"Deep Water" an immensely watchable adult melodrama that's sensual but bitter

Deep Water (2022)

Twenty years after Diane Lane's extramarital affair behind Richard Gere's back went south in “Unfaithful,” director Adrian Lyne is back, baby, and so is the once-defunct Erotic Thriller. Well, sort of. “Deep Water” is an intoxicating adult melodrama that Hollywood doesn’t seem to pump out anymore. It certainly brings the steaminess and revels in its trashier elements, but in actuality, there isn’t a whole lot of explicit sex between beautiful people here. As the second screen adaptation of a 1957 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith (whose novels made for exceptional films, “Strangers on a Train,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and “Carol”), “Deep Water” is sleek, immensely watchable, and blisteringly bitter about matrimony and monogamy.

 

Self-made after inventing a computer chip for military drones, Vic Van Allen (Ben Affleck) has created a comfortable life in New Orleans for his beautiful wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) and their adorable daughter Trixie (Grace Jenkins). Their marriage seems a bit distant lately but still loving, until the Allens attend a party and Melinda runs around with a younger man, dumb blonde Joel (Brendan C. Miller). It's seemingly an arrangement that everyone questions except for Vic, who watches indifferently from afar and tolerates it. After Vic manages to convince Melinda’s latest himbo that he killed one of her previous flings, Melinda shamelessly moves on to the next, pianist Charlie De Lisle (Jacob Elordi), who eventually turns up dead in a pool. Is Vic really a murderer, and if so, does it even bother Melinda?

Whatever the hell one’s expectations are, “Deep Water” is probably not that film. There is an air of mystery about Vic and Melinda’s relationship, as well as a perverse fascination about it. Melinda just being Melinda and doing whatever (and whomever) she pleases right under Vic's nose probably isn't healthy for their marriage, but it's an almost-functional toxicity, until it isn't. In the tightly constructed script by Zach Helm (2007’s “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”) and Sam Levinson (2021’s “Malcolm & Marie”), why Vic and Melinda do what they do is left ambiguous. It’s not not frustrating to be kept in the dark about what makes these people tick, but at the same time, we can’t stop watching them hurt and toy with each other. No film in recent memory has volleyed character sympathies so often that, even in the end, one isn't so sure if we're meant to allign with either side anymore.

Not knowing exactly who to root for is actually part of the fun, as well as for the two lead actors to play. Ben Affleck is chilling—and wickedly funny—as a glowering cuckold like Vic, who’s disrespected but also might be in more control than anyone thinks. Ana de Armas goes all in, sensuality first, as the reckless, uninhibited, even childish Melinda. Both roles are not meant to be lovable, and Affleck and de Armas are so committed (so much that they almost committed offscreen) with red-hot chemistry, and by design, there’s a detachment and a tension there as well that’s been brewing for a while. Perhaps, like Nick and Amy Dunne from "Gone Girl," Vic and Melinda really do deserve each other. Also, it seems like a good time as any to mention that Vic keeps a snail collection in their shed (!). There’s really no tidy explanation why (yes, snails are poisonous if prepared incorrectly), but it sure makes for a fresh and quirky character hobby and makes one want to dig deeper into snail metaphors.

The supporting cast is also a solid one, including Dash Mihok and Lil Rel Howery as two of Vic’s buddies; Jacob Elordi and Finn Wittrock as two of Melinda’s boyfriends; and Rachel Blanchard and Kristen Connolly as the wives of Vic and Melinda’s couple friends. Best in show, though, goes to Tracy Letts and all of his disapproving looks as new screenwriter friend Don, who grows increasingly suspicious of Vic.

Whether it’s too chilly or not tawdry enough for audiences, “Deep Water” is still something else. Though scene to scene can sometimes feel a bit disjointed—as if what’s unfolding will turn out to be a dream sequence—one can certainly never accuse the film of being boring. Eigil Bryld’s elegant cinematography and Marco Beltrami's memorably sultry musical theme gussy up the film as a classy, beguiling package that adults will want to just rip open. The end payoff, where one’s suspicions are confirmed, is comparatively more of a standard, Hollywood-style thriller, but it’s nonetheless exciting, leading to an ambiguous ending that still feels cohesive. Slightly more complex than the limiting “erotic thriller” classifier suggests, “Deep Water” sizzles and involves. You know you want it, but you still won’t be too sure how you feel about it.

Grade: B -

20th Century Studios released “Deep Water” (115 min.) on Hulu on March 18, 2022.