Oxygen

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alexandre Aja directs. Maxime Alexandre behind the camera. Robin Coudert scores. Stéphane Roche cuts. Produced in France, United States of America. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 5 years ago.
• 2International production across 2 countries: France, United States of America.
• 3Directed by Alexandre Aja, shot by Maxime Alexandre. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Robin Coudert. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Stéphane Roche shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Mélanie Laurent and Mathieu Amalric and Malik Zidi carry the top of the cast.
• 7Marketing tagline: "No escape. No memory. 90 min to live.".
• 8IMDB entry: tt6341832 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

Maxime Alexandre

Original score

Robin Coudert

Editing

Stéphane Roche

Production design

Jean Rabasse

Costume design

Agnès Beziers

Makeup / hair

Olivier Afonso

VFX supervisor

Laurens Ehrmann

Sound

Ken Yasumoto

Runtime

100 min · 1h 40m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

FR

IMDB

Oxygen (2021) ↗

Also by

Alexandre Aja

• 
  Campfire Creepers: The Skull of Sam

  2017 · ★ 7.0
• 
  High Tension

  2003 · ★ 6.8
• 
  The Hills Have Eyes

  2006 · ★ 6.5
• 
  The 9th Life of Louis Drax

  2016 · ★ 6.4
• 
  Mirrors

  2008 · ★ 6.3
• 
  Crawl

  2019 · ★ 6.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Oxygen | Official Trailer | Netflix

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Oxygen | Official Teaser | Netflix

  Teaser · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Manuel São Bento2021-05-15
  ★ 8/10

  If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Alexandre Aja caught my attention when he delivered one of the biggest surprises of 2010, Piranha 3D. A vast majority of viewers expected that film to be absolutely awful, and while I don't exactly love it, I added the director to my list of filmmakers to follow closely. After years of trials and errors, Aja apparently found his great breakthrough with 2019's Crawl. A disaster flick that, once again, people anticipated to be one of the worst movies of the year, and it ended up as one of the very best in the genre, at least in recent memory. Therefore, I was obviously not going to miss Oxygen, a French-speaking film that boasts a highly mysterious premise. Movies like this make spoiler-free reviews really challenging to put together. This Netflix film possesses dozens of plot twists and impactful revelations that I just can't delve into, so it's tough to share my complete thoughts on the most significant moments of the movie. So, I'll work around the explicit answers to the intriguing questions that ultimately make this film incredibly captivating. Christie LeBlanc offers a fascinating screenplay packed with everything a one-location, claustrophobic, enigmatic thriller should have to be successful. Honestly, it's one of the most well-written scripts I've seen in quite a while within the genre. For those viewers who hate ambiguous movies, Oxygen is far from it. Every single question raised by the narrative is clearly answered. No viewer will leave disappointed for not understanding hidden meanings or vague themes. However, I can't state this enough: LeBlanc's screenplay holds dozens of questions and the same amount of answers. It's impossible to convince everyone in the audience to accept every twist, especially during the revelation-heavy third act. From a specific moment onwards, it's an overwhelming flow of shocking information that might prove too much for some spectators. Nevertheless, most viewers enjoy nitpicking something that isn't present in this film: "movie logic" issues. If you've seen the film already, you're either going to wholly agree with my latest statement, or you probably think we watched different movies. As usual with this type of problem, it all depends on people's perspective and mentality regarding heavy sci-fi elements or truly advanced technology. In fact, for many audiences all around the world, just the fact that Mélanie Laurent's character is stuck in a futuristic-looking cryogenic pod with a Siri-like AI helping her understand what's happening is already stretching their believability limits. Not everyone can suspend disbelief in the same way, so I won't be surprised if Oxygen receives a more divisive public response. Nevertheless, I firmly believe this will end up as one of the most overlooked/underrated films of 2021. Aja proves his tremendous talent behind the camera by making an average-length movie inside one of the tiniest places a protagonist was ever stuck in for most of the runtime. Each new block of information about the where, how, why, and when concerning the main narrative is carefully handed to the viewers with just the right hints to what's truly going on. Even though the audience is also imprisoned in the same place for almost two hours, Aja and Maxime Alexandre (DP) create innovative, suspenseful manners of keeping the momentum going, never letting the film feel too monotonous or tiresome. Mélanie Laurent's exceptional performance is one of the most vital elements of the movie. Without her terrific display, it would be extremely challenging to continue to feel invested in the character's mission of finding out everything that's happening to her, including who she is. Her role requires ridiculous emotional range, and Laurent demonstrates all of her immense talent. Technically, the cryogenic pod features impressive technology, some of it created by remarkable VFX. The ominous score by Robin Coudert also brings another layer of mystery and suspense to the already obscure film. Overall, it's a perfect example of how low-budget movies can still be astonishingly well-made. Finally, Aja and LeBlanc bring several themes to the table, identity maybe being the biggest one. What truly makes us human? Feelings and memories? Physical suffering? It's impossible to dive into this subject without spoiling some of the most shocking moments of the story, but it's only one of many underlying storylines that ultimately make Oxygen a beautiful example of profound storytelling. General topics such as health and politics are also approached, as well as moral dilemmas regarding extremely advanced technology and what humans should do with it. Honestly, it's been three days, I watched two other films meanwhile, and I'm still thinking about this one… Oxygen is a phenomenal example of one-location filmmaking done right, which will, unfortunately, escape most viewers' radar. Christie LeBlanc's extremely detailed screenplay packs shocking, impactful revelations and plot twists that will leave no one indifferent. Brutal moral dilemmas, surprising discoveries about the mysterious protagonist, and a fantastic one-woman show from Mélanie Laurent keep the slow, flashback-heavy narrative engrossing. Boasting many underlying themes, Alexandre Aja maintains a suspenseful, tense atmosphere with a sense of urgency that never quite leaves the screen. Maxime Alexandre's creative camera work and Robin Coudert's mood-setting score elevate this deep study about human identity without ever feeling too ambiguous. For fans of claustrophobic thrillers with sci-fi elements, Netflix currently holds one of my favorite movies of the year. Highly recommend it. Rating: A-

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Getaway Films

  FR

• 

  Echo Lake Entertainment

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerLaurence Clerc
• Executive ProducerFranck Khalfoun
• Executive ProducerAdam Riback
• Production DesignJean Rabasse
• Executive ProducerSerge Catoire
• Art DirectionDominique Moisan
• EditorStéphane Roche
• Executive ProducerJames Engle
• Executive ProducerChristie LeBlanc
• Costume DesignAgnès Beziers
• Foley ArtistNicolas Becker
• Sound Re-Recording MixerKen Yasumoto
• Sound MixerKen Yasumoto
• Foley MixerKen Yasumoto
• Supervising Sound EditorKen Yasumoto
• Sound EditorJon Goc
• Dialogue EditorMatthieu Autin
• Visual Effects SupervisorLaurens Ehrmann
• Dialogue EditorAiri Mori
• Sound Re-Recording MixerFrançois-Joseph Hors
• Second Unit DirectorGrégory Levasseur
• Second Assistant DirectorAurélien Chevalarias
• Executive ProducerNoomi Rapace
• Assistant Art DirectorAnne-Sophie Delaunay

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• computer
• isolation
• attempt to escape
• memory loss
• doctor
• oxygen depletion

Release history · US

When it landed

• Digital2021-05-12· Netflix

Also known as

International titles

• O2FR
• OxygeneFR
• 氧气CN
• ออกซิเจนTH
• オキシジェン：2021JP
• OxígenoES
• OksigenAZ
• OxygenUS