Does Alex really hold on his breath while he is beaten up by Dim and Georgie?

Question

There is a scene in A Clockwork Orange I'm curious about how they done it. Alex is saved by two policemen who turn out to be Dim and Georgie (his old droogs). They drag Alex to the countryside, where they beat and nearly drown him.It looks like Alex is holding his breath the whole scene. Is this right? Also there is a cut after ~10 seconds. Maybe they give Alex the chance to take a breath with this cut. The scene is about 60 seconds. I think a average person can hold his breath about this time. But they shouldn't have to do it so.

Answer 1

This is a great question, and since Kubrick is infamous for not answering questions about his films we can only speculate. There are many possibilities:

1. they hid a breathing device somewhere within the trough for Malcolm McDowell
2. Malcolm McDowell was trained before this shot in holding his breath underwater by professionals
3. they really just tortured Malcolm McDowell and maybe had a safe word? Lol

Either way a very impressive scene and one that makes the viewer cringe due to its high level of realism. I, for one, hope that McDowell had a breathing device somewhere in that trough, but I wouldn't put the others past Kubrick...