Goran Visnjic and Tilda Swinton in "The Deep End."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Tilda Swinton Directors: Scott McGehee and David Siegel Rated: R, with violence, profanity and sex Length: 99 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(August 22, 2001) -- In The Deep End, an engrossing relationship drama is made more tantalizing by the film noir mystery that envelops it. You'll get caught up in the film because you'll have a rooting interest: You care about these people.

Particularly Margaret Hall. The hard-pressed but resourceful housewife at the center of the tale is played with the utmost skill and intelligence by Tilda Swinton, in one of the season's premiere performances.

Margaret and her family live along the shore of Lake Tahoe, outside Reno, Nev. She cares for her three school-aged children and her sickly father-in-law while her Navy husband is at sea.

We first encounter the resourceful Margaret rapping on the office door of a gay nightclub in Reno. She tells Darby Reese, the slimy 30-year-old manager, to stay away from her boy.

Darby (Josh Lucas) had recently seduced her 17-year-old son, Beau -- a good, bright kid and talented musician destined for college. The two had gotten drunk and into an automobile accident that almost killed them.

Darby visits, however, and he and the youth (Jonathan Tucker) fight in the boathouse. After the boy leaves, the dazed Darby falls and impales himself.

Margaret discovers the body and understands it was an accident -- but assumes her son was responsible. She immediately starts a cover-up by dumping the body in the lake.

But Margaret's troubles have just begun. The body is discovered and the mysterious Alek Spera (Goran Visnjic) comes to the door. The Deep End then shifts gears into a blackmail saga.

The script by co-writers and directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel adapts a 1940s novel that inspired the 1949 film The Reckless Moment.

This taut, compact version is decidedly contemporary, in both theme and style. One key is the gender shift that makes the illicit affair gay -- a topic you'd never see in mainstream cinema of the '40s.

Even better, McGehee and Siegel neither exploit that aspect, nor preach.

Margaret is never judgmental; her discoveries never dim her love for her child, nor alter her hope for his potential.

That's clear in the determination and fight of this relentless Momma Lion.

Swinton, who has only recently emerged from edgy independent film, creates a memorable character. Despite the turmoil swirling around her, the woman remains calm and collected on the surface.

But it's also clear she must, to keep herself and her family afloat. That's the richer, deeper layer of Swinton's remarkably restrained performance.

Like her character, diving to the bottom of Lake Tahoe to save her son, Tilda Swinton holds her breath.

As you watch, so will you.