Cast: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Peter Donat, Josh Lucas, Raymond J. Barry, Tamara Hope, Jordon Dorrance
Directors: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Producers: Scott McGehee, David Siegel
Screenplay: Scott McGehee, David Siegel, based on the novel "The Blank Wall" by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
Cinematography: Giles Nuttgens
Music: Peter Nashel
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
The Deep End is an exceptionally involving and intelligent thriller, and, unlike many of its commercially-driven cohorts in the genre, it does not rely overmuch on narrative twists and turns. The complexity lies more in the characters than in the plot. Using one of Hitchcock's favorite devices - the "wrong man" theme - co-writers/producers/directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel have crafted a motion picture that the Master would be proud of. With each scene, McGehee and Siegel tighten the screws, heightening suspense without benefit of such cheap theatrics as gunfights or chases. The presence of so many mindless movies makes the experience of watching The Deep End all the more worthwhile.
Events in this film take place in and around Lake Tahoe, where Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) and her three children, Beau (Jonathan Tucker), Paige (Tamara Hope), and Dylan (Jordon Dorrance) live in a nice house on a wooded parcel of lakefront property. Also in residence is Margaret's father-in-law, Jack (Peter Donat). Her husband, Tom, an officer in the Navy, is away (as is often the case) at sea. Domestic problems are brewing on the homefront. Beau, a newly self-aware homosexual, is carrying on an affair with a man 12 years his senior, the rather sleazy Darby Reese (Josh Lucas). Margaret wants Darby to leave her son alone - she doesn't trust Darby and doesn't want him around. He agrees, but for a price of $5000. When she refuses to pay, he shows up at night and encourages Beau to sneak outside so they can have sex. But Margaret has told Beau about Darby's proposal, and a fight breaks out between the two lovers. Soon, there's a dead body, a mysterious blackmailer (Goran Visnjic), and a police murder investigation. Margaret finds herself covering up for what she believes to be her son's crime, but we in the audience know a critical clue that she is unaware of.
Saying more would be unfair, since it would reveal more than just the setup (everything I described occurs in the first twenty minutes). The Deep End is consistently suspenseful, reinforcing a rule that is rarely acknowledged or adhered to in thrillers - no flavor of tension is more potent than the psychological variety. It isn't necessary to employ camera tricks, formula action sequences, and cheap, over-the-top theatrics in order to craft an effective entry into this genre. Hitchcock understood this, and apparently so do McGehee and Siegel. Their only previous cinematic credit, Suture, was also a thriller, but that one was far too clever and pretentious for its own good. The two men obviously learned from their missteps in Suture; The Deep End is a superior effort.
It would be impossible to talk about why The Deep End succeeds without gushing rapturously about the performance of Tilda Swinton. There's Oscar buzz already for the red-haired actress, and with good reason. This is the kind of acting job that people remember all year long. Swinton's down-to-earth portrayal of Margaret is what draws us into this story and allows us to accept the coincidences and contrivances that the storyline occasionally throws in our direction. We buy into Margaret, and, through her, into everything that happens. Oddly, this is perhaps the most "normal" role Swinton has played in an impressively eclectic career. She began appearing in front of the camera in 1986 at the age of 26, and spent the early part of her career working almost exclusively with Derek Jarman. She found a larger audience when she appeared as the androgynous title character in Orlando, then moved on to the likes of Female Perversions, Love Is the Devil, and The War Zone. To date, her only mainstream film has been The Beach, but The Deep End may give her the kind of widespread recognition she never courted.
Playing opposite Swinton is "E.R." star Goran Visnjic, as The Deep End's male answer to the Femme Fatale. Visnjic gives a solid performance, as does Jonathan Tucker as the 18-year old Beau, but neither of them fully emerges from Swinton's shadow. From the first scene, when she wanders into a male strip club in Reno, it's clear that this is her picture. She is not conventionally beautiful, but the camera loves her quirky features even more than it loves the majestic landscape of Lake Tahoe, which is given ample exposure throughout the 99-minute running length.
The Deep End is unquestionably a thriller, but, in an odd way, it's also a love story. At the film's emotional center is the question of what a mother will sacrifice for her son - what lies she will tell and what blame she will accept to keep him safe. It is said that maternal love is the fiercest kind of all, and nowhere is this more apparent than in The Deep End. And, because Tilda Swinton plays the mother and McGehee and Siegel are in complete control, the result is one of the year's best thrillers.
© 2001 James Berardinelli