The Deep End is an engrossing, full-of-surprises thriller about a woman who gives new meaning to the term “supermom.”

        Tilda Swinton (The Beach) gives a truly terrific performance as Margaret Hall, a Navy wife ably looking after her children and retired father-in-law while her husband is at sea.

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The Deep End    3 1/2 stars    (R; some violence and language, a strong sex scene) Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic. Written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. The Esquire, The Mariemont.

        Her well-honed coping skills undergo their severest test when she discovers her talented elder son, Beau (Jonathan Tucker), is involved with a sleazebag called Darby Reese (Josh Lucas), the owner of a gay club.

        When Margaret discovers Darby's body one morning near her Lake Tahoe home, her protective instinct leads her to an impulsive, desperate act.

        Next thing she knows, a gambler with dice tattooed on his neck is at her home demanding she pay the $50,000 that Darby owed to an even nastier character. To assure her compliance, Alek Spera (Goran Visnjic), shows her a videotape that Darby secretly made of himself having sex with Beau.

        Margaret sets out to scrape up the money without betraying her son's secret, and without disrupting her family's familiar routines.

        Things get more complicated when Margaret's father-in-law (Peter Donat) collapses with a heart attack just as Alek shows up trying to collect. Suddenly, Alek feels pangs of conscience, and the relationship between thug and victim shifts.

        Co-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel based their script on Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's story The Blank Wall, which Max Ophuls made into The Reckless Moment (1949).

        The Deep End seethes with dread, a surreal sensation amid spectacular natural beauty. (Cinematographer Giles Nuttgens won top honors at this year's Sundance Film Festival.)

        Its most clever trick, though, is to simply let Ms. Swinton show just how extraordinary an ordinary mom can be when things go wrong for her children.
       

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