Deep End

Plot synopsis:
Mike (John Moulder Brown), a 15-year-old dropout, finds a job in a public bath. There he is trained by his co-worker Susan (Jane Asher), a woman ten years his senior. Susan is a tease who plays with Mike's and other men's feelings, acting sometimes warm and affectionate and other times cold and distant. Working in the bathhouse turns out to involve providing services to clients of a more or less sexual nature, in exchange for a tip. For example, an older woman (Diana Dors) is sexually stimulated by pushing Mike's head into her bosom and talking suggestively about football. Mike is confused by this and at first does not want to accept the tip he gets, but Susan tells him that these services are a normal practice, including exchange of her female clients for his male clients whenever a client prefers the opposite sex.
Mike fantasizes about Susan and falls in love with her, even though she has a wealthy and handsome young fiancé, Chris (Chris Sandford). Mike also discovers that Susan is cheating on her fiancé with an older, married man (Karl Michael Vogler) who was Mike's physical education teacher and works at the baths as a swimming instructor for teenage girls, touching them inappropriately. Mike begins following Susan on her dates with Chris and the instructor and trying to disrupt them. Although Susan often gets angry at Mike for this, she provides just enough encouragement to cause him to continue the behavior. Mike's infatuation with Susan continues despite his friends mocking him, his mother being treated rudely by Susan, his bicycle being destroyed by Susan, and his activities drawing the ire of Susan's boyfriends, local police, and Mike's boss at work. Obsessed with Susan, Mike refuses other outlets for sex, such as his former girlfriend and a prostitute who offers him a discount. While following Susan on a date, Mike sees and steals a life-size advertising photo cutout of a naked girl who resembles Susan. He confronts Susan with it on the London Underground, flying into a violent tantrum in front of other passengers when Susan teasingly refuses to tell him whether she posed for the nude photo. Mike then takes the cutout to the deserted baths after hours and swims naked with it, embracing it.
The next morning, Mike disrupts the instructor's foot race and punctures the tyres of the instructor's car while Susan is driving it. Susan gets mad and hits Mike, in the process losing the diamond from her new engagement ring in the snow. Anxious to find the lost diamond, Mike and Susan collect the surrounding snow in plastic bags and take it back to the closed baths to melt it, using a lowered ceiling lamp outlet to heat an electric kettle in the empty pool. While Susan is briefly out of the room, Mike finds the diamond in the melted snow, and lies down naked in the dry pool with the diamond on his tongue. He teases Susan by refusing to give her the diamond until she undresses. She does so, he gives her the diamond and she is about to leave, but she reconsiders and lies down next to him. They have a sexual encounter, although it is not clear whether Mike is able to perform.
Chris then telephones and Susan rushes around the empty pool hurriedly gathering her clothes to go and meet him. Mike begs her to stay and talk to him, but Susan insists she has to leave. Meanwhile an attendant has arrived, who, unaware of the presence of Mike and Susan, opens the valve to start filling the dry pool with water. Mike becomes more insistent, chasing Susan around the rapidly filling pool, and finally hitting her in the head with the ceiling lamp, severely injuring her. She falls (along with a tin of red paint that resembles blood) into the water of the pool. Mike embraces the dying, nude Susan underwater, just as he embraced the photo cutout.

Tags: tragedy, psychedelic, romantic

Review:
The film follows the adolescent obsession of a 15 year old (John Moulder Brown) seedy (Newford) Bath House attendent.
He falls under the romantic spell of a red haired tease (brilliantly played by Jane Asher), that toys with his emotions to the brink of taking him over the mental "deep end".
It contains the song "But I Might Die Tonight" by Cat Stevens as the title track, and different variations of that theme supplied by either Cat Stevens or (Kraut rock group) Can. It also contains one of Can's most amazing tracks "Mother's Sky" in a great scene where the boy stalks his obsession to a London Club, then to a seedy Nude Girl joint which contains a cardboard cut out of her, then to an out-of-commision prostitute, and then finally to the London Underground where he confronts Jane Asher.
From Asher's red hair (in the film itself and in the promotional poster where it trails off into blood), to the new color being painted on the walls of the bathhouse, to the blood that punctuates certain climatic moments in the story.Skolimowski was Polanski's screenwriter for "Knife In the Water" and stylistically "Deep End" has a Polanski flavor (it certainly has its "Repulsion" moments).
Just out of school, 15 year-old Mike (John Moulder-Brown) goes to work as the towel boy at a seedy London bath house.
