Less Shallow Than It Looks

I do agree that if you go into "Deep Water" expecting a return to the heyday of the erotic thriller, from a director who helped turn the genre mainstream in the late '80s, you will be sorely disappointed. But it becomes very clear early on that this isn't the kind of film Lyne is interested in making, taking the bare bones of a battle-of-the-sexes erotic thriller plot and transforming it into a deliriously dark comedy, a satire of male insecurity at its most toxic with Ben Affleck in his best performance since Nick Dunne in "Gone Girl." Here, he's effectively playing that film's polar opposite; in David Fincher's film, he was the lousy husband the world saw as a spouse killer, whereas here, the wider world views him as a model husband, wronged by a wife they can barely hide their contempt for — the bodies piling up around him excused by everybody as a hilarious coincidence.

Vic (Affleck) and Melinda (Ana de Armas) are a couple kept from divorce only for the sake of their young daughter. The pair have previously made an arrangement that, in order to continue their marriage, Melinda is allowed to sleep with whoever she chooses — but because she keeps bedding partners considerably younger than her husband, his jealousy very quickly strikes. Goaded on by his friends, he engages in a series of deadly mind games with her partners of choice, their disappearances written off as a running joke, because how could such a loving father, and unfairly wronged husband, be responsible for something so heinous?

On the surface, it's easy to criticize "Deep Water" for outdated sexual politics; this is, after all, a story about an older man essentially punishing a younger woman for taking ownership of her sexuality, thinking that he has ownership of her body despite their open marriage arrangement. But the morals of the film are never on Vic's side, and it's not particularly subtle about it. In one recurring gag that makes it particularly hard to understand why many critics are failing to see the intentional dark comedy, Vic is revealed to have designed the technology that helps drones find people to bomb — something that earns him the affable nickname "war criminal" from his friendship group. "Deep Water" is set in a particularly toxic world where the worst male crimes are excused, and the most minor female indiscretions are punished.