When I’m watching a movie, I like to see if i can hold my breath for as long as the guy on screen, if he’s diving underwater or such. Y’know, for kicks. But fellow dopers, I would not be writhing this now if I tried to keep up with the gang in Alien:Resurection, who stay submerged for well over four minutes. What are they, polynesian pearl-divers or something? Any other lung-busting examples of mighty movie lungs?
This doesn’t answer your question, of course, but I always took the water scene in Alien: Resurrection as being not quite literal. That is, Ripley, et al were only underwater for about ten seconds, but it felt much longer, and we were seeing their perception of time rather than the “real” deal.
I really just credited it as being one of the abundant mistakes which helped contribute to the awful excuse for a film it was. I think the only slightly unique/interesting idea in that movie was the demise of Ripley’s horrific alien child. Well-done and disturbing, possibly the only redeeming scene in what I’d otherwise consider a complete trainwreck. Most movies only have characters holding their breath underwater for two, three minutes tops. 
Sorry for the hijack, but I agree with Fabulous … I think the intent, cinematically speaking, was to cut together reactions of every character into the scene, with each occurring more or less simultaneously to the others as they were all underwater. This, combined with the obligatory slow motion sillyness, made what should have been a one or two minute scene into a four minute scene. A more skillful filmmaker would have staggered the action by splitting the scenes up, cutting back and forth between the characters who had already come up for air with those who were still fighting the aliens off. This parallel editing really dials up the tension between two different scenes occuring simultaneously. Cameron used it to great effect in Aliens as the characters attempted to escape through the ventilation system.
Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure. Only she, uh, busted her lungs.