Everything about The Deep End is terrific. It is the epitome of exactly what a good thriller should be – it isn’t overly complex, but rather intelligent in the story it tells, with a tense atmosphere and a quiet intensity that pervades the central storyline and elevates it into the realm of the utterly chilling. In all honesty, my intention in watching this film was borne out of the fact that many consider this to be amongst Tilda Swinton’s finest performances, and it certainly stands as being the film that helped define her as one of her generation’s most chameleonic actresses. My curiosity led me to seek out this film, and while I was certainly not disappointed in Swinton’s extraordinary performance, the film around her was also surprisingly brilliant, and while it is not the most original of films and features the same kind of archetypal story that we’ve seen previously, it is a fascinating, well-performed and intricate character study that is far more than just what it appears to be. Certainly not a film without flaws (which work in its favour, giving it a rugged charm), The Deep End is a real masterwork of contemporary crime storytelling, and it never wavers from its simple but effective premise, and it remains the very definition of mature, compelling storytelling.

Margaret Hall (Swinton) is an ordinary housewife living in Tahoe City. Her husband works with the Navy and is often away. The family is quite comfortable in their upper-middle-class suburban life – but beneath their idyllic seaside existence is something far more troubling. Margaret’s oldest son, Beau (Jonathan Tucker) has been secretly engaged in an affair with immoral nightclub proprietor Darby Reese (Josh Lucas), who manipulates the underage boy to do his will, having a powerful and deceitful hold over her son. When Margaret finds out about a near-fatal accident involving her son and the older man, she intervenes, she pleads for Darby to leave her son alone. He apparently obliges, but when he breaks the agreement and tries to assert his dominance over the young man, an accident occurs that promptly brings an end to the sordid affair, and to Darby’s life. Margaret, discovering the body of Darby, is forced to cover up what appears to be a murder, to save her son, who has a promising future as a classical musician, from being seen as a suspect. However, her life is further complicated with the arrival of Alek Spera (Goran Višnjić), a mysterious man with clear ties to organized crime, who manifests in Margaret’s life, demanding a large sum of money, or else he and his partner will release a videotape providing evidence to a very sordid relationship between her son and the recently-deceased. Margaret sees her life spiralling out of control, but she continues to persevere, knowing that she will do anything to protect her family, and keep them safe from any potential harm, even if that means going to great lengths and grappling with the law and her own moral code.

The Deep End stands at a crossroads in terms of the thriller genre – it exists just after the trashy but highly-entertaining camp thrillers of the 1990s, and just before the intelligent, complex psychological thrillers of the early 2000s. In essence, it contains elements of both, which make it quite a unique film, but also one that follows a certain narrative structure, albeit in a way that doesn’t allow for predictability. One of the most significant merits of this film is that it could have very easily opted for a more conventional, cheap approach, but rather chose to imbue its story with a certain twisted elegance. There’s a quality to this film that strikes the viewer as most profound, namely in the way it navigates the life of upper-middle-class people, who are usually portrayed as solely the victims in these kinds of films. The Hall family in The Deep End are both victims and perpetrators, and it shifts the psychology of crime to a very different social space, allowing this film to ruminate on the mental machinations of affluent people caught in a particularly sinful situation. Its simplicity really works in its favour, because while the story may be relatively straightforward, with very few deviations from the central focus, it allows for meaningful development of these characters, with the complexities of this film coming from the way these individuals are constructed as bundles of secrets and neuroses, showing how everyone is hiding something and will go to any lengths to keep those secrets deeply hidden from view. There isn’t a police station or traditional crime scene to be found anywhere in this film, with the stage for the central conflict being suburban homes, sketchy nightclubs and tranquil waters, all of which are harbouring dark and demented secrets.

Watching The Deep End now is interesting, considering this was Swinton’s breakthrough performance, and we know this was the start of an extremely promising career from an actress who would go on to be one of the greatest of her generation. Yet, when this film was released, it must’ve been a revelation to see this actress, known for underseen arthouse fare in Europe, handling a role such as that of Margaret Hall, the epitome of the perfect American housewife – this is the kind of performance given by established actresses, not a relative newcomer to the mainstream industry. Needless to say, Swinton proved herself more than capable, and while we now know the exceptionally limitless nature of her acting arsenal, just considering this as an earlier performance from her demonstrates how she has always been so wonderfully talented. This is often referred to as one of Swinton’s finest performances, and as an ardent devotee, I sought it out for the longest time before eventually coming across it – and I was certainly as impressed with her here as ever. We all know how brilliant of an actress Swinton is, but her ability to play Margaret, an unassuming, ordinary suburban housewife, with such deft precision and beautiful intimacy is utterly incredible. Swinton may be famous for her more eccentric, offbeat and occasionally gender-bending roles that define her as contemporary cinema’s reigning monarch of strange performances, but we can’t deny that even when playing someone extremely ordinary, she succeeds massively. A special mention must go to Goran Višnjić, whose performance as Alek Spera was quite a revelation in itself, and while Swinton is known to be quite a formidable scene partner, he holds his own as the mysterious and conflicted stranger, whose morals are murky from the outset, and whose true motives we never truly know. Spera is consistently shifting between the roles of hero and villain, and right until the final heartbreaking moments when his character perishes (was it truly an accident or was it a way of sacrificing himself to save Margaret?), we never know where he stands. The sparring that occurs between Swinton and Višnjić is something to behold and warrants very special mention because individually they’re both great, but together they’re truly terrific.

