Hailing from the man who all but perfected the erotic thriller genre with films like Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal and 9½ Weeks, director Adrian Lyne’s return to the genre after 20 years, Deep Water, carries with it some lofty expectations. And while the star power of Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas (not to mention their real-life relationship) helps bring pedigree (and one would assume chemistry) to the project, it does little else for this unromantic, stilted drama that twists and turns in ways that may seem interesting at first but which never fail to unravel into a sloppy, disjointed mess.
Affleck plays all-around weird dude Vic Van Allen – a morally ambiguous retired millionaire thanks to the sale of a computer chip to the military – who plays at being a doting dad to daughter Trixie (Grace Jenkins) while his wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) sets tongues wagging in the neighbourhood, indulging in the company of men who aren’t her husband in a very public way. Vic doesn’t seem to mind too much, however, as he and his wife have an agreement that allows her to flirt with these men as long as she stays within the confines of her marriage. As Melinda’s actions become more and more lewd and neighbours begin to question Vic’s role in the mysterious disappearance of one of her “friends”, Vic’s mask of indifference begins to slip as jealousy rears its ugly head, prompting him down a dark path in order to put an end to his wife’s antics once and for all.
First and foremost, yes, the film would cease to exist if the couple took the obvious course of action and got a divorce. Situations like this are literally what the concept was made for but if that happened then hey, we wouldn’t have a movie. I don’t bring it up to nitpick, but rather to point out that things don’t make sense abound here and the easiest way to enjoy the film is to switch your brain off early. Yes, we’re supposed to believe that Affleck adores his wife as he so frequently reminds her, whilst giving her nothing but filthy looks the entire film. Yes, Vic spends a portion of his riches cultivating snails in a garden shed in his backyard and no one thinks anything of it, except for one smart cookie who wisely realises this as serial killer behaviour. Neither Melinda or Vic seem particularly happy to be in each other’s company and that really is the hardest aspect to ignore. It’s almost impossible to invest in anything either character is doing to spite or save the other if the central relationship is this wooden and uncaring.
The film also seems unsure of who exactly it wants us to side with as our protagonist. We spend the most amount of time with Vic, viewing Melinda’s indiscretions through a lens that seems designed to draw rage from the viewer – grinding away on strangers ten feet away from her husband and shooting him flirtatious looks while she does it – always feeling as if he is teetering on the edge of doing something terrible. When he does, it isn’t a massive relief or shock but just an event that happens. From here there are attempts to shift our view of both Melinda and Vic but they are both such rapid and significant changes to the behaviours we have seen for the last hour that the result is a complete emotional detachment entirely. You can argue both parties are wrong and deserve some sort of retribution, but the film’s real victim is their young child, who gets strangely little development or involvement in the plot, content to be used as little more than window dressing than the central pillar of the relationship that she obviously is. She also exhibits some severely unsettling behaviour for a child that somebody should look into immediately.
Admittedly there is some fun to be had in the tension of Vic stalking Melinda’s lovers, often inviting them to awkward group dinners where Affleck is free to belittle and intimidate them before the inevitable. It’s a performance strangely – and uncomfortably – similar to his Bruce Wayne and while it works to create that tense atmosphere it falls apart in the romantic element at the film’s core. For an erotic thriller, Deep Water feels strangely limp, telling us about the obsession Vic displays while never showing it. There are scenes that attempt to spice things up, sure, but they are always shot in a painfully uninteresting way or feel strangely timed – your child is asleep in the back seat, this is not the time for that Melinda. It all culminates in one of the most unintentionally hilarious final acts that offers no conclusion, raising more questions about character motivations than it answers as we fade to black.
Adrian Lyne has made some fantastic films in his storied career: Deep Water is not one of them. From the jump nothing about it makes a whole lot of sense; as character motivations constantly shift and the very premise strains credibility at every turn. Ben Affleck commits to a performance that is often bad but strangely watchable, alternating between complete psycho and a total schmuck on a dime as Ana de Armas does what she can with a terrible role. As a proof-of-concept for divorce, Deep Water is a textbook example of an extreme case for it, but as an erotic thriller, it feels strangely impotent.
Deep Water stars Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Grace Jenkins, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Blanchard, Tracey Letts, Dash Mihok, Kristen Connolly, Brendan Miller & Lil Real Howery – Streaming on Hulu in the US and on Prime Video in Australia now.