A film that grabs you from the first tense breath of the main character is a surefire recipe to escape for at least 90 minutes from the increasingly vampiric apps on your phone.

Oxygen, a 2021 French survival thriller recently released on Netflix, stars Mélanie Laurent (Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds Shosanna). Her acting, a wonderful soundtrack and amazing changes in the setting of the script immediately captivate the viewer.

Laurent is a woman who wakes up in a claustrophobic cryogenic capsule with a lack of oxygen. He comes to, lying on his back and wrapped in a strange material. It’s dark, with only a flickering red light illuminating her efforts to breathe.

He realizes that he does not remember who he is and how he got into this situation. And he does not have oxygen for a long time.

The interlocutor in these dire circumstances is an artificial intelligence named MILO – Medical Interface Liaison Operator, as annoying as an answering machine. Stubborn, MILO keeps asking her to rephrase questions to suit her menu, but she also helps her out in places. With or without MILO’s help, the main character desperately searches for salvation.

“As the tension builds to unbearable levels, Oxygen has its viewers so engrossed that at times they have to check to make sure they’re still breathing,” wrote one critic.

Another was more exacting: “While moments of questionable authenticity are not lacking even for less discerning sci-fi fans, Oxygen captivates throughout.”

Sources: CNET, Rotten Tomatoes