Whither the erotic thriller? The genre, so popular in the late '80s and early '90s, is a dying breed in the current Hollywood landscape, so any time one makes it to the screen, it’s a cause for celebration, or at least notice. Especially one directed by Adrian Lyne, the king of the erotic thrillers, having directed “Fatal Attraction,” “9 1/2 Weeks,” “Indecent Proposal” and “Unfaithful.” His latest film, “Deep Water,” shot in 2019, produced the quarantine tabloid frenzy that was the much photographed relationship between stars Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, so it feels like it’s been far too long a wait for this film, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, which hits Hulu on Friday.
The Affleck/de Armas affair adds to the pulpy metatextual appeal of “Deep Water.” The rather basic script by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson is elevated by Lyne’s direction and the performances of the two leads. Lyne draws out the elements of the story that aren’t laid out in the text, the darker, far more subversive themes that lie below the surface in this tale of an unconventional marriage.
The premise of “Deep Water” is a husband “allowing” his wife to conduct extramarital affairs in order to keep her within the family fold. But Vic Van Allen (Affleck) doesn’t seem to allow, so much as he barely tolerates, visibly grimacing when Melinda (de Armas) parades her lovers under his nose. While not in the text of the script itself, what Lyne teases out is the depiction of their relationship as a dominant/submissive one, perhaps even fetishistic.
