Breath (2001) User Reviews

More Ego Than Art

[matthewjbond · 5/10 · 9 February 2007]

Damien Hirst's film adaptation of Beckett's short play, "Breath," says more about Hirst than it does about Beckett's work.

Beckett wanted a curtain to open on random trash, as if we'd found a neglected gutter in an alley. Hirst covers the floor with shiny plastic trash, trash with a decidedly medical bent, old hospital supplies, &c. Further, the floor floats into the screen and then floats away, giving the piece much more magic & f/x nonsense than Beckett's simple, dirty, scene.

It's a shame that this piece wasn't given to a stage & film director who wanted to show it in the text's spirit.

Longer than the film itself...

[dbborroughs · 9/10 · 6 March 2004]

The play and movie run only 45 seconds, so odds are your reading this will have taken more time than it does to watch the film itself. More a curiosity piece than anything else I would think that the film makers probably could have not included this in the retrospective of Beckett's works, but then again they were trying to film everything.

I'm sorry for not being more specific as to the film itself, but since its only 45 seconds long its rather pointless to comment on something that would be so easy for you to see and experience for yourself. Its an interesting attempt to capture the meaning of the play on film. As to whether it succeeds is up to you.

I remember reading when the series of filmed Beckett's plays was released that the members of Beckett's estate were not happy with several of the films, and this one in particular, since while it follow the strict guidelines they set down for being able to film to the letter the director did manage to bend the spirit in some rather odd ways. If you'd like to know how one very clever film maker followed the rules and still managed to p*** some one off see this film. Hell, by the time you've read this you could have watched it twice already.