The Deep End

Released 2001
Stars Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Peter Donat, Josh Lucas, Raymond J. Barry, Tamara Hope, Jordon Dorrance
Directed by Scott McGehee, David Siegel

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.

Summary by James Berardinelli

This is an outstanding thriller, but it was painful to watch the ending. Tilda Swinton's performance is top-notch as the reserved, humorless, worried housewife who has to deal with blackmail along with three kids, a father-in-law, and a husband who's always out to sea. This is the case of a thriller where things progress logically, and they do so in a (mostly) believable manner. Margaret finds Darby's body and immediately assumes Beau killed him. That makes sense since the two had been in a fight the previous night, and Margaret is rebuffed when she asks Beau about it. The movie places her in a situation where she has to react immediately, because it's morning and there's a dead body on her beach. She assumes Beau was responsible, and she takes action to save her son. Usually in this situation, everything would be easily resolved if the person would just call the police. That's not true in this case, and it plays believably. If it were me, though, I would have grabbed my son after I disposed of the body and demanded the truth. That's the only plot contrivance here, but you could argue it's not in Margaret's character to do that. Shortly thereafter we're introduced to Alek Spera (Goran Visnjic), who wishes to blackmail her. His character is a breath of fresh air, because he's not a typical villain. He's also not a blackmailer. He's a guy who happened upon a videotape that he and his partner saw as a business opportunity. There's a hint that Alek sees this as a way to raise money to send for his family, but he's not a violent heavy. He's embarrassed by what he's doing and sympathizes with Margaret. He goes so far as to forget about his half of the money and starts to protect her, but the movie takes it too far. I knew a showdown between the two partners was inevitable, and I was willing to go along with it. It was too much, though, when Alek sacrificed himself for Margaret's good. It shouldn't have ended that way, and I felt betrayed. It's too bad, because everything else in this movie was outstanding. --Bill Alward, October 5, 2002