There’s a lot going on in Wim Wenders’s latest, and arguably most accessible, film, Submergence. It’s a love story, it’s a spy thriller, it’s an underwater adventure, it’s about terrorism, it’s about climate change, it’s about being ghosted by text (!). But ultimately – sadly, predictably – it’s also a bit of a mess.
Adapted from the novel by JM Ledgard, it focuses on two people brought together by a chance encounter. James (James McAvoy) is a Scottish spy about to embark on a dangerous mission in Somalia. Danny (Alicia Vikander) is a professor and a bio-mathematician about to head to the bottom of the ocean to explore what lifeforms might exist. They find each other at a plush hotel in France, both taking a chance to relax before embarking on their high-risk missions. There’s an instant frisson and in the space of a few days, they fall in love, eager to see more of each other once they return. But when James is kidnapped by jihadists, Danny is left waiting for a text message that might never come, unaware of his predicament as she prepares for her deep dive.
What’s most frustrating about Submergence is that the stage is so readily set for a sweeping, elevated and intelligent romance. There’s a handsome set of beautifully captured locations, an occasionally lush soundtrack, a source text filled with a rich tapestry of social issues and intrigue and a central pair brought together and torn apart by their high-risk professions. But in trying to do so much, Wenders’s film ends up doing so very little.
Right from the outset, it’s clear there’s a problem with Erin Dignam’s script, stilted and confusing dialogue sounding as if it’s been mistranslated. Dignam was also responsible for Sean Penn’s unholy flop The Last Face, a film that similarly squandered two talented actors on a misfiring romance. This isn’t quite so staggeringly awful but there’s a clear commonality: neither film seems to understand courtship. The scenes of the couple flirting and building a watertight bond need to be hugely impactful as we’re supposed to believe as an audience that within mere days, a relationship is forged. But it’s tough to invest in, despite the very best efforts of the actors involved.
There are interesting details along the way, especially with regards to the unusual gender dynamic between the two. In the scenes of affection between them, Vikander assumes the more traditionally masculine position and her character is the more sexually forward, brushing off the idea of a relationship initially as she is too busy with work. McAvoy, an ever-reliable presence, is more physically tentative yet emotionally open and there’s a frisson between them that works even when their dialogue lets them down (it might be related to her job but is “What ocean is your favorite?” ever an acceptable chat-up line?). When the two part, McAvoy’s character gets the far more interesting storyline as he falls deeper into a jihadist community, unsure of his fate.
Depressingly, Vikander’s character, who had spent so much time talking about the potentially world-shifting importance of what she might find in the ocean, spends the rest of the film checking her damn phone to see if he’s texted. The origins of life be damned! Where can she get some signal? It’s repetitive and regressive and she finds it an understandable struggle to maintain our investment in her fate. It’s also another curious misstep for the Oscar winner, after the much-delayed period turkey Tulip Fever, her brief period of picking roles in adaptations of unlikely and unfilmable literary love stories hopefully coming to an end.
There’s something to be admired about a film that can gracefully defy simple genre categorization but Submergence feels like a clumsy melange, a confused adaptation made by people who don’t seem quite sure what they have on their hands.
- Submergence is screening at the Toronto film festival and will be released at a later date
