Turning Tide Review: A Stormy Ride on the High Seas

Ahh, Turning Tide. I watched it last Tuesday and I still feel like I’ve got one foot on solid land and the other in a rocky boat. If you’ve ever been out on the Baltic Sea during a storm, you’ll know what I’m talking about—they’ve captured that feeling perfectly. Directed by Jacques Perrin, an absolute legend in the industry, this film brings waves of emotions (no pun intended) but leaves you saltier than a Västerbotten cheese.

The plot follows a solo sailor played by François Cluzet, the guy who brought us the laughs in The Intouchables. Cluzet is in top form once again, this time swapping the feelings of friendship for isolation and intense determination. Every frame seems soaked in sea brine, and you can almost hear the safety pins in the ship’s rigging whispering their secrets in the wind.

But I’ll tell ya, I’m not entirely sure if the film needed to be two hours long. There were moments where I caught myself glancing at the clock, missing the usual Fika time. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe some sequences were a bit… well, they dragged like a stubborn IKEA manual.

I walked out of the cinema with a personal flashback to a summer I spent kayaking around Gotland. That sense of being alone in the vast nothingness, yet fully alive—Turning Tide captures that essence quite well, minus the mosquitos.

The cinematography is haunting—I’ve never seen the ocean look so terrifying yet beautiful. Props to director of photography, Gilles Henry. The sound design, though—felt a bit too dramatic. It’s like they threw in every single nautic sound effect they found in the archives. Come on, we get it, it’s windy!

Turning Tide is a well-executed film that might float your boat if you crave adventure and existential musings about life. But hey, make sure you’re ready for a long haul—grab a kanelbulle and settle in for the ride!

Check the trailer below