All-consuming obsession in Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Deep End’
Obsession is a common theme in cinema, perhaps due to the ease with which humans are able to become so incredibly consumed by something or someone. It is an innate part of being human, although our susceptibility to slipping into obsession can differ greatly. Maybe we simply become obsessed with consuming everything a musician has ever released, or perhaps we become fascinated by a person we want to have in our lives. Obsession usually lies in the innate human desire to want to know more, to demystify an enigma, to satisfy a craving.
Sometimes, obsession can veer into dangerous territory. Jerzy Skolimowski’s 1970 film Deep End explores the lengths of romantic obsession and how, in some cases, it can transform people into crazed beings, acting in ways they perhaps never would have before. It follows Mike, a 15-year-old who takes up a job in a public bath, where he meets and subsequently falls for Susan, a woman in her mid-20s with a fiancé. Susan, who is played by ‘60s icon Jane Asher, is out of bounds for several obvious reasons, yet that doesn’t stop the naive Mike from wanting to be with her.
At first, his crush seems innocent, as teenage fancies do, but as he immerses himself in his job, where he witnesses corrupt sexual behaviour from clients, including a pervy gym teacher, Mike’s feelings for Susan escalate. He seems to believe that, despite being an inexperienced teenage boy, Susan might want to be with him. Her naturally flirtatious personality only tricks him into wanting her more, his infatuation running so deep that he ignores the fact that she’s actually quite horrible to everyone around her.
Skolimowski explores the way in which we often block out the negative aspects of someone’s personality when we fall for them, painting a warped image in our heads that satisfies our desires – they become merely a fantasy and a fabrication of reality. Mike’s desire for Susan becomes so unhealthy that he tries to destroy her, following her on dates and attempting to separate her from both her financé and the man she is having an affair with (the pervy PE teacher).
His obsession turns to madness as he scours the streets of London while Can’s epic ‘Mother Sky’ plays, making for the perfect musical accompaniment to Mike’s relentless search for Susan and the bizarre behaviour he exhibits as the night goes on. He visits a prostitute, only to turn down sex, before eventually finding a cutout of a naked woman who looks just like Susan.
This long sequence is shot with handheld cameras that follow alongside Mike as he eats countless hotdogs and walks the streets, embroiling us in his obsessive endeavours. We become guilty participants in Mike’s behaviour, suggesting that Mike is partly acting in such a way because he lives in a society rampant with corruption. At the baths, he is exposed to the real world for the first time after leaving school – it becomes a microcosm of society in a way – with Mike becoming both a victim and a witness of abnormal approaches towards sex.
This is demonstrated well when he helps out an older woman (played by Diana Dors) who grabs Mike’s head and places it between her breasts, clearly getting off on the situation despite Mike’s protests. Exposed to such behaviour on a daily basis at the public baths, Mike, fresh out of school, subsequently enters the adult world with an unusual perception of sex and relationships.
Drawing on both a society that fosters such abnormal behaviour and the innate human tendency for obsession and fascination, Deep End explores how far someone can go in the pursuit of sex and love. Mike’s persistence proves to be fatal, and as the film reaches its denouement, it is clear that there is no coming back for Mike. He cannot take his eyes off what he wants, no matter the consequences.
After Susan loses the diamond from her engagement ring in the snow, the pair take bags of it to the empty swimming pool to melt, hoping to find the jewel. When Mike finds it, the pair engage in an awkward sexual encounter, with Mike reminding us of his age by uttering “Mummy”, a particularly uncomfortable moment that highlights the strange nature of the situation.
However, as Susan grabs her things to leave, Mike’s maddening obsession takes over, and he impulsively grabs the overhead light and swings it at the back of her head, resulting in her falling into the pool, now beginning to fill with water and dying. The movie’s tragic end serves as a warning of the dangers of falling too hard into obsession and reaching a state where you can no longer tell the difference between reality and fantasy. This is emphasised by Mike’s preoccupation with discovering whether the nude cutout is really Susan or a lookalike, blurring the lines between the real Susan and the one he has conjured up in his head.
The film ends with Mike holding the cutout – an image of fantasy – in his arms, presumably about to die due to the presence of live electrical wires in the water. He succumbs to his delusional mind without getting what he so desperately wanted, dying as he (literally) grips onto illusion.
