into the next, the narrative mirrors the flow of the sea and the various symbolic significances humans assign to water.

It is the inviolable conduit of religious cleansing and the impenetrable darkness that envelopes those that drown at sea. Wenders reminds us that water is both the beginning of life and the end with cinematography and sound that makes use of the sea’s powerful visual and aural nature. Unfortunately, poor development of the two leads, and a sorrowfully stereotyped supporting cast, prevent the film from being convincing. It comes across simplistic, albeit earnest.

Dani has a theory that there are micro-organisms on the deepest ocean floor that hold the key to all life on earth and potentially elsewhere. The science is interesting; if only there was more of it and less of the two-dimensional jihadists torturing James and trying to convert him to Islam with the barest of religious exposition. You might expect a thoughtful exploration of love, life and religion, but Submergence comes up for air before it gets that deep.


Submergence screened at Glasgow Film Festival 2018
Released 18 May by Lionsgate

Read more about Glasgow Film Festival in The CineSkinny – in print at Glasgow Film Theatre and the CCA, and online at theskinny.co.uk/film/cineskinny