MovieChat Forums > Age of Consent (1969) Discussion > Helen Mirren's snorkel

Helen Mirren's snorkel

posted 13 years ago by mathew5000
10 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film last night in Vancouver; I couldn't figure out why Helen Mirren had a snorkel whenever she went diving. She was always too deep for snorkelling. It seemed to me the film was suggesting that with the snorkel she was staying underwater for several minutes at a time but that makes no sense. You could see her mouth on the snorkel mouthpiece even though the entire snorkel was submerged.

I am tempted to submit this as a goof but I wonder if I am overlooking some simple explanation.

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

Her character Cora was meant to be used to the water but was also meant to be very naive. She was probably used to diving for minutes at a time but if she got a snorkel she might use that when she was swimming on or nearer the surface. Maybe she just liked it so much that she didn't bother to take it off when diving

Steve

[–] mathew5000 13 years ago

Maybe. It still seems weird to me.

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

She (Cora) didn't have anyone to teach her how to use it properly. To me that just emphasises her naivety and lack of education - not just formal education but education as to the ways of the world and her lack of contact with other people.

Steve

[–] mathew5000 13 years ago

Okay, but it's a snorkel. If you keep your mouth over one end while the other end is submerged, then your mouth fills with water. You don't need a teacher to tell you that this is problematic!

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

Most of the ones I've seen have a valve in them that stops water getting in through the air pipe

Steve

[–] mathew5000 13 years ago

Oh, I didn't know that. That makes a little more sense then. Because without the valve not only would the fictional character have been affected, but Mirren herself would have had water flowing into her mouth while filming those scenes. Incidentally I found an interview (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s2065866.htm) where she talks a bit about shooting the film and mentions that she had never done any diving previously.

[–] Steve Crook 13 years ago

Nice interview, thanks for that. Helen also talks about Age of Consent on the new(ish) DVD at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IZNIV4/papas-20. That's a double DVD along with Powell & Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) [aka Stairway to Heaven]

As well as Helen talking about AoC you also get an interview with the couple who did the underwater photography and various other people involved in the film

Steve

[–] quert8-1 12 years ago

Snorkeling like that was common place in Australia, you can dive down and still not get water in your mouth, when you come up to the surface you can blow out the water in the snorkel without taking your goggles/face out of the water.

[–] SmackCheeks 9 years ago

I think it is safe to say you have never snorkeled in the sea ever, not even once, at least not correctly, am I right? The idea of a snorkel is that you can dive down as deep as you can manage and resurface without lifting your head from the water to take a breath. Whilst submerged your tongue closes your throat so water isn't taken in and when you hit the surface, without raising your head out of the water, you blow sharply through the snorkel ejecting all the water to then take a breath. That's why the snorkel must point upward when you head is faced towards the oceans bottom..

[–] mathew5000 9 years ago

Okay, thank you. Yes I have snorkelled in the Atlantic once, but maybe not “correctly”.