Deep Water: Adrian Lyne Rediscovers his Erotic Thriller Mojo with Patricia Highsmith's Help
By Thom Ernst
Rating: B
It’s not wise to dive head first into Deep Water. But if you dip your toe and slide slowly, you might wade neck deep in a cool erotic thriller.
You don't have to wade deep into Deep Water to recognize a story suitably structured to pique the interest of director Adrian Lyne, even if it's been decades since we last heard his name. Lyne (Fatal Attraction) breaks a 20-year movie-making hiatus to bring Patricia Highsmith's novel of the same name to the screen. (Director Michel Deville made a version in 1981).
Ben Affleck is the humiliated husband of Ana de Armas in Deep Water.
In hindsight, it's easy to wonder why Highsmith and Lyne hadn't connected sooner. The artists share a distinct distrust of the human condition. Both tend to curry suspicions that diabolical secrets lurk among the glib and the glamorous.
And just as Highsmith appears to scorn humanity and all hopes for a decent outcome, Lyne is equally delighted to flaunt our worst qualities and expose our bad behaviour.
Deep Water features Ben Affleck as Vic, a wealthy retired businessman whose fortune came from the morally compromised route of drone warfare.
Vic is married to Melinda, (Ana de Armas), who openly flaunts her indiscretions in front of her husband, their friends, and family. Even their six-year-old daughter, Trixie (Grace Jenkins), questions mommy's wild behaviour. It appears that Vic is an uber feminist husband who wouldn’t think of setting hard-line rules dictating her desires. Neighbours and friends sympathize as Vic is openly humiliated by a drunk and flirtatious Melinda. And Melinda sees Vic as weak, and so profoundly in love with her that divorce is never a threat.
It's difficult to decipher who of the two leads in the film is the most maddening: Melinda for being cruel or Vic for being tolerant. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Gone Girl the last time we've seen Ben Affleck so emasculated (or “remasculate,” in the words of one of Melinda's dumber lovers, Joel, played by Brendan Miller). Gone Girl was a better movie, to be sure, but there's enough in Deep Water to admire.
One first must admire author Highsmith. She reigns (even in death) as the unequivocal queen of her genre. Ostensibly her books are mysteries, but more accurately, they are thrillers. Highsmith is less interested in the whodunnit than in the howdunnit.
Her novels Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Price of Salt (filmed as Carol), and others have appealed not just to fans of crime fiction, but to filmmakers like Alfred Hitchcock, Wim Wenders, and Claude Chabrol.
Highsmith had an uncanny ability to bring the worst out in her characters, and she was rumoured to be just as capable of doing the same in her personal life. Her plots weave diabolical schemes into susceptible and easily compromised lives.
In her life, Highsmith was frank, dismissive, and openly critical of her fellow man, stating a strong preference for animals over humans. Rumour has it she once showed up to a dinner party with a head of lettuce covered in snails, claiming they were her companion for the night. Snails, by the way, have a prominent role in Deep Water.
Highsmith defenders are quick to contradict the rumours, but for my part, I can claim witness to at least one act of unabashed surliness. Besides, you can't do much better than the late Patricia Highsmith if you're going to namedrop.
In the late 80s, I was at a dinner with a group of authors, of which Highsmith was one. An author of some renown sheepishly approached Ms Highsmith graciously, acknowledging her work and the tremendous effect on his own writing. To which Highsmith responded, "Who cares?"
Twenty years ago, Lyne left us with Unfatihful (2000), a film vaguely remembered as disposable, although give me a convincing argument, and I will happily revisit. More notable are Lyne's Nine ½ Weeks (remembered too well to want to see again) and Indecent Proposal. I am likely to categorize Deep Water to the list of more memorable among Lyne's achievements.
This is possibly because a drought in this kind of film - where sexual promiscuity is used as emotional torture, and cuckolding as a wincing call-to-arms - has rendered the film nostalgic.
Deep Water is an Aesop Tale for grown-ups minus the moral. Lyne is in the business of fantasy. The biggest fantasy Lyne sells in Deep Water is of a world where no available moment to have sex is wasted.
But regardless how you respond to the rest of the film, Lyne does provide one of the sweetest credit rolls courtesies of Grace Jenkins.
Deep Water. Directed by Adrian Lyne. Starring Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Grace Jenkins and Lil Rel Howery. Debuts on Amazon Prime, Friday March 18.