This is a review of the comedy-drama "Learning to Breathe Under Water," which premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and also screened at the Galway Film Fleadh. Directed by Rebekah Fortune from a script by Richard Brabin, the film follows a bereaved artist, played by Rory Kinnear, who erects a large metal shark on his roof after his wife's death, echoing the real-life Headington Shark sculpture in England. Critic Leslie Felperin finds the film uneven, praising its performances but faulting an inconsistent tone that seems torn between script and direction.

The story centres on Kinnear's character and his young, possibly neurodivergent son Leo, played by Ezra Carlisle, whose deadpan literalism provides some of the film's sharpest comic moments. Maria Bakalova plays a Bulgarian au pair who joins the household and drives the plot towards eventual closure, while touches of stop-motion animation add whimsy reminiscent of director Paul King's early work. However, the review notes the film loses momentum in its second half, descending into sentimentality with a "manufactured conflict" between the au pair and father that undercuts its earlier promise.