Tilda Swinton in The Deep End (2001)

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Review

The Deep End is the thriller in which Tilda Swinton tries to cover up the death of her son's gay lover, then gets blackmailed by some other guys.

The strange thing about the plot is that the murder itself is a nearly-irrelevant McGuffin!

First, there is no murder. She covers it up because she thinks her son did it, but in fact the guy's death was just an accident!

Second, without the "murder", the completely unrelated blackmail plot doesn't work. The blackmailer comes to her with a film of her son having sex with the dead guy. Now if someone comes to you and says, "give me fifty grand or we'll reveal your son to be a homosexual who had sex with a dead guy", you say so what and call the police. But if you think that your son killed the guy in the film, after a lover's spat, then you think about paying up. So she pays up, or tries to.

I haven't spoiled anything by the way. That all occurs in the set-up phase of the film.

But here's the flaw - the blackmailers don't know that she or her son are involved in the murder. They're just really stupid and frankly overpriced blackmailers! In fact, the guy who actually presents her with the deal ends up falling in love with her, and settling for $8,500. His boss/partner is not thrilled with the outcome, and thus begins the REAL plot. Took long enough to get there.

The movie is a good study of the impact of guilt on our behavior. Her guilt affects not only her response to the blackmailers, but her entire life, which becomes a living hell after she disposes of the body. Every police siren, every TV report, every newspaper story, every mention of the dead man, every conversation with her 'murderous" son, piles additional tension on her. The coolest scene in the film occurs when she disposes of the body underwater and has to go back to it a second time to get the guy's car keys when she notices that the victim's car is parked in front of her house!

Frankly, I thought this movie way way-a-a-y overrated by the critics. It is a pretty good Hitchcock clone with some tension in the moment, but the IMDB score of 7.0 - good but not great - was much more sensible than some of the critical encomiums. Tilda's single-note performance encompassing a single tense facial expression was also overrated, and her American accent often faltered. She is a great actress, but she did nothin' special here.

I liked the name of the film, which has multiple meanings in the true literary tradition. It was the name of the gay club where she met her son's lover. It has obvious implications for certain types of sexual pleasure. It symbolizes the figurative place where she placed herself - "off the deep end", as well as the physical place where she buried the body. In another scene, we even saw her swimming in the deep end of a swimming pool!

Nudity Report: Swinton goes in the water wearing white panties, a white bra and a white t-shirt.

Critics Vote: General consensus: three stars. Ebert 3.5/4. Berardinelli 3.5/4. Apollo 82/100. BBC 2/5.

IMDB Summary: IMDb voters score it 7.0/10.

Box Office: Profitable, despite a low gross and limited distribution. It grossed $9 million on a $3 million gross.

DVD Info: Commentary by writers/ producers/ directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee. Theatrical trailer(s). "The Anatomy of a Scene" - Sundance Special. Featurette. Still Gallery. Widescreen anamorphic format, 2.35.


Written by: Scoopy …courtesy of Scoopy.net