The Deep End

The enchanting opening score and a dominant blue hue eases its way of a concealed familial drama with a murder case, a blackmail and an in-the-closet gay son. Out of expectation, a lesser impact on the gay culture, the film endeavors a strenuous effort to accent on a desperate mother's instinct of shielding her son, and magnificently the plot concocts a cordial twist to furnish the film with compassion and great gratification.

Tilda Swinton is the ace here (vaguely has sustained her indie-queen ethereality into a more mainstream scope since then), magnifying every impression into an intact personification of a role model mother of three children, who struggles to cover a murder case which she thinks has executed by her elder gay son (which is barely the truth as audience has witnessed the entire occurrence), after that developing a mutual affinity with a young gay blackmailer, things start to become more engrossing. Goran Visnjic is equally empathetic and even a tad overshadowing Ms. Swinton during the final confrontation (a poignant moment arrives when their lips are so close to each other near the end of the film).

It never goes awry with the things-getting-worse-until-the-very-end mode, at first one might sense a pro-WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2011) ominous trauma was awaiting us, congenially enough it is not about the embittering mother-son's love/hate perplexity. This indie gem from director duo Scott McGehee & David Siegel (whose later feature BEE SEASON 2005 is a rueful misfire, a 5/10 in my rating, while their latest WHAT MAISIE KNEW starring my diva Julianne Moore is on the shelf this year) needs more credit for its adroit exposition, splendidly heart-rending impetus and the celeste tableau.

Taking care of others often involves self-sacrifice, and mothers of most feather will put themselves in harm's way to shield their young. In the THE DEEP END, a modern retelling of Max Ophuls' 1946 thriller THE RECKLESS MOMENT, Margaret Hall is a mother of three willing to do whatever it takes to keep her family safe from the irrational forces that follow her teenage son home one night from a nightclub of ill repute. But mom, played with stoic intensity by Tilda Swinton, quickly learns that heroism doesn't fit on a calendar already packed with soccer practices, trumpet lessons and visits to the grocery store.

Superficially the story concerns a vicious run of bad luck. Noirish events are set in motion when Margaret tries to cover up the accidental death of her son's unsavory friend (Josh Lucas as a spookily playful predator). The next day a man with a dice tattoo on his neck knocks on her door and demands $50,000 to suppress a videotape linking her son to the death, which police have ruled a homicide. The dramatic heart of the film concerns Margaret's dealings with the blackmailer, cagily played by Goran Visnjic, ER's Slavic heartthrob in a less soapy but perversely related role. Mr. Visnjic is credible though never quite menacing as a predator in awe of, and ultimately vulnerable to, his tender prey.

Taken at this level THE DEEP END, luminously shot in the gambling resort of Lake Tahoe, is an eerie joy ride that leans heavily on coincidence to tangle then unknot its plot. But the presence of Tilda Swinton indicates that more is going on here than melodrama. Ms. Swinton is a brilliant post-feminist actress whose work sheds light on paradoxes of femininity and female power. Her earlier films include ORLANDO, in which she explored androgyny and immortality, and FEMALE PERVERSIONS, a Freudian critique of the feminist myth of "having it all." In THE DEEP END, Ms. Swinton's nuanced performance comments on motherhood as a source of both power and vulnerability. A woman may be willing to do anything for her son, as Margaret Hall clearly is, yet still be constrained by a "glass ceiling" of caregiving attachments that prevent her from achieving man-style success. In cinema, the latter typically means blowing the villains' brains out, something Margaret Hall might consider doing if she weren't so busy taking care of her kids and aging father-in-law.

Throughout the film Margaret tries but is unable to reach her husband, a Navy officer on an aircraft carrier somewhere in the mid-Atlantic. His unavailability is more than an inconvenience. Attempting to negotiate with the blackmailers, Margaret finds herself hamstrung when the bank refuses a critical withdrawal without her husband's say-so. Mr. Hall's conspicuous absence and his infirm father's burdensome presence amplify Margaret's predicament, showing how hollow the conventions of marriage and machismo can be. The fact that both men are soldiers, society's designated heroes, is no accident. They defend motherhood in the abstract while remaining blind to a real mother's needs.

Margaret Hall is Ms. Swinton's most reluctant feminist character to date, a woman whose maternal ferocity the family setting renders moot and who must ultimately rely on the kindness of strangers. Her performance transforms THE DEEP END from a good summer thriller to a dramatic critique of the politics of caregiving.

I cannot believe the negative remarks about this movie. I thought this movie was excellent. The majority of complaints on this board, are more about the lighting, sound and technical crap that regular people who go to the movies just don't look for. You go to a movie to get lost for a couple of hours and enjoy yourself. If your going to the movies only for the technical side of the movie, then why go at all.

This movie showed the extent that a mother would go through to protect her son and her family. This lady totally went above and beyond everything to protect her son from the truth, which he never found out.

The only real problem I had with this movie was that the word "Gay" was never said. Not once. Unless my hearing left me when it was said. It was referenced and even a little sex was shown, but the word was never said.

Other than that, I enjoyed this movie completely. Just Terrific!!!!!!!!

THE DEEP END is an original and suspenseful thriller, pitting a mother, played by Tilda Swinton, against a blackmailer, played by Goran Visnjic. It's the relationship between the two that drives this movie, as Visnjic's character begins to change because of the decency and honesty he encounters in Swinton's character. I gave this 8 out of 10 instead of 9 out of 10 because the ending is somewhat predictable, it's like something from a 1930's big Hollywood studio film. Nevertheless, a compelling script and convincing performances from all the actors make this worth seeing.

8/10

This film is like a great term paper: it flows like fire-water from a heated pitcher. I bought it on a caprice, only to rivet myself to the screen unexpectedly. Tilda Swinton is absolutely flawless (not to mention Visnjic) in a very strange tale about a mother's endless desire to protect. Not that I consider it a true flaw, but I would have liked for Margaret to tell Beau exactly why things had been so screwy and deadly for the past two days. The opportunity arises at the very end but she decides not. For me, I certainly would have explained to a seventeen-year-old boy that if he screws around with derelicts in seedy closets, people die. It's sort of an important part of growing up. However, directors McGehee and Siegel decide to omit that part. While the film is a must for thrill-seekers, I really felt that the boy should have been let in on the sticky, lethal web his juvenile lust did spin. BUT TILDA ROCKS! Just like this movie.