Like so many "independent" films being produced these days, The Deep End, directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, is really a mainstream movie masquerading in the indie garb of its relatively obscure cast, lush cinematography and controversial subplot.
The film begins with great potential as a sleek thriller. Tilda Swinton, who was stunning as the title role in Sally Potter's 1992 film, Orlando, plays Margaret Hall, mother of three, who is living with her father-in-law on a Nevada lake shore while her husband is away in the military. Margaret discovers that her teenage son, Beau (Jonathan Tucker) is somehow involved with an older man named Darby Reese (Josh Lucas) and offers Darby money to keep away from Beau.
Love - or lust, as it were - cannot be paid off, however, and Darby shows up at the Hall residence in the middle of the night to visit Beau. The two sneak out to the boathouse to be together but get into a fight, which concludes with Darby's death.
Margaret discovers the body, and in a moment of maternal impulsiveness, takes the body out to the middle of the lake in a rowboat and dumps it. After all, if your son was a talented trumpet player getting ready to go to college on a full scholarship and there was a possibility that he had murdered a man who might be his lover, you would do the same thing, right?
The film starts to slip downhill from this point. I understand that a mother's love knows no boundaries, but Margaret doesn't even bother to figure out exactly how Darby died before she takes extreme action. To make matters worse, it seems as though Margaret is not going to get away with her cover-up; shortly after getting rid of Darby's corpse, a bounty collector by the name of Alek Spera (the darkly handsome Goran Visnjic) shows up at the door. Spera proceeds to show Margaret a video of Beau and Darby involved in sexual activity and demands $10,000 in exchange for the video, which might otherwise indict Beau of - rightfully so - involvement with Darby's death.
So, like any hired bounty collector would do, Alek, instead of fulfilling his job, proceeds to become emotionally involved with Margaret and her family.
The movie turns into a mess by focusing in on the overly sentimental relationships between the principal characters, subverting a plot which might have otherwise been better developed into something more complex.
One of the most ridiculous scenes is when Alek is wandering alone around the Hall family's kitchen, waiting to talk to Margaret about the money situation. Opening the stove at random, Alek discovers a chicken ready to be cooked for the family's dinner. We see the thought process playing out on his face, the raw chicken inspiring him to sympathize with this poor family that means no harm, but simply wants to be left to carry on with their everyday life. It's enough to make you lose your own dinner.
In the end, the movie's main redeeming value is the acting of Tilda Swinton, who gives the movie its main energy through her quick acting and her slender, unusual beauty. Unfortunately, Swinton's talents go to waste on a film that might have better employed an amateur for its mediocre efforts.
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