Acque profonde

Classic French art-house mystery thriller for the wine n cheese crowd. Young trophy bride (Huppert) flirts and attracts numerous young swains. Husband warns each of possible consequences. Those who heed, flee. Those who abide, however ... Challenging in that the viewer never knows the relationship between husband and wife, or how much friends and neighbors (island of Jersey) turn a blind eye to Measured pace (for modern viewers, read slow) that delivers unexpected jolts. Warning, there is violence in this film, and it bursts seemingly out of nowhere. Jean-Louis Trintignant unforgettable as the multi-layered husband. Based on Patricia Highsmith (Ripley stories) novel.

This is the second Michel Deville's movie i watch. First one (Death in a french garden) was a great movie (8/10). This one is definitely lesser. Characters are totally unlikeable but it's not necessarily a bad thing, i mean, there are many movies in which noone is to root for but still, they are good/great movies. Unfortunately, characters were not only unlikeable but a bit bland too. Both Huppert and Trintignant are charismatic and gifted actors but they couldn't turn this into a very good movie. Still, it was enjoyable and entertaining. Trintignant was convincing enough, i understood his character and his motives even though he was not a good guy here. I was curious to see where it goes and it was not boring. However, it was not that interesting either. And the ending was even more bland than the rest of the movie.

Watch it if you like this genre. This is a drama/romance movie first of all. Cold and dry. The crime element is secondary.

Somehow this film manages to be boring and disgusting at the same time. The music is particularly awful - faux baroque/jazz - and violin scratching that is supposed to be suspenseful but is just annoying. As is typical in French movies, it starts out well, with a very interesting premise, interesting characters, good dialogue...and then nothing happens. Well, to be fair, some things do happen, but there is never a sense of direction, of the story going somewhere, or of anything being resolved. I can't blame it all on the French though. It's based on a book by Patricia Highsmith and in her signature style glorifies immorality and sexual/psychological perversity. She also wrote "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train." Hitchcock was a master filmmaker, and while he kept the evil and the pscyhopathy, he also had the skill to make "Strangers" into a film that is scary and suspenseful, yet with an ending that doesn't repel.

This is like watching a cat and mouse game that you couldn't care less about. I'm sorry I wasted an hour and a half on this terrible movie.

The American remake was released on screens a year ago. I did not get to watching it yet, and I'm not sure if I will soon. 'Eaux profondes', the 1981 adaptation of the novel 'Deep Water' (this is also the name of the film in its English distribution) by Patricia Highsmith is too good a film to risk changing my impression. The director is Michel Deville, the French director who left us a few weeks ago, and the lead roles are played by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Isabelle Huppert. 'Eaux profondes' is an excellent opportunity to see again Trintignant (who also disappeared last year) at the peak of his career, Huppert (who turned 70 a few days ago) while becoming a star and at her supreme physical beauty, and to appreciate Deville's professionalism and inventiveness in the decade in which he directed his best films.

The story in the American writer's novel is moved to the island of Jersey, a territory of the British crown located about 19 kilometers from the coast of France. The landscapes are, of course, spectacular, and the ___location is also a good opportunity for Michel Deville to shoot in British objective-realist style. Vic is a perfume maker, his wife Melanie is many years younger and the couple have a six-year-old daughter. Apparently they are a happy couple and a very liberal one in their behavior. Melanie openly flirts and dances at parties with the men she meets, under the indulgent gaze of Vic, who prefers to read, play chess with himself, and raise snails in his garage. When Melanie's adventures begin to materialize, Vic begins to react in an original way - he threatens his rivals with murdering them. From threat to deeds the road is not too long, and crime can be the best proof of love.

What we see on the screen is a real hell, if we judge the relations between the two spouses according to the accepted norms. Michel Deville films everything in an objective and detached style. The characters hide a lot of darkness and many details remain incompletely clarified. Why is Melanie acting this way? Boredom, Ana Karenina syndrome or the feeling that the relationship between the two has reached an impasse that cannot be overcome? How should we interpret the ending, which is changed from that in Patricia Highsmith's novel? The audience's feeling of discomfort is accentuated by the excellent soundtrack that combines dance music, aggressive jazz and Manuel de Falla's harpsichord concerto, but also by the presence of the little girl who witnesses many of the conflict scenes. Michel Deville has created a cool and unsettling film, one that viewers won't soon forget.

Deville was the perfect director for such light gallantries such as "Benjamin"(1968).And what about Highsmith? Patricia Highsmith 's books are deceptive:it is hard to adapt them badly for the screen while being harder still to adapt them well.To my eyes ,one director has succeeded :Alfred Hitchcock ("Strangers on a train" ),three have partially succeeded (René Clément "Monsieur Ripley" (the talented M.Ripley) Anthony Minghella (its remake) and Wim Wenders 's "Der Amerikanische Freund " (Ripley's game) .Claude Chabrol was not so successful with "cry of the owl".Claude Miller butchered the brilliant "that sweet sickness" (="Dites lui que je l'aime") "Eaux profondes" is intense psychological drama.The story of a man who is jealous and kills all his wife's lovers.He warns them before .Trintignant,a good choice,tells them so: "I kill them" in a smooth voice .He treats his wife like a big doll,the scene is the bathroom is telling.

There was in Highsmith's book an atmosphere ,a terrible progression which led to madness:the film has a tendency to simplify too much and its main drawback is to be too short.

When she was interviewed when the movie was released,Highsmith told the journalists she had appreciated the movie.Make up your own mind about it.