Oxygen: When a Thriller Turned Into a Cultural Pulse
Some films arrive, are enjoyed briefly, and then quietly drift down streaming algorithm oblivion, appreciated only by a small audience. Then there are films like Oxygen, French survival thriller by Alexandre Aja, starring Mélanie Laurent, that linger long after their runtime. Released on Netflix in 2021, during the second wave of the world COVID pandemic, Oxygen was not just a movie to be binged. It inspired discussions, debates, and memes, and it was even inserted in cultural talks surrounding survival, technology, and the very notion of freedom.
A Story That Hit Too Close to Reality
On the surface, the premise of Oxygen seemed simple: a woman wakes up in a cryogenic pod, with no memory of how she got there, and only a rapidly dropping oxygen meter to remind her that time is running out. The claustrophobic nature of the pod dominated the film, and for long stretches, Mélanie Laurent nearly single-handedly carried the entire narrative to the audience.
However, what turned this narrative into a cultural phenomenon was the time during which it was released. In the year 2021, the element oxygen was no longer just a scientific element, it was a representation of a scarce resource, a representation of a crisis, a representation of one’s survival. During the time of the pandemic, news about the lack of oxygen in hospitals, especially in India, was a daily occurrence. A thriller about a woman who is not able to breath was not just a metaphor. The film had a relationship to the real fears of the audience. People were not able to relate to the film in abstract terms. Rather, they were able to relate to the film in a very real and very painful manner.
From Pod to Pop Culture
Laurent’s character encased in a futuristic pod became a social media phenomenon on Tik Tok. Users compared her struggle to their lockdown experiences:
“Me trying to survive inside my room during online classes”
” When the WiFi runs out and so does my oxygen”
Beyond the memes, however, the film’s aesthetic paradoxically sleek and suffocating, began to influence fashion. The sterile white pod and minimalist, hospital-like design reverberated through photoshoots and editorial spreads that embraced themes of confinement and isolation. European and Japanese designers released capsule collections inspired by “bio-futuristic survival gear” constructed with netted fabrics and clear masks. This was far from a straightforward survival movie. It became, instead, a visual mood board for the post-pandemic generation.
Mélanie Laurent: Carrying the Film and Her Own Battles
Mélanie Laurent was the driving force behind this phenomenon. Laurent, famous for her performances in films like Inglourious Basterds, was already a recognized name, but Oxygen put her in a different league. The entirety of the film hinges on her performance—her face, her breath, her panic. It is a rare privilege for an actor to take on such solitary responsibility. Laurent was the last after Anne Hathaway and Noomi Rapace to be considered for the role.
Laurent expressed some apprehension about taking on the role. She stated that due to the nature of the set being restrictive, she worried that the role might become stagnant. She also showed enthusiasm for the challenge, particularly the aspect of rehearsing with medical personnel to mimic the effects of oxygen deprivation, a technique used to prepare for the role. She stated that she felt lightheaded during some takes, a testament to the effectiveness of the set design, which was made to be near airtight.
Laurent’s on-screen activism resonates most admirably with her off-screen activism. She has been an outspoken advocate for climate change, particularly for the sustainable use of natural resources. It is no wonder that her fans linked her desperation for oxygen on-screen with the unsustainable use of resources off-screen. The desperation for oxygen was acting but for Laurent, the role seemed to be an extension of her advocacy.
Media Buzz With Relativity to the Current Environment
At the time of Oxygen’s release, the discourse around the media was similarly unsettling. The wide-ranging discourse around survival, the scarcity of resources, and the fragile nature of social systems, seeped into social media groups, particularly around the use of WhatsApp. In India, the title “Oxygen” had the potential to upset many, considering the severe shortages and other challenges that the country had been facing in the healthcare system.
No one planned for it, but the film was still interwoven in conversations of a social and political nature, and commentators and audience members remarked upon this phenomenon. Activists incorporated stills from the film into visual rhetoric for healthcare advocacy. Even tweets commented on the film, stating, “This is not just a movie; this is our reality.” European and South American legislators included references to the film in their post-COVID-19-attack preparedness discussions.
When Ordinary Viewers Make Oxygen a Reflection of Their Life
For the general audience, Oxygen was more than just entertainment; it was a tree of life. People shared on social media how they had to stop the film multiple times just to breathe when realism kicked in. An audience member from Delhi spoke in a Reddit discussion about watching Oxygen with his father, who had just gotten over COVID-19, saying it felt “like reliving the trauma but in a strangely healing way, because this time it was fiction and we could press pause.”
Behind the Glass: The Making of a Claustrophobic World
What appeared sleek on the screen was at times grueling to produce. The production team designed the cryo-pod as a fully functional set with movable walls and panels so the camera could slip into the impossible angles. Aja insisted that the shifting lighting as oxygen levels drop be done on set rather than in post-production. This meant Laurent often acted while bathed in oppressive red glows
The voice of “M.I.L.O.,” the pod’s AI companion, was also initially a challenge. The filmmakers first tried using various robotic voices, but settled on a calm, close to soothing male voice to contrast with the panic in Laurent’s voice.
Interestingly, the film Oxygen was initially written in English as O2 and was intended for an American actress, but the project was never finished until Netflix picked it up. Changing to French and casting Laurent gave the film a new texture, an intimate and poetic distinctly European mood.
Oxygen as More Than a Film
Hindsight shows that Oxygen was more than a one-location thriller. It captured Jamais vu: the experience of being familiar with something, yet not grasping its essence. It effortlessly made its way into fashion editorials, political rhetoric, and internet memes. Survival thrillers rarely embed into the fabric of everyday life, but that is what Oxygen managed to achieve.
Laurent’s lone struggle inside a pod, a capsule of isolation, resonated with billions of people confined to rooms and countries, all desperate for a modicum of freedom. It was in the relationship between the screen and society, fiction and reality, that Oxygen grew in the cultural zeitgeist. It was a film that we did not simply watch; it was a phenomenon we all experienced.