Deep End

Cast & Crew

Jane Asher

Susan

John Moulder-Brown

Michael "Mike"

Diana Dors

Mike's 1. lady client

Jerzy Skolimowski

Director

Critic Reviews for Deep End

Audience Reviews for Deep End

• Dec 19, 2011

  At the age of 15, Mike(John Moulder-Brown) gets his first job as a men's attendant at a public baths, where he is told by the manager(Karl Ludwig Lindt) that someday all of this could be his. Mike's opposite number, Susan(Jane Asher), shows him the ropes while giving him hints as how to get really good tips, informing him of when female customers show up. That gives her time for not only a fiance(Christopher Sandford) but also time for dalliances with the swimming instructor(Karl Michael Vogler). "Deep End" is an offbeat movie that in the end is something of a qualified success. On the one hand, the movie gets certain things right in Mike's rites of passage, namely the parents showing up to embarrass him at work, his first paycheck and encountering people of different backgrounds and ages at work that he would not have ordinarily come into contact with in a place where men and women are supposed to keep to their separate places. Along those lines, the movie's central conflict arises from Mike's inexperience as he misreads Susan's flirtations as something more serious while she sees him as only an adorable kid. But in reality, he is stalking her. However, the movie sets an odd tone by occasionally finding the humor in his actions. While some of it is actually funny in his hopelessness, it is, regardless, kind of disconcerting.

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  walter m Super Reviewer
• Aug 14, 2011

  This was a transcendent movie experience. Then, at the last second, Cat Stevens broke into the soundtrack and was able to kill the buzz of this movie that somehow combined the sensibilities of Godard and Truffaut ... once you sift out stuff you might see from Roeg and Lester. If Cat Stevens had sang the same song in the last 30 seconds of Taxi Driver, it would have been only slightly less appropriate. Otherwise, throughout the movie, there's a German rock group called "Can" playing a disturbingly modern but tonal score that pulses forward and wants to date the movie in the future, like 1980 -- a scary addition to a movie with two characters who are always rushing ahead of themselves. There is great handheld camerawork that stays warm and intimate with characters at high speeds. Highly recommended, but to avoid what for me was a major buzz kill, a friend has to illegally rip the movie from the blue-ray restored edition and use his/her computer to replace the Cat vocal at the end with some Can.

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  Super Reviewer
• Feb 23, 2011

  Skolimowski's theatre of the absurd, sharing a lot of style and approach with Polanski (both were partners in crime for "knife in water") has to be one of the most overlooked and brilliant rites of passage in British cinema. The kind of film so great in its simplicity that makes you think how in hell you didn't come up with something like that for a start. As the main character, I also have a soft spot for ginger, delicate Jane Asher.

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  pierluigi p Super Reviewer
• Feb 10, 2011

  Deep End is a practically unheard of film these days - but it's a surprisingly good one that urgently needs a bigger audience. The film is basically a coming of age story involving young love and teenage angst. Despite the fact that everything in this film has been seen before in other films, it all comes together well and doesn't feel like it's just rethreading old ground, which is very much to it's credit. Writer-director Jerzy Skolimowski does a really good job of telling his story too, which means that deep End is an easy film to get along with. The title refers to the film's central location - a swimming pool. We focus on Mike, a young lad fresh out of school who has just got his first job as a pool attendant at the local bath house. On his first day, he meets the beautiful Susan and falls head over heels in love with her. Trouble is, Susan already has a fiancé and while she kind of likes Mike, she doesn't take him seriously...leading Mike to become frustrated and willing to do anything in order to have Susan all for himself. The two central performers are really good and responsible for a lot of the film's success. Jane Asher is absolutely beautiful and it's easy to see why she'd have a young lad lusting after her. Horror fans will likely recognise John Moulder-Brown from classic horror The House That Screamed, as well as Hammer Horror Vampire Circus. He's good here too, and expertly captures the immaturely and lust of youth. The film itself is always interesting and the director keeps the central relationship at the forefront of the film, which helps to keep things interesting. The film is set in 1970's London, and the director does a good job of capturing the gritty feel of the city. A lot of the film takes place inside a swimming baths, but sequences that take place in sleazy corners of the city are among the best of the film. The director does have an eye for sleaze too - some of the bath house punters are rather shady characters, and we've also got scenes set inside a prostitute's room and an adult movie theatre. The ending is iconic and memorable, and manages to tie up all the film's central themes. Overall, this really is a very good film that more people need to see!

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  Super Reviewer