The Deep End is not a film about crime, but rather one about the effects of crime, and the toll criminal behaviour has on the perpetrator, especially those who find themselves in the position unintentionally. The central impetus of this film and the underlying theme that sets the story into motion is not about a crime at all, but rather a fatal accident that was no ones fault other than the victim. However, the ways various characters respond to this event end up becoming the crimes that govern this film. Whether it be hiding the body in order to prevent suspicion being raised, obstructing justice by concealing the truth, or extorting someone in order to acquire financial compensation for knowledge are all present throughout the film, and become the tools upon which the filmmakers manage to tell his twisted but compelling story. The Deep End looks at the lengths some people will go to in order to protect themselves or others, especially their loved ones, from being caught up in criminal activity – and if that means committing crimes of their own to distract or obscure the truth, many seem willing to put their own innocence at risk to help others (we can see this towards the end, where Margaret “confesses” to being complicit in the murder, when she actually wasn’t involved at all). Moreover, The Deep End is not told with the same narrative coherency as other traditional crime films, whereby (with the exception of a few deviations and red herrings) normally move from one point to another. This film is structured around the form of a web of deception and criminal behaviour, different characters committing different crimes, large and small, creating a harrowing and often macabre tapestry of wrongdoing, where every action launches the perpetrators further and further into the proverbial deep end.

Another fascinating quality of The Deep End is that unlike more conventional crime films, where everything is resolved by the end and the audience has sufficient answers to the panoply of questions posed throughout, this film refuses to answer much. There are complex mysteries lingering throughout this film, that goes far deeper than just an accidental murder, and The Deep End leaves nearly all of them unresolved. What is the root of the Hall patriarch being so entirely absent from the narrative? He is cited as being a naval officer – but there is always the implication that his absence is not merely work-related, but far more sinister. Marriage troubles would be the logical conclusion – why is Margaret so surprised to receive a call from him, as well as so stilted when conversing with her supposed loving husband? Why are there no pictures of him around the house? Why can’t Margaret contact him easily (especially because he is at sea so often), and surely his colleagues would be more open to allowing them to talk if they knew his marriage was functioning. Moreover, the background to Beau’s relationship with the sleazy owner of a nightclub a considerable distance from his home is left ambigious, as is the nature of their companionship – how did the older man manage to have such a hold over Beau that forced him into what seems like involuntary submission? Furthermore, who are the two gangsters who materialize and threaten to destroy the Hall family by revealing their secrets? There is so much below the surface of The Deep End, and all these questions are intentionally left unanswered – yet it never appears to be poor writing or eluding a particular narrative point for consistency, but rather a way of evoking more tension and mystery. The Deep End is an atmospheric film, one filled with deception and mystery, and we are witness to only one brief moment in what is clearly a corrupt society lurking just beneath a beautiful and idyllic community. Real life doesn’t always provide all the answers, so why should this film, which presents itself as a neo-realist adaptation of the crime thriller genre?

The Deep End is a brilliant film – it is a film primarily build out of the human tendency to keep secrets, especially those that are the most dangerous and pertain to them or their loved ones. Anchored by an astonishing performance by Tilda Swinton, who is simply sublime in what would prove to be her first major breakout role, The Deep End manages to be an extremely powerful and poignant crime thriller, one that understands the value of simplicity and employs a certain coherency to its story that never makes it pedestrian, but rather allows the story at the core to remain straightforward, and having the true mysteries coming from the minds of the characters involved – by the time the film has ended, the death of Darcy Reese, whether a murder or an accident, is almost inconsequential, with the real suspense and social horror coming from the post-incident activities of a small set of characters directly involved, and how they use their own motives and morals to protect themselves from harm. The Deep End is a well-made and often chilling crime thriller, one that never condescends the audience by telling us too much, nor too poorly-written to not tell us enough. It finds the perfect balance, and while it may not be the most innovative film of the genre, it is tight, direct and quite astonishing in its intelligent approach to a well-taut genre.