The Deep End (2001)
Grade: C
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, and Josh Lucas
Directors: Scott McGehee, David Spiegel
Rated R for some language, violence, brief strong sexuality


If, my friends, you ever have a shortage of water metaphors, look no further than "The Deep End".

I wish that could be my review for "The Deep End", because its water metaphors are the most annoying things about it. But I journey further, because I have to prove my opinion with decent reasons for disliking it—"The Deep End" was unfairly praised upon release. The film is a slick and fancy thriller that is ultimately distant and dull in the center—it’s like biting into a Twinkie and finding no cream filling. It has a plot that Hitchcock wouldn’t have turned down, but it isn’t really handled well—it plays as if it’s the vision of two people. And indeed, it is, because it is directed by both Scott McGehee and David Siegel, and neither seems to be paying attention to which direction the other is headed in. One seems to be going for subtle doomed romance in the midst of a tragic relationship between mother and son. The other seems to be going for a lie that piles up and piles up, ala "A Simple Plan". The two don’t mix very well, and thus "The Deep End" plays like a conflicted, awkward movie.

Tilda Swinton gives a very good, misplaced (in this mediocre movie) performance as Margaret Hall, whose son Beau (Jonathon Tucker, also pretty good here) is romantically involved with his music teacher Darby (Josh Lucas), and just got involved in a car accident with him. Alcohol was involved. Margaret isn’t happy, and asks Darby to stay away from Beau. He doesn’t, and comes to visit Beau. The two fight, and Darby is killed. Margaret then goes to major depths (damn, now I’m being just as aquatically metaphorical as the movie!) to keep Beau from being suspected. All is goin’ fine and guilty, until Alek Spera (Goran Visnjic) comes forward with a sex tape between Beau and Darby, which he will show to the police if Margaret doesn’t give him $50,000. As if it already hasn’t, the plot thickens: Margaret and her blackmailer fall in love.

All of this sounds intriguing enough, and for a little while it is, but it soon falls into slooooowww---mmmmoooooovvviiinnnggg thriller techniques (saying that "The Deep End" is slow-moving is not a good thing—the film is under 100 minutes, so its pace should be quick). And anyway, I can deal with slow moving; "The Man Who Wasn’t There" made my 2001 top 10, so I am not one who needs his cinema to move at a breakneck pace. The problem with "The Deep End" is that it doesn’t even seem like it wants to exist. There’s no tension in the plot, and while the mother-son relationships are nicely developed, they are given no reason to be there because they’re surrounded by an indifferent shrug of a movie. Everything in it is kind of cold and dead, so when a good scene finally pops up, it sticks out like a sore thumb…a sore thumb that is bleeding, and that sings and dances. The good scenes almost always involve interaction between Swinton and Tucker, but the most charming character is Swinton’s father-in-law.

I suppose Margaret is supposed to be in love with Alek…but I never believed it. Just because they don’t hate each other doesn’t make me automatically believe they’re in love. There was absolutely no romantic tension between the two, not the slightest hint of fireworks or minor chemistry between the two performers. Swinton is good and Visnjic gets the job done, but I never ended up believing that subplot.

And when I spoke of the overabundance of water metaphors, I was not kidding. A man dies and is hidden in the water, a character has a heart attack while carrying jugs of water, etc., etc. I know there were lots of specifically positioned aquariums too, but the film is too forgettable for me to give you other examples.

In short, "The Deep End" is not worth your time. It has some nice scenes with Swinton, but the romance is virtually non-existent, and the thriller part of the plot is not involving, let alone thrilling. The film doesn’t seem to care about anything, and that’s what ultimately sinks it. Ah! I did it again…


-Alex, July 2002