O Ato Final

I first saw "Deep End" shortly after its release, it played at the base theater during my Air Force days. Films on base ran for only one day (three shows) and this was one of a handful that drew capacity crowds to the later shows due to "word of mouth" praise by those who attended the first screening. I finally got the opportunity to view it again last week and was not disappointed.

About all I recalled from my long ago first viewing was the Jane Asher full-size cardboard stand-up and the color red. Meaning that director Jerzy Skolimowski managed to create some powerful imagery that stayed in my mind over all those years, which is more than I can say for a lot of films. My association of the color red now makes perfect sense as that was obviously the imagery that Skolimowski meant to drill into each viewer's mind. From Asher's red hair (in the film itself and in the promotional poster where it trails off into blood), to the new color being painted on the walls of the bathhouse, to the blood that punctuates certain climatic moments in the story.

Skolimowski was Polanski's screenwriter for "Knife In the Water" and stylistically "Deep End" has a Polanski flavor (it certainly has its "Repulsion" moments). I was also reminded of a Judy Geeson film from about the same time "Goodbye Gemini" (1970); a London setting and a doomed pair of mismatched lovers. If you are looking for a more useful comparison think of a bizarre marriage of "The Summer of 42" (1971) and "Play Misty For Me" (1971).

But "Deep End" is too grounded to be overwrought; its romantic obsession - coming of age story rings surprisingly true. Probably because the gritty is evenly blended with the abstract in a storyline that nicely cuts between accidental and destined.

Just out of school, 15 year-old Mike (John Moulder-Brown) goes to work as the towel boy at a seedy London bath house. Asher plays Sue, an older co-worker who reveals that some of the clientèle are good for extra money in exchange for titillation in the private rooms. In an extraordinary scene an aging Diana Dors explores Mike's interest in football (soccer).

Sue is a mega-tease; she is stringing along a rich fiancée, having regular private sessions with one of Mike's former teachers, servicing assorted clients at the baths, and getting her perverse kicks turning on Mike. Sue is not atypical in her level of irresponsibility and Mike is not atypical in his level of naiveté. Stuff like this plays out everyday. But Mike's obsession begins to get a bit twisted when he first realizes that Sue and his former teacher have a relationship. And Skolimowski goes from broken mirror to ripped poster to broken glass to blood; substituting visual images for overwrought melodrama. Glass (mirror, fire alarm, diamond, light bulb) substitutes for Mike's fragile psyche and distorted perception, pictures (the PSA poster on the bulletin board and the cut-out girl Mike steals) substitute for a normal boy-girl relationship, and paint and hair substitute for blood.

"Deep End" is a film in motion, it never slows down and its scene transitions run from excellent to lame. I don't remember the theatrical showing well enough to say whether the version I just watched was intact. But I suspect that it has been hacked up and trimmed, which would explain the more inexplicable scene transitions. There is some support for this notion in that it has been converted into a 4-3 aspect ratio and has lost all the end credits except a few bars of the same Cat Stevens song that ran over the opening titles. If it ever gets a DVD release I hope they can find a better example to digitize.

The best way to understand it is to be open to the interplay of Skolimowski's images, these provide the texture of his film. The story may appear to be being told from Mike's point of view but it is the texture that allows the viewer to go beneath the surface of the deep end and to see the dance between love and death. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Fifteen-year-old Mike (John Moulder-Brown) has just left school and starts a new job as a Public Baths attendant, under the wing of Susan (Jane Asher) - a streetwise twenty-something female attendant. Susan knows how to please the clients and advises Mike accordingly. A typical encounter is when he substitutes for Susan in tending to a female client (Diana Dors) who forces her attentions upon him. He quickly develops a crush on Susan that soon becomes an obsession as he stalks her around town. Jealous of anyone else who gives her attention, he is particularly incensed at her casual affair with his former sports teacher. In an attempt to promote himself, Mike hijacks a school cross-country run in the park. Observed by Susan, they engage in a playful tussle where she loses the diamond from her engagement ring in the snow. Gathering the snow, they return to the empty baths to find the diamond by melting the snow. In an unguarded moment, Mike attempts to seduce Susan but cannot follow through. His jealousy and exclusive desire reaches new proportions...

