‘My Octopus Teacher’ offers an intimacy with nature rarely seen

Amid a pandemic when many have been isolated in their homes, the crowd-pleasing Netflix film “My Octopus Teacher” offers viewers eight arms to hold them — and a much-needed hug. “When you as an editor or director are getting excited about the feelings that are coming out, then you know you have a good story.” Ehrlich, who also coedited the film, said she was faced with 23 terabytes of digital files, “a lot of it shot on small cameras, so you can imagine how many hours that translates to.” As the process snapped into gear, however, it was clear that the focus could tighten onto pivotal moments between Foster and the octopus, which was in the final year of her life cycle. “All these things being mirrored back to us through this octopus.” The story benefits greatly from Foster’s rigorous daily dives, which increased the odds of getting interesting details, and the good timing involved in bringing in a professional cameraman later into the endeavor, his friend Roger Horrocks. She’s been attacked, she’s learned from it … and she found a way of getting around this new situation.” The bigger challenge for Ehrlich wasn’t compressing a year of octopus life but “50 years of a human life,” she said, nodding to the film’s opening section that introduces Foster, and the path that led him to his fateful aquatic encounter. “We just wanted to tell a really good story and a really beautiful story about a different way of relating to the natural world,” Ehrlich said, “and that seems to really have spoken to people.” She was particularly happy about support from the natural-history world and surprised by the film’s reception from mental-health advocates.