Breaking Surface

Norway, shortly before Christmas, provides a stark, wintry backdrop as Ida travels from Sweden to visit her sister Tuva and their mother Anne. The three generations plan to keep their long-standing December diving ritual, a ritual that feels both comforting and fraught with unspoken tension. Ida lives in Sweden with a husband and two children, but her marriage is in crisis, a crisis that is deeply tied to the lingering ache of her parents’ divorce years ago. She remains estranged from her mother, while Tuva shares a very close bond with Anne, living in the same house and diving with her mother even beyond the pre-Christmas tradition. Because Anne is fighting a bad cold, she stays at home, and only their dog Knut accompanies the sisters into the Norwegian fjord landscape, lending a quiet, loyal presence to the unfolding day.

The next morning, the trio heads to a spot they have chosen for their dive, driving through the cold, pale light of the fjord. On the way they encounter a woman with a broken-down car; Tuva wants to lend a hand and places the jack under the car, but a breakdown service arrives at that moment and the sisters move on, leaving the jack behind in the trunk. They proceed, determined to keep to their plan, but the small disruption foreshadows the larger, unseen danger beneath the water’s surface. The car—and the symbols of ordinary life—will soon become a silent obstacle in the lives of these divers.

When the dive begins, Tuva, a professional diver who cleans ship propellers, guides Ida through narrow passages and claustrophobic caves with the calm efficiency of someone who knows how to read the underwater world. The water feels intimate and timeless, and even beluga whales briefly appear in front of them, only to turn away and vanish into the depths, as if signaling that something important is about to happen. The ocean is beautiful and merciless at once, a setting where training and trust meet nature’s sudden, unpredictable force. Then, seconds later, an underwater rock slide sends a heavy boulder crashing down, trapping Tuva beneath it. She pleads for Ida to retrieve the jack from the trunk to lift the obstruction, a desperate request that shifts the sisters’ relationship to life-or-death stakes.

Ida surfaces with the urgent news that the rock slide above water has also caused dangerous rockfalls, leaving their equipment buried under rubble, including the car keys. Knut the dog sits unharmed beside the locked car, a stark contrast to the danger unfolding below. Ida manages to open the car, but the jack is missing, leaving no easy way to free Tuva. The situation becomes a dramatic race against time: Tuva is 33 meters beneath the surface, and her oxygen is running out. The quiet fjord, which earlier felt like a sanctuary, now becomes a pressure chamber that will test Ida’s resolve, skill, and her deepest connections to family. As the minutes stretch, the story centers on the resilience of two sisters—and the family history that has shaped them—while the Norwegian winter outside continues its patient, unyielding watch.

Last Updated: December 13, 2025 at 08:21