I had been searching for this gem for nearly 15 years, until I found it. When I did, it was as good as I imagined! The film follows the adolescent obsession of a 15 year old (John Moulder Brown) seedy (Newford) Bath House attendent. He falls under the romantic spell of a red haired tease (brilliantly played by Jane Asher), that toys with his emotions to the brink of taking him over the mental "deep end". Director Jerzy Skolimowski's film is so unique that it deals with the mind set of a sexually inexperienced youth in a way that is comedic, sensitive, and yet totally insane. Parts of the character reminded me of a darker Max Fletcher (the child character in "Rushmore") and a less calculating Tom Ripley (see "The Talented Mr. Ripley"), but totally immerssed in a Mod London invironment that is saturated in sex and seediness. What strikes me as interesting, is that you can never tell if London was meant to be represented in such a sexual red light, or if this is all just how the protaganist views London with sexually curious eyes of puberty? My one criticism towards John Moulder Brown is his English accent tends to sound more proper rather than lower class Cockney, which would have suited the story's angle. Jane Asher's performance however is truly amazing! Her use of the dialog, is completely naturalistic in approach. I always feel as an eavesdropper to someone's private conversation. Check out the scene in which her and John Moulder Brown are trying to retrieve a diamond from a pile of snow, and sprinkled in the dialog are comments of her being hungry (it would seem strange to see those lines written in the script, which leaves me to think it may be improvised?). And when she tells off the Gym Teacher (one of her lovers) and then continues to work on finding her diamond. Totally improvised and naturalistic!!! As a person like myself who studies acting, I was quite impressed by her acting, and am saddened that she has not appeared in more films (she seems to be mostly known for being the ex-girlfriend of Paul McCartney). The music soundtrack to the film is of great interest as well. It contains the song "But I Might Die Tonight" by Cat Stevens as the title track, and different variations of that theme supplied by either Cat Stevens or (Kraut rock group) Can. It also contains one of Can's most amazing tracks "Mother's Sky" in a great scene where the boy stalks his obsession to a London Club, then to a seedy Nude Girl joint which contains a cardboard cut out of her, then to an out-of-commision prostitute, and then finally to the London Underground where he confronts Jane Asher. All done with the surreal mind, of what only a 15 year old could conjure up. The film contains many surreal moments, in which the boy sinks to the bottom of a pool and eyes a naked woman swimming underneath him. Or when the boy jumps off a diving board and lands on top of the cardboard cut out in a pool. He again sinks to the bottom holding the cut out as if it was her. This film captures the complete frustration of that age, and the yearning to be a part of the sexually grown up world that is just out of reach, but keeps getting dipped towards your hands by a taller, more mature (?) tease. Unfortunately, teasing an imature boy can also have very horrible consequences. Highly recommended!!! One of my all time favourite films!!! I give it a 10!!

What starts out as a tender coming-of-age story devolves into a story of sexual obsession and missed connections in "Deep End." The story has bicycle riding teenager Mike starting his first job at a run-down public bathhouse which caters to both men and women. There is also an Olympic sized pool in the facility, which is utilized by scores of teenage girls. Mike's pretty but jaded coworker Susan is on hand to show him the ropes, and soon their mild flirtation begins to prompt Mike into increasingly bizarre stalker behavior.

The cinematography here is outstanding, with every stain, crack and spot of dirt in the grimy bathhouse evident. It certainly appears to be a place where any sensible person would hesitate to walk barefoot through, and the sets are loaded with strange signage and bizarre props. The exterior locations are expertly filmed also, and give a great impression of the U.K. at the end of the 1960's.

The acting of the two young leads is top-notch and utterly believable at all turns, with John Moulder-Brown especially likable and appealing. And certainly special mention must be made to former glamor girl Diana Dors as a blowzy blond bathhouse patron with a sexual fixation on football. She holds nothing back in her cameo appearance, and she's fantastic in the limited screen time devoted to her physically aggressive and domineering character.

Some objection could be made to the somewhat speedy manner in which Mike's character transforms from nice teenager into obsessed stalker. Some of this didn't seem too believable, although Asher as Susan is beautiful enough to almost make it work. Mike begins the film as such a sweet young guy who's concerned about his future and his family, that's it's almost unfathomable as to why he'd go off the "deep end" like he does.

*** out of *****

Deep End, along with The House That Screamed, has immortalized John Moulder-Brown in my memory. I saw Deep End but twice ... once on its first release and a couple of years later in Copenhagen, but it is a unique movie which sticks in the memory and cannot be forgotten. With the advent of DVD, surely a company like Anchor Bay should resurrect this engrossing drama. Jane Asher is terrific. And former beauty Diana Dors is a hoot in her cameo appearance. Deep End remains three decades later one of my all-time favorite films.