Film Review: The Deep End (2001)
Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada is, thanks to its beautiful scenery, one of the most popular holiday destinations in the Western United States, but also popular as locations for films like The Godfather Part II and TV shows like Bonanza. The tradition continued in the 21st century with The Deep End, a 2001 thriller written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel.
The film is based on The Blank Wall, a 1947 novel by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. The protagonist, played by Tilda Swinton, is Margaret Hall, an upper-middle-class housewife whose husband, a US Navy pilot, is often absent due to his service on an aircraft carrier. Margaret lives with three children and her elderly father-in-law Jack (played by Peter Donat). She is soon startled to discover that her 17-year-old son Beau (played by Jonathan Tucker), an aspiring musician, is having a homosexual relationship with Darby Reece (played by Josh Lucas), a night club owner from Reno, Nevada, who happens to be twice his age. Margaret considers this inappropriate and confronts Reece, demanding that he leave Beau. Much to her surprise, Reece is willing to do it, but only in exchange for money. When Beau and Reece meet again, this leads to a physical confrontation after which Reece would be accidentally killed. Convinced that her son would be accused of murder, Margaret desperately tries to hide the evidence, including Reece's body. Soon afterwards, a mysterious man named Alek Spera (played by Goran Višnjić) comes to Margaret with a copy of a sex tape that would implicate Beau as the murder suspect. Spera demands that she pays 50,000 US dollars or the tape would be handed over to the police. Margaret desperately and unsuccessfully tries to find the money, and her life begins to turn into a nightmare, but, surprisingly, she receives help from Alek who has fallen in love with her. This brings him into conflict with his ruthless boss Nagel (played by Raymond J. Barry).
Holding's novel was first adapted in 1949 as The Reckless Moment, a black-and-white thriller directed by Max Ophüls, which critics consider one of the finest films of its time. The Deep End, made with a relatively low budget and first shown at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival, had the same treatment. McGehee and Siegel were praised for making their film Hitchcockian and using the concept of "an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation". They also modernised the plot for 21st-century sentiments by making straight characters from the earlier film gay. The film also benefited a lot from the excellent cinematography by Giles Nuttgens, which has put Tahoe locations to good use and was later awarded at Sundance. Another great asset of the film is Tilda Swinton, a Scottish actress known for playing quirky and eccentric characters. Here she plays an ordinary American housewife with great ease, and her performance even created early Oscar buzz. Although the ending appears somewhat overlong and too melodramatic, The Deep End is a very good thriller that could be recommended even to those viewers who aren't the biggest fans of the genre.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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