Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Cassandra
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Tom Murray
The Deep End is a rare event: a touching thriller that is based more on relationships and personal growth than on plot, a film on a tight budget ($3 million) that is completely captivating, a remake of a film (The Reckless Moment (1949)) that really works. Many critics gave the film a top rating, and a few did not like it much, but most agreed that Tilda Swinton was superb. My own opinion is that everything works: the superb acting, the suspense, the finely detailed direction, the beautiful cinematography, the masterful screenplay, everything, even the melodramatic parts. Margaret Hamilton (Tilda Swinton), is an average, ordinary-looking, middle-class housewife, whose husband is away with the military. Her family is her life. She has reason to believe that her son (Jonathan Tucker) has killed someone and she disposes of the body to protect him.It only makes things worse by leading to blackmail. The handsome blackmailer (Goran Visnjic) gets caught up in a family emergency and becomes fascinated by and drawn into the close family setting. He is also attracted to Margaret. The film is mainly about her relationships with her son and with the blackmailer; one can connect emotionally with each of them and their own personal predicaments. The other family relationships are incidental but they do illustrate how her life is completely filled with the needs of others; there is not much time left for her needs. The DVD allows one to watch much of the film a second time, with the two directors (Scott McGehee and David Siegel) discussing the details behind the making of each scene, often showing several radically different takes of the same scene and explaining why they chose the one that they did. It gives a deep insight into the filmmaking process.To watch the film, I recommend that you turn off the telephone and pick a time when there will be no interruptions so that you will be free to become deeply absorbed in a very moving experience.
cstotlar-1
This film was a wonderful surprise. I wasn't aware of it - the publicity was scarce - so I watched it from word-of-mouth recommendations and enjoyed the entire experience thoroughly.Swinton's performance was a masterpiece of understatement. Her role was certainly no hammed-up overacted Academy Award performance. In fact it was virtuosity of the opposite nature. Underplaying a part can be excruciatingly difficult for both actors and the public and it requires effort on both parties. Thankfully the screenplay was a model of efficiency and tact with no whiz-bang histrionics at the end. The music from the magic of Ravel was astounding - again, subtle. The photography was magnificent and won well-deserved awards.Everything in the film meshes beautifully. I loved every golden moment.Curtis Stotlar
seymourblack-1
The majority of remakes tend to be disappointing, so it's especially enjoyable to see a movie like this which really bucks the trend. "The Deep End" is essentially a remake of Max Ophuls' "The Reckless Moment" and both movies were adapted for the screen from Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's story called "The Blank Wall". This thriller involves blackmail, a murder investigation and also a compelling account of the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect her family. Unusually though, it's also a story about characters who make great sacrifices for the people they care about.Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) lives near Lake Tahoe with her three children and father-in-law and becomes concerned about her 17 year old son's gay relationship with a significantly older man. She tries to persuade Darby Reese (Josh Lucas) to end the affair and he agrees to cooperate subject to a payment of $5,000. That night, however, he secretly visits Beau Hall (Jonathan Tucker) and after the two guys talk about Darby's readiness to be bought off, they argue and fight. Beau soon escapes and runs into the house but the dazed Darby staggers out of the boathouse and is accidentally killed as a result of falling onto an anchor on the beach.Next morning Margaret finds the body with some evidence which convinces her that her son was implicated and so to protect him, she dumps Darby's body in the lake. The body is found shortly after and a police investigation is launched immediately. A little later, things start to get complicated when a stranger called Alek Spera (Goran Visnjic) calls by Margaret's house and demands a substantial ransom to prevent him from passing a copy of a video tape to the police. The tape in question is potentially incriminating as it shows a sexual encounter involving Darby and Beau and thus establishes a close connection between the two men.Tilda Swinton is outstanding as the stressed and very determined mother who has to deal with a whole range of crises on her own because her husband is a naval officer whose duties keep him away from home for long periods of time. Swinton's expressions are incredibly effective in conveying the outward appearance of calmness which she feels she must maintain whilst at the same time giving hints of the enormous amount of fear and worry that she's experiencing. The range of duties and problems that her character deals with on a daily basis is impressive and also one of the reasons why her blackmailer unexpectedly changes his attitude towards her. Goran Visnjic displays the conflict which gradually develops within Spera very capably in what turns out to be a surprisingly good performance.The most striking difference between "The Deep End" and "The Reckless Moment" is that in the newer movie, the mother is motivated purely by a powerful desire to protect her family at all costs whereas in the older version there was also an element of being driven by a need to maintain the appearance of conforming with the perceived standards of her social class. There is also no indication in "The Deep End" that Margaret feels trapped by her family or that she feels any resentment about the pressures that their needs place on her."The Deep End" is a beautiful movie which is rich in atmosphere and the cinematography by Giles Nuttgens is marvellous. It's also well written, full of suspense and the development of the relationships between the various characters is interesting to watch.
sklemow
Easily one of the most subversively homophobic films ever produced. Gay men are presented as sordid, lascivious predators who exclusively lurk in harshly-lit gay bars in the corrupt big city, coming into suburban areas to prey on vulnerable, sensitive adolescent boys. The idea that this "good kid" would allow himself to be filmed in the act of having sex is preposterous enough, but the director really exploits the scene by showing the actual act with inter-cuts to Tilda Swinton's face looking repulsed and grief-stricken.What's even more dangerous about this film is the fact that it is full of Trojan horses: the indie feel of the production, the casting of Derek Jarman's muse Tilda Swinton (who should be inducted in a special hall of infamy for selecting this piece), and the fact that gay men were apparently involved in putting the film together.Perhaps the film has some artistic merits, but overall I found it an infuriating, irresponsible film that I would have preferred to miss.
