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Stuck in the endless Netflix scroll? Open that Netflix search query and type “Oxygen.”
Otherwise known as Oxygène, this 2021 French survival thriller stars Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) as a woman trapped in a claustrophobic pod with a dwindling supply of oxygen. Her performance combined with the evocative score and requisite twists tethered me to her dire plight for every one of its 101 minutes.
Oxygen builds tension right from the off. Our protagonist, wrapped in strange material while lying on her back, gains consciousness. It’s dark, and a blinking red light illuminates her struggle to break through her creepy second skin. She emerges gasping for air.
Soon, the audience knows a few more things about this blue-eye, blonde-haired woman. She’s locked in a cryogenic pod and will eventually be unable to breathe. She’s also lacking virtually any helpful memory about who she is and how she ended up there.
