O Ato Final

Deep End is a practically unheard of film these days - but it's a surprisingly good one that urgently needs a bigger audience. The film is basically a coming of age story involving young love and teenage angst. Despite the fact that everything in this film has been seen before in other films, it all comes together well and doesn't feel like it's just rethreading old ground, which is very much to it's credit. Writer-director Jerzy Skolimowski does a really good job of telling his story too, which means that deep End is an easy film to get along with. The title refers to the film's central location - a swimming pool. We focus on Mike, a young lad fresh out of school who has just got his first job as a pool attendant at the local bath house. On his first day, he meets the beautiful Susan and falls head over heels in love with her. Trouble is, Susan already has a fiancé and while she kind of likes Mike, she doesn't take him seriously...leading Mike to become frustrated and willing to do anything in order to have Susan all for himself.

The two central performers are really good and responsible for a lot of the film's success. Jane Asher is absolutely beautiful and it's easy to see why she'd have a young lad lusting after her. Horror fans will likely recognise John Moulder-Brown from classic horror The House That Screamed, as well as Hammer Horror Vampire Circus. He's good here too, and expertly captures the immaturely and lust of youth. The film itself is always interesting and the director keeps the central relationship at the forefront of the film, which helps to keep things interesting. The film is set in 1970's London, and the director does a good job of capturing the gritty feel of the city. A lot of the film takes place inside a swimming baths, but sequences that take place in sleazy corners of the city are among the best of the film. The director does have an eye for sleaze too - some of the bath house punters are rather shady characters, and we've also got scenes set inside a prostitute's room and an adult movie theatre. The ending is iconic and memorable, and manages to tie up all the film's central themes. Overall, this really is a very good film that more people need to see!

Okay, here's a cine-challenge. There are some films that take you back to a particular time in your life at absolute warp speed. Frequently, these films are reasonably universal, but their associations might be obfuscated, personal and subjective, never understood even by your friends unless explained. One such film, which chronicled absolute obsessive teenage love and its destructiveness was a wake-up call to a frequent, formerly obsessive type, myself in my misspent youth. This and the film's innate mastery instantly time-travel me back to days that were simultaneously more innocent and more complicated than today, late night smoky college discussions in a candle-lit apartments.

And that film would be "Deep End" directed by Jerzy Skowlimowski, pal of Roman Polanski, with the same great mix of bizarre sensibilities and takes on life, done in professional, Hollywood-caliber production, even if on an indie budget.

It's from 1970, featuring music by Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam now to the non-infidel) and two unbelievably strong leads: a 15-year-old John Moulder Brown and 25-year-old Jane Asher (Paul McCartney's 1960's trophy girlfriend.) I never even knew Asher had these acting chops: she outdoes Susan Sarandon (similar upper class background) for letting us in on the nuances of a naturally pretty, fairly low-class young person. Moulder-Brown was the go-to kid for late 60's/early 70's films that required a teen to actually act. (Both are still working, happily.)

This is a dance of death pas de deux between a teen boy working at a grimy public pool in Britain, all hormones and eagerness, and his slightly older female co-worker, who's both a beauty and a inveterate tease. These two should never have been allowed to work together, as he quickly fixates on her, stalks her, and she tries to control the situation with her normal, over the top sexual flirting. It's pretty light and entertaining for a while, then it goes south. . . The title is "Deep End," after all. I've rarely seen a such a disturbing, creepy film about young lust that still has you rooting for everyone involved, no matter how wrongly they both behave. That's the sign of a sure cinematic touch.

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 *****

Vividly shot on location, this is a fantastically alive film, springing nervously and excitedly around the most immediate of instinctual feelings. Managing with precision to communicate the sensory effect of these emotions, Deep End is almost a primal film, and is told largely from the perspective of its lead male character, mirroring his understanding of the world as one of absolutes and intensities. Snappily edited and perceptively performed, this is an indelible experience.

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.