Breathless, Wet and Wild
The Story of Black Swan, Underwater
What if Black Swan was set in the world of synchronized swimming? The result is Breathless, a short film written and directed by Oleksii Sobolev.
This provocative short is evocative of that seminal work from Darren Aronofsky, combining beautiful performers at the top of their game with a dark tale of love and jealousy. Synchronized swimming is a unique mix of sports and art, with the performers going to great lengths to create what can only be described as a painting on the surface of the water. However, it’s under the surface where all the hard work really takes place. Breathless is set almost entirely underwater, and it is here where the intensely competitive physicality of the swimmers is on full display.
In addition to an aquatic version of Black Swan, the beautiful underwater photography also calls to mind the timeless Universal monster classic, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. That film featured an incredible sequence where the lovely Julie Adams swims on the surface of the water while the creature, infatuated by her beauty, swims underneath her, stalking her from the depths of the river.
In Black Swan, Breathless, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon, there are two worlds: the one which onlookers can passively observe, and the unseen world behind the scenes, where anything can happen, and which the casual onlooker doesn’t even know exists.
