SYNOPSIS : Deep water freediving exposes its practitioners to a form of narcosis, which induces several symptoms, among which a feeling of euphoria and levity that earned this phenomenon its nickname of “raptures of the deep”.

NARCOSE relates the interior journey of Guillaume Néry, the apnea world champion, during one of his deep water dives. This short film draws its inspiration from his physical experience and the narrative of his hallucinations. Alternating between reality and imagination, the film shows how far human abilities can be stretched and it reveals the intimate and primal bond between the athlete’s inner world and his aquatic environment, bringing the understanding of the human relationship with the underwater world to new levels.

I have lived with Guillaume for the last 7 years and we have just had a baby girl together. I thought I knew everything about him and his views on apnoea and freediving, but a few years ago he started sharing with me his underwater bouts of hallucination, intimate confidences that he had never shared with anyone before: NARCOSE was born in my mind.

I have picked out his most striking visions and meshed them with our personal story.

« I’ve seen us getting married ». We are not and to be honest, it is not a commitment we are very keen on. So to enrich the scene and make it more coherent with us, I imagined an underwater wedding. This is how the script reads:

11. Outside/Day: underwater, white sand bottom and seaweed.

(FLASH 3)

Milky water. A path lined by four rows of benches leading to an arch decorated with white tulle. Underneath that canopy stand a priest (CYRIL) and the groom (GUILLAUME). Holding the groom’s hand, stands the bride, her face shrouded by a light veil floating in the current. We can’t see her face. Wide angle, from the back of the scene we can see the guests seated, all fully dressed in their best clothes. Their hair and clothes float. Small fish swim between the seaweed.

…(to be continued)

This scene has already been shot. It is extraordinarily satisfying to see a vision materialize, and even more so when the result exactly matches up with what I imagined. This feeling has given me wings and since then I have worked hard to improve the script and I have already made many underwater tests. I just cannot wait to film the rest this summer.

The film will last about 8 to 10 minutes and I can promise a festival of breath-taking (or should I say breath-holding?) images, with all the aestheticism and the originality I can bring to this project.