Deep Water Review: The Erotic Thriller With Ana De Armas And Ben Affleck With Curiosity And Mystery?
Star Cast: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Jacob Elordi, and ensemble
Director: Adrian Lyne
Streaming Platform: Hulu and Amazon
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Deep Water new film by director Adrian Lyne, a director specialized in suspense thriller with erotic elements, arrives on Prime Video and Hulu with the intention of becoming one of the most talked about films of the season. And although it might seem that in Deep Water all the ingredients present form a great whole, the truth is that we are facing an irregular film in almost all its aspects. Deep Water adapts a novel by Patricia Highsmith, bringing its plot to the present time. The original material, published in 1957, is adapted to the characteristics of our time and the final result is not as attractive as it should be. Everything that works in the novel gets stuck in this adaptation that screenwriters Zach Helm and Sam Levinson have failed to bring to fruition.
Deep Water Review: The Story
And so the story of Vic and Melinda it seems totally out of our time. They are a beautiful couple, with about ten years of difference, he is a genius of electronics, very rich, reserved and distinguished, she is a wife, she is beautiful, young, exuberant and loves to make new friends. Uninhibited and unscrupulous, Melinda never misses an opportunity to spend time with the blond guy on duty, even under the eyes of her husband, who decides to behave with detachment and trust in front of her: she doesn’t want to be that kind of person, she doesn’t want to suffocate. the exuberant wife does not want to limit her propensity to drink and party. However, on the occasion of one of these parties in which they always attend together, Vic is keen to approach the aforementioned blond, telling him the story of another old friend of Melinda’s, a man who has disappeared. The young man feels threatened, gets scared, goes away. At the same time that old friend of Melinda is found dead. Who did it? Who wants to frame Vic? Why did Vic think it was fun to threaten the blondie?
The story then proceeds schematically, with Melinda collecting friend after friend and Vic always trying to maintain his detached and confident attitude towards his handsome wife. But who was it that killed that man? Does it really matter to Lyne to hide the mystery and tread the thriller side of the story?
What really interests the director, it seems, is the staging of a sick love which, however, seems to work for those directly involved. Vic, who has the impassivity of Ben Affleck, collects every provocation, waiting for his wife to pay him some attention. Melinda, who has the dazzling beauty of Ana De Armas, takes pleasure in provoking her husband by attracting the attention of other men, but at the same time seeking the jealous reaction in Vic, the only behavior she perceives as being of interest towards her.
Deep Water Review And Analysis
Adrain Lyne offers us a couple who live, very solidly, of a sick and sadomasochistic balance, which works for the two protagonists. The director does not go fishing in the “deep waters” of the story, because everything there is to know is on the surface, and he is brash, shouted, very clear, he does not hide behind any metaphor nor does he want to build a mystery where there is no ‘is need. Deep Water can be disturbing to the viewer who is not willing to leave aside his ethical sense and be carried away by history, since it represents a window into the privacy of a couple, better in the “hidden” of a married life. not everyone is willing to consider it eligible.
Deep Water has points of contact with Gone Girl – Liar Love, which do not end in the presence of Ben Affleck in the role of an altogether inadequate husband, but which also extend to the fundamental assumption at the basis of the story: you never really know a person, not even if you marry them and live next to them. That look returned in the finale between Vic and Melinda, is very reminiscent of that between Amy and Nick, a look of acceptance of the status quo, of awareness of the person in front of you, in which the couple finally “see each other”.
Perhaps it is not quite the time for stories like this, which would have been better received a few years ago, at the time of Fatal Attraction, so to speak, but it is also right, and thanks to Hulu who produced the film possible, that they still hold on to mind the depths of the human being, whether one remembers, in one way or another, that relationships are all different, complex, sometimes even incomprehensible, yet in their own way legitimate. Here we are not justifying the behavior of the protagonists, we are only admitting it as plausible in real life. At a time when polarization of opinion is becoming the norm, Adrian Lyne with Deep Water it reminds us that there is a gray scale that too often we tend to hide.
On the one hand, he doesn’t get to psychologically delve into the characters enough for us to understand why the hell they’re still together (he’s obsessed with her, but what’s with Melinda?). On the other hand, the materialization is quite poor: the final chase seems more worthy of an episode of The Benny Hill Show than a serious thriller. Ana de Armas displays all her sensuality on screen, fitting perfectly with the fiery and provocative character she plays, but Ben Affleck gives her a very poor reply. She, in general, is missing passion in a story that should be hot.
Waters Deep falls short in all the ways we hoped it would deliver: it neither manages to safeguard the mystery, nor is it faithful to the novel, nor will it set your eyes on fire with high-voltage scenes. I wish I had taken advantage of the transgressive aspects of the original text, the marital conflicts and the sick obsession that establishes the dynamics between the characters.
By the way, before finishing this text, we make a quick clarification. There will be those who make a mess with this film and the adaptation of another successful novel: Deep Water, the British miniseries available on Film In that bears a strong resemblance to Big Little Lies. As you will guess, they have nothing to do with it, beyond the identical title, but we leave you the links in case you want to discover it.
What could have been a festive erotic thriller turns into little more than a tabletop movie. Ben Affleck seems to be on autopilot at all times and, what is worse, it seems that everyone involved in the film was infected by that little energy. One of the great bets of Prime Video in the field of suspense remains at half gas and it seems unlikely that it will become another success of the director. Although Lyne’s cinema has never sought critical acclaim, those who know his work know that at least he has enough skill to raise the temperature of the room, something that fails on this occasion. That his best film remains his only full foray into horror, Jacob’s Ladder, should perhaps encourage the filmmaker to try those directions in his next adventure.
Deep Water Review: The Last Words
The new adaptation of Deep Water makes water and has no depth if you allow us the easy pun. It lacks substance, completely changes the ending and has certain moments that are embarrassing. A missed opportunity to shine the chemistry between Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. Ana de Armas eats the camera every time she appears on the screen, even though her character’s way of acting makes no sense at all.
