Deep Water review: Ben Affleck is excellent in Hulu’s sexy murder thriller

There’s something pleasurably disreputable about Adrian Lyne’s twisted domestic drama Deep Water — a trashy, tabloid scandalousness that’s almost quaint. It’s the first film in 20 years from Lyne, who ruled the erotic-thriller genre of the 1980s and ’90s with a string of steamy smash hits like Fatal AttractionAnd Indecent Proposal. Hulu will stream the movie on March 18. It stars Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck, who had an intense romance, but they split before pandemic-delayed filmmakers could launch a public relations campaign. There is a hint of suspicion in the release of this film. Disney acquired the film when it purchased 20th Century Fox. After two delays, Disney pulled its theatrical release. Then, with almost tangible regret, they handed it over to Hulu (and Amazon) for international release. It could be perverted, out of tune with times or simply bad.

“Not really” is the answer to all three questions. True to Lyne’s form, Deep WaterThis is a polished, enjoyable cod-psychological thriller. It’s just as classy and chic enough to appeal to a desire for filmic junk food. And while its fate might seem ignominious for a film that was once perceived, by its producers at least, as a prestige production — they were clearly fishing for another Gone Girl — it’s a perfect prospect for a Friday night in with a bucket-sized glass of wine.

Photo: Claire Folger/20th Century Studios

Deep WaterIt is based upon the 1957 classic novel by The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith, misanthropic author at her worst. Highsmith loved nothing more that to identify the frustrated, dark desires in suburban American men. The filmmakers’ unlikely stroke of genius was realizing the perfect modern subject for one of her icy studies of emasculation would be Ben Affleck.

Affleck portrays Vic Van Allen, an idle wealthy man who is now living in the New Orleans suburbs on the profits of his microchip for combat drones. His 6-year-old daughter Trixie is his only companion. He also cycles and edits a quarterly on vanity arts. He also tolerates his wife Melinda (de Armas), a fiery lush who conducts brazen affairs with lunkheaded, pretty young men right under Vic’s nose, flaunting them at social events and even inviting them round for awkward dinners. Vic’s friends regard his forbearance with a mixture of admiration, pity, and frustration. The central mystery behind the story is what holds Vic back; when and how he will break down is what keeps the suspense.

Vic is quite a character. He seems to wander through his life in a deadened daze, yet he isn’t exactly passive. He always seems to be in control — perhaps too much control. Trixie and Trixie are his best moments. Lyne Bryld, cinematographer Eigil Brild capture these scenes with an alien glow. (The snails are a wonderfully weird and unsettling touch of Highsmith’s; Lyne has said that the studio was eager to cut them, but he rightly insisted on keeping them in.)

Photo: Claire Folger/20th Century Studios

Affleck’s performance is brilliantly modulated. Affleck inhabits Vic most of the time with a horrible inertness only enhanced by his large stature. It can appear that he is parodying the Sad Affleck movie by looming in the frame and even looking down on his stubble. There are moments when he displays a frightening inch of steel. A previous boyfriend of Melinda’s disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and early in the film, Vic scares off her latest beau by claiming to have killed him. Affleck’s suppressed, hyper-controlled rage makes it all too believable. Vic remains unreadable until and beyond the party at the pool that ends the film.

Vic with Melinda is again something different. In Highsmith’s novel, their marriage is bitter and loveless, but that isn’t Lyne’s kind of kink. So in the film, the couple’s cycle of jealousy and provocation is given a perverse sexual charge. De Armas has a charismatic performance; just think how charming she is in the film. Knives are OutOr of her speed and elegance in stealing the entire of You have no choice but to live.Let’s imagine that all this energy is channeled into a firework display full of messy sexuality. She might have overwhelmed such a subdued Affleck, but it’s more like a meeting between unstoppable force and immovable object. The power dynamic isn’t as one-sided as it appears. Vic’s refusal to let Melinda get a rise out of him is another kind of control, and Lyne, dirty-minded as ever, suggests he might be getting a kick out of it — or they both might.

It’s not so Deep WaterThis is truly a piece of psychological complexity. Lyne has picked up right where he left off with 2002’s Be unfaithful The one in which Diane Lane contemplates sex on trains. It’s almost shocking how untroubled his work has been by 20 years in the wilderness, failing to get projects greenlit.

Image courtesy of 20th Century Studios

His themes and filmmaking style as well as gender politics have all been out of favor during that time. Because of the quality performances by his actors and solid scripts, his films have an airy sophistication. Deep Water’s case, by Zach Helm and Euphoria showrunner Sam Levinson), and he’s up there with Ridley and Tony Scott as one of the most influential visual stylists of his generation. He has helped to shape the look of TV and movie dramas for three decades with his mix of extravagant real-estate porn as well as sultry backlit extreme closeups. His Hitchcockian overtones and instincts are wide-ranging, but he is a master of the potboilers. Deep WaterThis is not an exception.

That’s why it doesn’t really harm the film that it gets a bit silly as it builds to a climax. It’s a nostalgic pleasure to watch a starry, elevated bit of hokum like this go for the jugular. Lyne smartly puts playwright and great character actor Tracy Letts in the small but key role of a local writer who believes Vic’s line about killing one of Melinda’s boyfriends, and takes his suspicions to their logical conclusion. Letts’ simmering envy and vanity add a nice tang to the curdled melodrama, while the decision to modify Highsmith’s bleak conclusion works surprisingly well.

The film is a joint effort by de Armas, Affleck and Affleck. Affleck in particular, who in roles as diverse as these and in his uproarious character in The Last DuelHe is displaying not only his acting talent and financial resources, but also his ability to manipulate his image. Sad Affleck portrays a relatable embodiment of an impotent, defeated middle-age, where he clutches defeat at the gates of wealth and success. Deep WaterWe get the chance to witness him let go.

Deep WaterHulu streaming will be available on March 18,