The Deep End

Rank

Top 20% of all time (see others with this rank)

Festival Year

2001 (click here to see all competition films from this year)

Category

Dramatic Competition

Cast

Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Peter Donat, Josh Lucas, Raymond Barry

Non-Cast Credits

Scott McGehee, David Siegel, Robert H. Nathan, Laura Greenlee, Giles Nuttgens, Lauren Zuckerman, Kelly McGehee

Description

With her husband perpetually away at work, a mother raises her children virtually alone. Her teenage son is testing the waters of the adult world, and early one morning she wakes to find the dead body of her gay lover on the beach of their rural lakeside home. What would you do? What is rational and what do you do to protect your child? How far do you go and when do you stop? These are the questions that bubble to the surface while watching The Deep End.

The newest work from the filmmaking team Scott McGehee and David Siegel. The Deep End is a riveting study of the complexity of motherhood and the instinct to protect one's young. Adapted from the novel, A Blank Wall, by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, the screenplay is a striking blend of the thriller and psychological drama. Exceptionally precise and lean filmmaking makes every shot vital to the story, drawing you deeper and deeper into this woman's nightmare. Tilda Swinton turns in an amazing performance as Margaret, the tight-lipped stare while her clear eyes flash a multitude of emotions in an instant. As she descends into a world of blackmail and extortion, the fabric of her once self-assured middle-class morality begins to unravel. Desperation escalates, and trusting anyone becomes absurd but increasingly necessary. At the bottom of The Deep End there exists a simple truth -- sometimes you do unnatural things out of the most natural love.

Reviewer

John Cooper (see other films reviewed by the same reviewer)

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