If the saying goes that love conquers all, then Wim Wenders follows that adage to the very depths of the ocean in “Submergence.” The sadly soggy drama will perhaps interest fans of Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy, but unfortunately, there’s not much else to recommend outside of that.
Based on the book by J.M. Ledgard, with a script by Erin Dignam (Sean Penn’s widely panned “The Last Face,” so, you know, temper expectations) the story follows a British secret agent and a bio-mathematician who fall in love, and yes, the movie is as preposterous as that sounds. Here’s the official synopsis:
Submergence is a love story that takes us into the extremely different worlds of our two protagonists, Danielle Flinders (Alicia Vikander) and James More (James McAvoy). They meet by chance in a remote hotel in Normandy where they both prepare for a dangerous mission. They fall in love almost against their will, but soon recognize in each other the love of their lives. When they have to separate, we find out that James works for the British Secret Service. He’s involved in a mission in Somalia to track down a source for suicide bombers infiltrating Europe. Danielle ‘Danny’ Flinders is a bio-mathematician working on a deep sea diving project to support her theory about the origin of life on our planet. Soon, they are worlds apart. James is taken hostage by Jihadist fighters and has no way of contacting Danny, and she has to go down to the bottom of the ocean in her submersible, not even knowing if James is still alive…
“Submergence” opens in cinemas and hits VOD on April 13th.