DEEP WATER

US, 2022, 115 minutes, Colour.

Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Grace Jenkins, Dash Mihok, Rachel Blanchard, Kristin Connolly, Jacob Elordi, Lil Rel Howery, Brendan Miller, Finn Whitrock, Jeff Pope.

Directed by Adrian Lyne.

The first thing to notice is that this film comes from a novel by celebrated crime writer, Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, the Tom Ripley novels). In fact, Deep Water has been filmed a number of times, especially with a French version Eau Profonde with Isabelle Huppert.

Audiences with longer memories will be alerted when they see that the name of the Director is Adrian Lyne, originally a British Director who made films in the 1980s and 1990s, often with sexual content like Nine Weeks. He is better known for his classic, Fatal Attraction, as well as Indecent Proposal with Demi Moore and Robert Redford and the 90s version of Lolita with Jeremy irons. It is then surprising to find that after his very well received Unfaithful, with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, in 2002, there was a 20 year gap before he made Deep Water.

This is a film about love fixation as well as violence.

We are introduced to a couple, Vic,a seemingly solid and stolid Ben Affleck (which does suit the character as the film develops) and his highly flirtatious wife, Melinda, Anna de Armas. They seem to have strong bonds, their language, sexual behaviour, and their dealing with their rather precocious young daughter, Trixie.

However, it soon emerges that not only is Melinda flirtatious, she is something of a nymphomaniac, openly attentive, as Vic watches, to the men at parties, going out with them, arriving home late. This is particularly the case, initially, with Joel whom Vic confronts, telling him that he once killed a man for attentions to his wife. He even invites Joel to a meal, continuing the threats but Melinda continuing to make advances on Joel.

Vic has quite a number of friends, older, their wives, who meet socially at his house, at a pool.

One of the newcomers to the town is a screenwriter, interested in murder mysteries, particularly interested in Vic and the story of the man who disappeared. He is played by actual playwright and screenwriter, Tracy Letts. Vic is polite to his wife who then sides with Vic against her husband.

We see Vic becoming more and more intense, quietly intense, a smiling face but interior anger, charming with his little daughter, more and more on edge with his wife, especially when she takes piano lessons from a professional pianist (Australian actor, Jacob Elordi). On a stormy night, after performing for visitors, guests go swimming in the pool but, when it starts to rain, the pianist is found floating in the pool. Vic becomes the rescuer along with his friends but the pianist is dead. A hysterical Melinda accuses him of murder.

The melodrama heightens when a friend from the past reappears and Melinda reopens a relationship with him, Vic, pretending to help him, takes him to a lonely forest place and…

The culmination, with the detective tracking Vic, becomes more melodramatic – and a Patricia Highsmith ending with a rather smug Vic, and Melinda realising that with his killing for her, he really loves her.

1. Domestic drama, psychological thriller, murder investigation? The work of Patricia Highsmith, her themes and characters, obsessions?
2. The city setting, affluent homes, social life? The surrounding countryside, the woods, the river? The musical score?
3. The opening, Vic arriving home, Melinda watching, the scene repeated at the end with different significance?
4. The domestic arrangement, the ordinary mundane aspects, Trixie and old McDonald’s farm, singing, Melinda upset, Vic and his love for his daughter, taking her to school, husband and wife at home? Tensions?
5. Melinda, her background, the marriage, with Trixie, upset, love? Her relationship with Vic? Getting ready to go out, the dresses, his opinions? Going to the social? The arrangements with the babysitter?
6. Melinda, at the party, Vic observing her, being with Joel, flirting, more? Vic talking with Joel, the story of the man who was murdered, disappeared? Vic claiming to have killed him? Then joking? Later and inviting Joel to the meal, the lobster and Joel being allergic, his time with Melinda, her flirtation? Vic threatening him, ousting him?
7. The audience gradually understanding the relationship between Vic and Melinda, Vic as quiet, stolid, observing, demanding? Melinda with the touch of nymphomaniac, her relationships with men, leading them on, her drinking, sexual encounters, staying out at night? Vic and his patience, quietly losing patience?
8. Vic seeing her with Tony, Tony’s later arrival, his background, the past relationship with Melinda, socialising at the house? Vic observing? Later picking him up, taking him to the site, the rough drive through the forest, the attack, the stones, killing him, loading him with stones in the river? The later picnic, tricksy near the water in the body surfacing, Melinda losing her scarf, Vic returning to get it, and load down the corpse?
9. The information about Melinda’s paying Charlie, the music lessons, his going to the bar, Charlie’s talent? At the party, Charlie flirting, meeting Vic? The group of men, the pool, the rain, Charlie floating in the pool? Vic helping with resuscitation, the other men? Melinda and her wild accusations against Vic?
10. The aftermath, tense relationship between the couple? The background of the snails, taking business to see them, Tony’s suggesting that they have some for the meal, Melinda going into the area, discovering the wallet? A contrived sequence? A contrived clue?
11. Vic, returning to the forest, the past encounters with Don Wilson, screen and crime writer, his sympathetic wife and Vic dancing with her, Don and his suspicions, his accusations, hiring the private eye, Vic confronting Melinda and Don? And the private eye? Don following Vic to the scene, the confrontation, the chase, Vic and his mountain bike, the shortcuts, on the Road, Don losing control, his death?
12. VIC, returning home, Melinda watching, her motivations, not revealing the truth because Vic had proved that he truly loved her? Vic and his interactions with Trixie, precocious, her questions? And the family carrying on?