Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Neil Welch Newlyweds Robin and Diana Cavendish are entering a happy family life when Robin is suddenly struck by polio and left paralysed from the neck down, dependent on a ventilator to breathe. The medical profession regard their job as ending at preventing him from dying. Robin is not interested in existing on that basis, but Diana wants him to see their son grow up and so a plot is hatched to create a mobile ventilator and, against all medical advice, remove him from hospital and take him home. Robin not only enjoys a full life, but becomes a forceful and active advocate on behalf of emancipating the profoundly handicapped from imprisonment in hospital.This adaptation of Robin and Diana Cavendish's life story is (co-)produced by their son Andrew, and directed by Andy Serkis, better known for his motion-capture performances as Gollum, King Kong, and chimpanzee Caesar. On the basis of this film, he is an accomplished director.This is not a naturally happy subject - the central character is paralysed for life early on - but it is thoroughly engaging in the telling, profoundly uplifting and inspirational, and often surprisingly funny.It is helped enormously by Andrew Garfield as Robin (Claire Foy as Diana is also very good, although the role is pretty thankless). The depths of his despair are not shied away from, but the Robin portrayed in this film is a funny, happy man who almost glows with joy. Far from being simply not dead, and notwithstanding his total reliance on machinery and his support team of family and friends, the Robin Cavendish portrayed in this film truly Lives.This is that rarity, a worthy film which is also enormously entertaining and emotional.

V J An inspirational story about Robert Cavendish who became ill with polio in 1958 at the age of 28. His life could have been so very different without the support of his wife of 2 years, Diana, without the desire to live to see his son, Jonathan, grow up, and without the genius of Professor Teddy Hall of Oxford University who devised the contraptions which gave Robert, who was quadraplegic, some kind of life. Certainly, back in the 60s, those like Robert were spending what few years they had left flat on their backs in hospitals, on ventilators, no more than prisoners of institutions and their own bodies. Much is said about Cavendish's pioneering approach to survival, his fortitude and willingness to do and maybe die, but I would like to have seen a little more focus on Teddy Hall because without that man's ingenuity, Robert Cavendish and thousands of people in the same or similar situation back then might have led very different existences. This is directorial debut of Andy Serkis and he is to be congratulated for it. He has another in the pipeline, Mowgli, a version of Jungle Book following closely on the heels of Jungle Book (2016). The casting of Breathe was superb and I was seriously impressed by Andrew Garfield's performance. Loved Hugh Bonneville as Teddy Hall. The story is loaded with emotional scenes which range from highly hilarious to downright sad. It might be a bit of a tear-jerker at times but it is very much worth watching at least once, or twice. Interestingly, I read an article which said that Professor Christopher Cooper of the University of California believes Stephen Hawking had polio rather than motor neuron disease.

myopnionis Great acting and great story. It wasn't sappy at all. Kept my interest the whole time and didn't drag ever. Strong people who dont take no for an answer. Some humor as well!

ronfernandezsf A good movie based on a real life polio victim. Could have been called A REAL LOVE STORY. All the elements are there for a tear jerker and is well made and acted by the two leads. Seemed a bit rushed at the start as there was no real build up of the love between the two main characters. So much happens much too soon. Wondering why the writers didn't go into detail about how the couple survived financially or did Robin have any family. No mention is made of a mother or father. Surly they would have been at the house helping one way or the other unless he was an only child and the parents were deceased. Should have been more clear on his family. Diana's mother is only shown for a second or two. Did she help? Andrew Garfield did seem to age some, but Claire Foy looked about the same throughout the time element of 1958-1981. Minor quibbles, but more detail on how they survived and his family would have made the film a little more realistic.