Deep Water is a loose adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1950s novel by the same name. The film stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas as Vic Van Allen and Melinda Van Allen, and while their complex marital situation and the ensuing fallout bear a striking similarity to the novel, Zach Helm and Sam Levinson’s script executes the plot in an entirely unexpected fashion. Rather than embracing the psychological thriller aspect of Highsmith’s novel, this Deep Water jumps into the deep end of the erotic thriller pool, weaving a far more complicated and unnerving narrative.
Set in New Orleans, Affleck and de Armas play a couple who have fallen out of love with one another. They keep up appearances with their friend group, which includes Vic’s pals Nash (Lil Rel Howery) and Arthur (Dash Mihok), and wannabe author Lionel Washington (Tracy Letts) and his wife (Kristen Connolly). To even the closest outside observers, Vic and Melinda are just a couple who have exited the honeymoon phase of their relationship. No one seems overly concerned with Melinda’s habit of parading around their lavish house parties with pretty boys like Joel Nash (Brendan C. Miller), Richard Chase (Jacob Elordi), and Dom Hart (Finn Wittrock). Not even Vic, at least not at first.
Melinda has a very clear pattern. She finds a new pretty boy to have an affair with and then invites him to one of the numerous house parties the Van Allens have. She flaunts her chemistry with the guy in front of Vic, Vic feigns ignorance and claims he doesn’t want to control her. Then Vic inevitably gets mad about her having an affair, Melinda convinces him to invite her lover boy over for dinner and play nice with them, and then Melinda and Vic inevitably have a fight that leads to them making up in the bedroom. It’s an extremely unnerving cycle, considering each pretty boy ends up going away—some more permanently than others. That’s where the thriller side of this twisted tale comes into play.
For a film that has been heavily marketed as an insanely erotic thriller, Deep Water has a surprising lack of actual eroticism in it. Sure, Melinda is leading the men around by their lust for her, but it all feels surprisingly sanitized. That’s not to say that there aren’t sex scenes–because there definitely are–but they hardly live up to the likes of Basic Instinct, Crash, or Color of Night. Even in the thriller department, Deep Water feels like a derivative of much better thrillers like A Simple Favor or Gone Girl, which ironically also stars Affleck as a husband who is suspected of murder. It edges you along, building up the intrigue and mystery of it all, but never really provides the release you expect. By the end, audiences will be left wondering if they just spent almost two hours watching a couple explore a murderous cuckolding situation.
Deep Water doesn’t do a very good job of helping the audience connect with its cast, as Vic and Melinda are both very surface-level characters. Between the two, Vic is the far more developed character. We see that he is a dedicated father who adores his daughter, and we see him tending to his unique snail-raising hobby. Melinda, on the other hand, is set up to purely be a beautiful and promiscuous wife that has a drinking problem. de Armas is an extremely talented actress, but it feels like she gets typecast as the eye candy that lacks any real depth.
Despite being led by two stars like Affleck and de Armas, both seasoned performers are completely overshadowed by the true star of Deep Water: Grace Jenkins, who plays the Van Allens’ daughter Trixie. This pint-sized child actor delivers some incredibly heavy dialogue, like questioning her father about how a man drowned in their pool just as well as she playfully sings and dances around the family home like a kid. The filmmakers could clearly see that she is a star on the rise because they included nearly two minutes of her singing along to Leo Sayer’s “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” in the film’s credits.
It’s unfortunate that Deep Water is Adrian Lyne’s directorial return after a twenty-year hiatus. For a director who has given the world erotic thrillers like Fatal Attraction, Jacob’s Ladder, and Indecent Proposal, Deep Water lacked the passion and desire that Lyne has always been so capable of crafting on screen. The film has been plagued with issues since it was first announced: Affleck and de Armas’ real-life relationship ended, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, and its theatrical premiere was delayed three times before Disney ultimately decided to shift it to a Hulu-exclusive release. It’s possible that over the course of the past two years Deep Water has been stripped of all of its promised eroticism, leaving it more like tepid waters instead.
Rating: C+
Deep Water premieres on Hulu in the United States and Amazon Prime Video internationally on March 18.