This and the film's innate mastery instantly time-travel me back to days that were simultaneously more innocent and more complicated than today, late night smoky college discussions in a candle-lit apartments.And that film would be "Deep End" directed by Jerzy Skowlimowski, pal of Roman Polanski, with the same great mix of bizarre sensibilities and takes on life, done in professional, Hollywood-caliber production, even if on an indie budget.It's from 1970, featuring music by Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam now to the non-infidel) and two unbelievably strong leads: a 15-year-old John Moulder Brown and 25-year-old Jane Asher (Paul McCartney's 1960's trophy girlfriend.) I never even knew Asher had these acting chops: she outdoes Susan Sarandon (similar upper class background) for letting us in on the nuances of a naturally pretty, fairly low-class young person.
What starts out as a tender coming-of-age story devolves into a story of sexual obsession and missed connections in "Deep End." The story has bicycle riding teenager Mike starting his first job at a run-down public bathhouse which caters to both men and women.
The exterior locations are expertly filmed also, and give a great impression of the U.K. at the end of the 1960's.The acting of the two young leads is top-notch and utterly believable at all turns, with John Moulder-Brown especially likable and appealing.
Mike begins the film as such a sweet young guy who's concerned about his future and his family, that's it's almost unfathomable as to why he'd go off the "deep end" like he does.*** out of *****.
Within it occurs the film's climax, in the pool, with the two of them, his obsession,and her sexy acquiesence, leading to the ending that makes this a movie that you may not always think about, but probably won't forget..
Writer-director Jerzy Skolimowski does a really good job of telling his story too, which means that deep End is an easy film to get along with.
Trouble is, Susan already has a fiancé and while she kind of likes Mike, she doesn't take him seriously...leading Mike to become frustrated and willing to do anything in order to have Susan all for himself.The two central performers are really good and responsible for a lot of the film's success.
Fifteen-year-old Mike (John Moulder-Brown) has just left school and starts a new job as a Public Baths attendant, under the wing of Susan (Jane Asher) - a streetwise twenty-something female attendant.
Cute working class fifteen-year-old John Moulder-Brown (as Mike) gets a job an attendant in a London bathhouse and falls "head-over-heels" in love with his co-worker, sexy red-haired Jane Asher (as Sue).
He meets "ladies of a certain age," like overweight Diana Dors, "who favours young boys" - but, Mr. Moulder-Brown can't stop fantasizing about the delectable Ms. Asher; she was the inspiration for many of The Beatles' love songs, "And I Love Her"..."Deep End" is an imaginatively shot, by Jerzy Skolimowski with Charly Steinberger, story involving obsessive teenage love, with Moulder-Brown very effectively essaying the "mature for his age" protagonist.
electric.****** Deep End (3/18/71) Jerzy Skolimowski ~ John Moulder-Brown, Jane Asher, Diana Dors, Karl Michael Vogler.
Deep End is so true to Life - for any teenage boy who becomes infatuated with an older (but young and sensual) woman who he then sees romantically with a chauvinistic and nasty man - he wants to 'save' her.But where any of us ordinary young men would have long stopped their pursuance of justice, young Mike here takes things to the very end, fulfilling the dreams of us mere mortals.
You know all along that he'll never get the girl, that's never in any doubt, but the madness as is pushes him further into trouble.That Mike's (John Moulder-Brown) 15 and just out of school and his first boss is the gorgeous and sexually aware Jane Asher and his job entails attending to allsorts at some public baths, including some randy older women, no wonder his hormones are all over the place.It all starts out as light-hearted nonsense (the incorrigible Diana Dors scene a real hoot) but gradually gets darker, to a jet black and tragic end.
But, all he's actually doing is stalking the girl that he works with, as he sees how her 'other', more glamorous life, away from the bleach and rubber gloves at the baths, is both lived - and funded.True, John Moulder-Brown's acting lacks depth, or finesse, but imagine a 15 year old actually in those scenarios.
Deep End looks like but is not a coming-of-age film.
The two main protagonists, 15-year-old Mike (John Moulder Brown) and 24-year-old Susan (Jane Asher), unfortunately never come of age.
It is basically unclassifiable but is definitely closer in tone to Clockwork Orange than to The Graduate.Darkly erotic and sexually ambiguous, the film opens with a vision of dripping red paint backed by the music of Cat Stevens singing "But I Might Die Tonight." Mike, a high-school dropout, has gone to work as a pool attendant at Newford Baths, a sleazy and deteriorating public pool that is filled with middle aged patrons looking for something other than a swim.
Having been accosted by a bosomy, obese middle-aged woman (Diana Dors) for her own pleasure, Mike realizes that his first job experience may not look good on his resume.
The boy's interest is channeled to his co-worker Susan who reassures him that harassment by patrons is just part of the job, one that could lead to some liberal tips.A part of the job he had not bargained for, however, is his growing infatuation and obsession with the 24-year-old Susan, who has a fiancé (Christopher Sandford) and boyfriend, a married former high school teacher (Karl Michael Vogler), and also may just be an expensive call girl.
The boy actor reminds me of the young Roman Polanski and Jane Asher still looks like a teenager, so her character's immaturity doesn't come across as weird.
