Released shortly after Jerzy Skolimowski’s anti-Stalinist Hands Up! (1967) resulted in his exile from Communist Poland, Deep End (1970) reflects the director’s transition to a new cultural and cinematic landscape. Co-produced by West Germany and the United Kingdom, the film is set in London but was primarily filmed in Munich. It was the director’s first English-language film based on an original script idea of his own, following his adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story collection The Adventures of Gerard (also released in 1970). Deep End creates a striking blend of Eastern European sensibilities and British New Wave aesthetics, as his cultural dislocation mirrors the film’s approach to alienation, obsession, and the aggressive clash between repression and liberation.
The film follows Mike (John Moulder-Brown), a 15-year-old public school dropout who takes a job at a rundown bathhouse in East London. His colleague Susan (Jane Asher), an enigmatic young woman, quickly becomes the object of Mike’s infatuation. While the narrative revolves around Mike, Susan serves as the film’s emotional and thematic anchor. She embodies the contradictions of the Sexual Revolution: confident, playfully manipulative, and unapologetically independent, yet trapped in a cycle of exploitation and objectification. The dynamic between Mike and Susan is both compelling and disquieting. Mike’s naïveté and repression contrast sharply with Susan’s liberation, creating a power imbalance that fuels his obsession. Susan, aware of her allure, plays with Mike’s affections—as well as those of her possessive fiancé and Mike’s former swim coach, who harbors predatory tendencies toward the teenage girls he teaches. But the film avoids reducing Susan to a misogynistic stereotype, instead presenting her as a complex individual navigating a world that commodifies her sexuality; Mike, on the other hand, spirals into stalking and delusion. His behavior culminates in a tense sequence that takes place in London’s then-seedy SoHo district. During this sequence, Mike’s obsession reaches its peak as he waits for Susan and her fiancé outside of a member’s club, consuming an alarming number of hot dogs from a stand run by Burt Kwouk while Can’s “Mother Sky” aggressively plays on the soundtrack, driving the scene’s anxiety-fueled tension forward.
Skolimowski’s direction and Charly Steinberger’s handheld camerawork are integral to the film’s unsettling tone. The lack of steadicam technology lends a raw, confrontational quality to the cinematography, immersing the audience in Mike’s increasingly unstable point-of-view. The bathhouse, a vibrant yet grimy place, embodies the film’s themes: a place of allure and decay, where Mike and Susan flirt with customers and indulge their fantasies for bigger tips. Deep End’s use of color is equally deliberate; Susan’s yellow raincoat and white boots stand out against the muted bathhouse and grimy London streets. The recurring splashes of red paint, most notably in the film’s climactic scene, hint at danger and desire.
Skolimowski presents his characters’ unsavory behaviors without judgment, inviting the audience to observe and interpret instead. This approach is particularly evident in Susan, who defies easy categorization. When Mike confronts her about a nude cutout of a stripper he believes is her, emphatically stating that she “isn’t like that,” Susan teasingly responds, “What am I supposed to be like?” Her words encapsulate the film’s brute challenge to societal expectations and stereotypes, leaving an indelible impression on the viewer.
Deep End screens tomorrow, March 18, at the Roxie as this month's Staff Pick.
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