The Deepest Breath

The Deepest Breath is a documentary about freediving, the sport of descending underwater on a single breath. It follows Alessia Zecchini, a competitive diver chasing records, and Stephen Keenan, a safety diver responsible for watching over divers as they attempt dangerous depths. Bound by their shared commitment to the sport, the two pursue an ambitious feat that requires them to accept considerable risk.

Laura McGann directed and wrote the film, which was produced by John Battsek, Jamie D'Alton and Anne McLoughlin for A24, Motive Films, Ventureland and RAW, with the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States among the producing countries. Alongside Zecchini and Keenan, the film features Leigh Baker, Mahmoud Barracuda, and archival appearances by David Attenborough and Natalya Molchanova. Running 108 minutes, it was released in January 2023.

Audience response has been strongly positive. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.7 from roughly 17,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 7.6 from a much smaller pool of 189 votes, indicating broad approval among the many viewers who have seen it alongside a similar verdict from a limited sample. The documentary presents freediving as a pursuit in which preparation, trust between divers, and the physical limits of the human body all intersect.