West German production, set in England and filmed both there and in Germany, concerns excruciatingly vapid 15-year-old boy who gets his first job working as an attendant at a community bathhouse.
Managing with precision to communicate the sensory effect of these emotions, Deep End is almost a primal film, and is told largely from the perspective of its lead male character, mirroring his understanding of the world as one of absolutes and intensities.
This is a drama film that's set in London and stars John Moulder-Brown as 15-year-old Mike, who works at a swimming pool.
Actors like Diana Dors playing a character who fantasises about football while having sex, Jane Asher as a flirty young madam in a mini skirt and good old Burt Kwouk selling hot dogs.
15 year old Mike (John Moulder-Brown), takes a job in a typical Victorian, city bathhouse in London.
In this act he falls upon a life-sized cardboard cut- out of Susan outside a strip club in the red-light district of Soho.Whilst the film is primarily a marginally twisted drama, there are some intentionally funny scenes that elevate the narrative.
15 year old Mike (John Moulder-Brown) gets a job as a towel boy in a seedy British bath house.
There isn't one likable character in the film--Mike is obviously disturbed and Susan comes across as a real bitch--but you can't stop watching.
It's set at the tail-end of the Swinging Sixties, taking place in a grubby, run-down old swimming baths where new recruit John Moulder-Brown develops a crush and then an obsession with cute attendant Jane Asher.Like many such realist productions, this is a meandering story which depicts various episodes in the life of its protagonist.
Moulder-Brown (VAMPIRE CIRCUS) is excellent as the protagonist and Jane Asher equally good as the young and lovely object of his affections.
Teenager John Moulder Brown (Mike) gets an attendant's job at a swimming pool and public baths.
This film is a neo-realist look at working-class Britons in a seedy setting one would hardly recognize as Swinging London (made years before anyone had ever heard of Mike Leigh).
For many years a somewhat obscure and unseen semi-avant garde melodrama,DEEP END has had a recent revival in digitally restored fashion in cinema,DVD and television,and has an undercurrent of strangeness running through it's entire oeuvre.Set in post-swinging 60's London,but an American/West German co-production directed by Polish-born Jerzy Skolimowski mostly filmed in Germany,with an eclectic cast and musical score,a dubious story and related characters.This overall oddness does not necessarily equate to greatness,but DEEP END still nevertheless manages to hold the attention throughout.A decidedly gauche,awkward 15 year old youth,Mike (John Moulder-Brown) starts his first job at a grimy,dilapidated London municipal bathhouse,and falls in love with a beautiful but uninhibited female co-worker,Susan (Jane Asher),a few years older than him.Susan is apparently engaged but uses and exploits other males for her own pleasure,including the hapless Mike himself.The attraction gradually seems to become more mutual,if dangerous.Coming at the end of the optimistic,happy-go-lucky 60's and populated with rather unlikable characters,DEEP END is packed with so much symbolism as to be in peril from drowning in it.The setting of the seedy,crumbling bathhouse is an obvious metaphor for being literally thrown into the deep rather than shallow end of life,with the related problems,frustrations and behaviour on show signifying this.For a while,DEEP END comes across as a familiar but wispily charming essay on the pains of growing up,with an amusing cameo from Diana Dors (who became a better actress as she got into early middle-age),holding Mike to her bosom while mumbling platitudes about football,though it's not long before it all becomes progressively darker,with dubious behaviour from a male swimming instructor (who Susan has a dalliance with) towards young female students,and an increasingly unhealthy relationship between Mike,so wet behind the ears as to be soaking,and the voluptuous Susan.Moulder-Brown is fine as the hopelessly naive adolescent,though as with many teens his character's behaviour and traits often becomes very irritating,while Ms Asher is convincing as his and other males object of desire,outrageously sexy and knowing it,teasing and cajoling as many males as she can muster,mostly for her own entertainment and amusement in the skimpiest clothing imaginable.With all this symbolism (such as Mike stealing a cardboard life size poster of Susan from London's underground) and semi-Freudian obsession,DEEP END has little in the way of plot,and much of the cast are not British but mainland European (mainly German).This sometimes gets in the way of authenticity for the more pessimistic mood of late 60's/early 70's London (not surprising as much of the film was apparently filmed in Munich),and Skolimowski often seems not to have an ear for the English language,with some scenes allowed to ramble with somewhat stilted dubbed and non-dubbed dialogue.There is much use of hand-held camera and other scenes which have an improvised feel,which is not necessarily a bad thing as said moments have a more spontaneous,humorous and natural feel to them.Such locations as the bathhouse and Soho (which features a funny cameo from Burt Kwouk) add to a sense of decline and seediness while observing the dubious behaviour of the main and secondary characters involved,which inevitably leads to the climax in the swimming pool,with the symbolism at it's height as it being empty and drained of water,but there is a twist in store.....With it's dreary,seedy setting and unsympathetic characters,DEEP END could have been utterly disposable,yet it's very style deem it oddly compulsive and curiously watchable,with it's best moments reserved for it's finale with haunting and extraordinary imagery that linger in the mind long afterwards,confirming it's reputation of being a bizarre,rediscovered cult classic.RATING:7 out of 10..
