The Deep End

In spite of her association with the British avant-garde (mainly thanks to her collaboration with the late Derek Jarman), Tilda Swinton is particularly convincing here as a white-collar American housewife under stress. While her husband is away on naval duties, she finds it's actually her son who's in deep water as he dabbles in underage sex with an older man. Her attempts to intervene result in disaster: Swinton ends up with blood on her hands and Goran Visnjic's blackmailer at her door. Swinton's icy demeanour adds to this chilly thriller, as the film attacks the steely veneer of American middle-class life with a sledgehammer. The story was previously filmed by Max Ophüls as The Reckless Moment in 1949 and, though this version is interesting, it's not as incisive as other meditations on suburban angst such as The Ice Storm and American Beauty.