No Limit review: A deep dive into toxic relationships

No Limit is a French sports drama film about a young woman, Roxana, who drops out of college and begins a career competitively freediving. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

No Limit is a film about a young woman, Roxana, as she decides to take freediving lessons, and ends up falling in love with her instructor, Pascal, in the process. She also ends up competing professionally, and breaks records on the way.

She pieces together a tight budget and joins the classes, where she ends up meeting Pascal, her freediving instructor and also a champion in the competing circuit for the same.

The two quickly and easily fall into a relationship together, and Pascal attempts to break a world depth record for freediving. They continue in this easy rhythm until their relationship becomes more overbearing than happy.

With several twists and turns in the narrative hereon, the film portrays the effects of toxic relationships and the need for individuality in every relationship.

The narrative highlights the power dynamics in such relationships, and acts as a cautionary tale filled with great intrigue and suspense for what’s to come.

It does fall a bit short at times, and the premise does get underwhelming, but it is still an interesting storyline.

Performances

The overall performances do feel a bit stilted and out of touch, however, the individual acting skills of the two leads and the chemistry they bring on screen are noteworthy.

Camille Rowe does a commendable job as Roxana, and makes one feel the desperation and feelings of suspense that she goes through. Her acting flows together seamlessly from scene to scene.

Sofiane Zermani plays Pascal and does a great job of making the viewer despise his character, yet still like his drive. He weaves the good and the bad of his character together pretty well, and provides a performance that shines through.

Positives

One of the most redeeming factors about the movie is the visually engaging cinematography that it has to offer. The entire movie is shot with a great amount of care to detail, and has a stunning balance of light and colour to show the depths of the sea.

The balance between fast scenes and the more slow, eerily calming ones is done well too. The narrative shifts between the plot and shots of the water to create a truly astounding yet chilling view of the deep unknown waters.

Negatives

The first half of the movie moves by too quickly, with too much information being dumped on the viewer at once, and the majority of the plotline gets a mention in this part itself. The second half forms the downward spiral, but is much slower and harder to watch. A balance in the pace would’ve made the film an easier watch.

The plotline is immersive, but feels too forced at times. It almost feels like certain plot points are added just to elicit a response out of the audience, not quite for any advancement of the story.

Verdict

No Limit is an interesting watch for anyone who is looking for a long, visually stunning but slow-paced movie. The suspense and eerily chilling shots underwater form the best part of the film.

No Limit
No Limit review: A deep dive into toxic relationships 1

Director: David M. Rosenthal

Date Created: 2022-09-09 13:17

Editor's Rating:
3

Also Read: No Limit ending explained: Do Pascal and Roxana break the world record?

More from The Envoy Web