Jerzy Skolimowski writes and directs a movie about a 15 year old boy who, having been thrust into the work place and a world of underlying sex and violence he doesn't comprehend, loses all sense of social normative awareness and quite literally goes off the deep end.Mike (John Moulder-Brown) is out of school and gets his first job.
He's immediately smitten by the ten-year-older Susan (Jane Asher) who, unfortunately for Mike, is a confused aged-beyond-her-years tease and man-user who has no real way of interpreting the world around her except by sleeping and flirting with other men for her gain: her fiancé because he's rich, even if he is a tool and ridiculously clueless; her ex-swim coach because he's older and has given her a job; and now Mike because of his persistence and insistence in getting her attention and approval.With no other life to distract him, no money to support him, nothing but his low-class existence and his desire for Susan, Mike quickly goes from a crush to confused love to stalking to outright obsession, with absolutely no awareness of the negative effect of his actions.
This earthy, unromanticized and fiercely unmawkish coming-of-age adolescent angst sleeper centers on awkward, gangly, sexually frustrated virginal blue collar klutz Mike (exceptionally played to moody, ungainly, temperamental perfection by "Vampire Circus" 's John Moulder-Brown), who gets a job as an attendant at a seedy bathhouse.
Mike falls madly (and badly) in obsessive love/lust with loose, worldly and assured co-worker Susan (an excellent portrayal by enticing redhead looker Jane Asher), a wild and uninhibited sort whom the other employees hold in disregard.
As Mike, John Moulder-Brown has the right fish-out-of-water look as the obsessed adolescent who hasn't got a clue but, for me, his performance never really convinces.
I'm all for films with unique, personal perspectives of the seamier side of life, but I'm baffled at reviews that describe "Deep End" as a coming-of-age story.
This look at the disturbingly creepy fascination a 15 year-old bathhouse worker (John Moulder-Brown) develops for his hardened but lovely co-worker (Jane Asher), "Deep End" struck me more like "Taxi Driver: The Teen Years." I haven't read much that details the film as a psycho-sexual drama that depicts the gradual unraveling of an already damaged teen's psyche.
Jerzy Skolimowski's "Deep End" stars John Brown as a young Londoner who takes up work at a local bath house.
Here he meets and becomes infatuated with a beautiful woman, played by Jane Asher."Deep End's" use of colour would be praised by a young David Lynch, whose own "Blue Velvet" would be heavily influenced by its coming-of-age plot.
A working-class variation of Diana Scott (Julie Christie) in "Darling", she plays with the affections of multiple male suitors and effortlessly uses sex as a bargaining chip.Toward the film's end, Skolimowski has John dive into a pool with a one dimensional, cardboard cutout of Jane, the scene suggesting something about John's deeply submerged, unconscious desires.
(I also think he may have written the song just for the movie, inasmuch as, at one point, a bureaucrat tells the young man, "Someday, if you apply yourself, you might be sitting behind this desk!" In the Cat Stevens song, the singer sings "Work hard boy/you'll find/one day you'll have a job like mine.") While it certainly was filmed while London was swinging, this is not about sexual liberation.
Naive concerning the wider world, Mike begins his first job alongside Susan at the local swimming bathes which happens to be a place where sexuality is ripe in an astonishing manner.
John Moulder-Brown gets a job at a public bath house and is soon smitten with co-worker Jane Asher.
Deep End. I assumed this was a foreign film I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was directed by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, but it had elements of West German production, but it is a certainly a British set story, and one that sounded interesting.
Basically fifteen year old Michael 'Mike' (John Moulder-Brown) has just left school, and finds himself a job at the local swimming pool and public baths, being trained by Susan (BAFTA nominated Jane Asher) who is ten years older than him but he cannot help but find her attractive.
I've recorded in VHS this movie from "FUORI ORARIO" a cult night transmission and I will save the tape until I won't be able to buy a good DVD version but for instance most of the movies of Jerzy Skolimowsky must be issued on laser disc.Deep end is the perfect combination of good ingredients : the locations of a gray and dark London, two perfect young actors, the talent of a great underground director in his best moment.Skolimowsky lead us along the corridors inside the dirty toilets of the public bath where Mike(Moulder-Brown) has just come for his first job after he has left the school.
Susan(a great Jane Asher), the girl that already works and sleeps inside the bath house is a little bit older than him and of course has already done experiences with boys.