Adrian Lyne has been a strange case in the annals of film history. Two words that best used to describe his work would be sexy and opulent. His characters exist in realms of privilege; shiny exteriors that mask true emotions under cool surfaces. The Eighties saw his rise, capturing the zeitgeist. Beginning with Flashdance as his only feel-good entry, Lyne is more known for 9 1/2 Weeks, Fatal Attraction, and Indecent Proposal. Then his work soured with his version of Lolita, which put me off by an actress my age playing against Jeremy Irons. For as much as he’s gushed over, my personal feeling is Lyne is more misanthropic a person as any. A quality such as this would be best suited to author Patricia Highsmith.
Her work is populated with calculating, manipulative people twisting their own webs. They inhabit moral ambiguity which divide most audiences. Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, her most famous novels, have been adapted numerous times. It has been announced that Hot Priest himself, Andrew Scott, will be taking up Tom Ripley in a series for Showtime. First filmed in 1960 as French film Purple Noon which I suggest checking out, Matt Damon took on Ripley in 1999. Fittingly that his best friend should work on another of Highsmith’s lesser-known works.
And that brings us to Deep Water, Lyne’s return to directing in twenty years. This concerns Vic Van Allan and his wife Melinda played by Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. Theirs is a marriage of comfort and convenience more than anything. From the first scene we see cracks present. Melinda’s actions as a mother don’t make us sympathize even as details come to light about Vic. You see, they have an understanding that Melinda can flirt and take lovers but never consummate. We see instances where something might occur but we are left unsure. Nothing concrete is presented.
But Vic is harboring his own secrets. It is alluded to, at the beginning, one of Melinda’s former lovers has gone missing and presumed dead. Did Vic have something to do with it? In an exchange worthy of Glenn Close, Vic all but confesses this to her current flame Joe. A threat ratcheting up the tensions going forward. Some have said this gives the whole conceit away, only to those unaware of Highsmith’s motives.
For her the meat of the story doesn’t lie in the whodunnit or even the what, it is the why. This breed of writer thrives more on character motivation than on simple physical clues. Ripley’s envy, Bruno’s greed and malice towards his mother; these are her concerns. Think author Donna Tartt’s classics students in The Secret History. One good example of splitting the difference is Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, which has some stark comparisons to both this book and film. It’s easy to see why it is one of her favorite novels.
Affleck’s turn in David Fincher’s film is an apt corollary to Vic here. His vacant stare, seething with quiet rage as events unfold. In a weird turn, this film was delayed due to pandemic reasons and later to Disney’s merger with Fox. In that time, Affleck and de Armas began and ended a relationship. Not one for speculating on actors, it still informs how we view them. Other darkly erotic films like Eyes Wide Shut and By The Sea, also starring couples, place an air of mystery and speculation onto them. But how cold Adrian Lyne presents this fictional couple, hard to see why they were together. An uneven film to say the least, made for some un-happy viewing.
