THE DROWNING
US, 2016, 95 minutes, Colour.
Josh Charles, Julia Stiles, Avan Jogia, John C. Mc Ginley, Tracy Thoms.
Directed by Bette Gordon.
The Drowning is a psychological drama, a psychiatrist rescuing a man from drowning and discovering that he is a former client, giving testimony in a trial where the boy is accused of murder and goes to prison.
Josh Charles is the psychiatrist and Julia Stiles plays his wife, an artist. The young man with the past is played by Avan Jogia.
The man becomes more and more dependent on the psychiatrist, experts advising him to take the young man on and try to help him. And the young man also ingratiates himself with the psychiatrist’s wife.
So, this is a psychological exploration of the professional, his past behaviour, his career, the challenge to his conscience and his dealing with the young boy in the past.
On a realistic level, the psychiatrist might have been better warned not to take on the man as a client – because of the potential destruction to his life, marriage and career.
1. The title? The drowning and the rescue? This, the visuals, based on a novel by Pat Barker?
2. The American town, homes, offices, courts? The musical score?
3. The introduction to the character of Tom, psychiatrist, his experience and diving into the water, the rescue, the discovery of than his identity?
4. Danny, his age, in the water? The revelation about his past, in the court, age 11, the crime, whether he committed it or not? Tom and his role in Danny sentenced to prison? Danny and his return to Tom, trying to bond with him? The puzzle?
5. Danny’s adult behaviour, the influence of the past, his demands in the present?
6. Tom, age, experience, personality, his relationship with Lauren, the bonds, her art, her reaction to the rescue? Danny and his visits, her impression, not knowing the background of the past?
7. Tom, going to the counsellor, her urging Tom to take on Danny’s case? The pressure on him?
8. The interactions between Tom and Danny, Danny and his attitudes, intentions? Tom, the interactions, the effect on him?
9. The buildup to the ending, the effect on all the central characters?
10. The professional plausibility of the plot, Tom and his work, the past with Danny, taking on his case and the repercussions?
