Submergence Trailer

Trailer for Submergence, starring Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy.

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...

Alicia Vikander's character, Danielle, is described as mixed race by the source material. Though not entirely clear, the reader's assumption is that she is half Australian and half black. The character is also described as Creole, so not exactly sure if that makes Vikander a visual match or not. Where she does fit the bill is her acting chops, as Submergence looks like one helluva demanding film from its cast.

If you told me that there was a film that would find some sort of strange -- levels, as it's described -- link between a romantic encounter between two opposite storylines, I would conclude it must be complicated. But the first trailer for Submergence suggests that the film pulls off such a difficulty with grace and, dare I say, beauty. 

It also helps that I love both McAvoy and Vikander, and can see those two making magic together on the silver screen.