Main Cast: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Raymond J. Barry, Josh Lucas
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A mother is drawn into a sinister web of blackmail while trying to protect her son in this drama. Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) is a wife and mother of three living in Lake Tahoe, whose husband is a Naval officer stationed in the Atlantic ocean. Margaret's oldest son, teenaged Beau (Jonathan Tucker), is gay and has become involved with Darby (Josh Lucas), a disreputable older man whom Margaret does not trust. Margaret confronts Darby and tells him to stay away from her son, but Darby isn't easily dissuaded, and he comes by the house late one night, leading to a fight between Beau and Darby. The next morning, Margaret discovers Darby's body on the beach, with an anchor piercing his chest. Not sure what to do, Margaret hauls Darby's body out to sea, and dumps it where she hopes it will not be found. Margaret tries to get her life back to normal, until a man named Alek (Goran Visnjic) appears at her door. Alek appears to know something about Darby's death, and he definitely knows about Beau's relationship with him; in fact, he has a videotape of Beau and Darby having sex, and he's prepared to make it public unless she'll pay him $50,000. Margaret is in no position to pay the money, but is desperate to protect her son and attempts to reason with Alek. Surprisingly enough, in time it works, and Alek withdraws his request for blackmail money. However, Nagle (Raymond Barry), a local crime boss whom Alek works for, is not nearly so generous. The Deep End was adapted from a novel by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding, The Blank Wall, which was previously filmed by Max Ophuls as The Reckless Moment. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Scott McGehee and David Siegel's second feature is essentially a modern-day version of the domestic film noir dramas of the 1950s, a genre that includes such classics as Michael Curtiz's Mildred Pierce and Max Ophuls' The Reckless Moment (which shares The Deep End's source material). Co-directors McGehee and Siegel know their stuff. Rather than resorting to action to produce thrills, they build suspense through the inner tension of the film's heroine, Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton), as she tries to hold her family life together while fending off the gangsters who threaten to destroy it. The filmmakers also alter their source material by changing the heroine's daughter to a gay son (Jonathan Tucker) involved with an older man (Josh Lucas, whose brief, brutally seductive performance is one of the film's treats). Cinematographer Giles Nuttgens uses Lake Tahoe's crisp, cool light to bolster the atmosphere of tension and dread that underpins every scene: the light itself seems to harbor a haunting chill. The film suffers, however, from a not entirely successful attempt to update Elizabeth Sanxay Holding's novel. Ophuls injected The Reckless Moment with a proto-feminist subtext: James Mason's suave blackmailer takes pity on Joan Bennett's timid housewife precisely because her sheltered life seems so miserable to him. Swinton's efficient, multi-tasking, and thoroughly modern Margaret Hall, on the other hand, seems more than capable of taking care of herself while her husband is away at sea. The Deep End's blackmailer, Alek (Goran Visnjic), just seems to crumble in the face of her assertiveness. Ironically, Swinton's justly praised performance actually works against the film's premise. Alek, and his even less menacing boss Carlie Nagle (Raymond Barry), are just no match for Margaret when it comes to getting the job done. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide
Mindy Marin - Associate Producer, Eileen Jones - Associate Producer, Mindy Marin - Casting, Laura Greenlee - Co-producer, David Schrager - First Assistant Director, David Siegel - Director, Scott McGehee - Director, Lauren Zuckerman - Editor, Robert H. Nathan - Executive Producer, Giles Nuttgens - Cinematographer, David Siegel - Producer, Scott McGehee - Producer, Robert Eber - Sound/Sound Designer, David Siegel - Screenwriter, Scott McGehee - Screenwriter, David Bergeaud - Supervising Sound Editor, John Nutt - Supervising Sound Editor, Elizabeth Sanxay Holding - Book Author
Margaret Hall (Swinton) lives a seemingly serene middle-class life in Tahoe City, California. Her husband, Tom, is a pilot on the aircraft carrierUSS Constellation. She is startled to discover that her son Beau, a high school senior, has been having a sexual affair with 30 year-old Reno, Nevada night club owner Darby Reese (Lucas). The affair becomes apparent when a drunken Beau wrecks his car returning from Reno one night. The next day, Margaret visits Darby's nightclub, The Deep End, to demand that he stay away from her son. Darby offers to stay away for $5,000. Margaret attempts to engage her son about his orientation to no avail. The two have an argument which culminates with Margaret forbidding Beau from visiting Reno again.
That night, Darby secretly visits Beau and the two meet in the boat house. Beau confronts Darby about asking his mother for money. The two argue, eventually coming to blows. As Beau flees back to the house, Darby leans on a railing which collapses. Darby falls below, impaling himself on an anchor.
The next morning, Margaret discovers Darby's body on the beach. She deduces that Beau and Darby had an altercation which resulted in Darby's death. In a panic, Margaret decides to get rid of the body by dumping it in a cove. The body is soon discovered and the police investigate it as a homicide. Soon after, Alex Spera confronts and blackmails Margaret with an illicit tape that Darby recorded of one of his sexual encounters with Beau. Alex demands $50,000 in 24 hours or he and his partner will turn the tape over to the police which would implicate Beau in Darby's "murder".
