THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN (1999)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Ulu Grosbard

SCREENWRITER: Stephen Schiff

FILM STARS: Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Jackson, Ryan Merriman, Tony Musante, Rose Gregorio (Ulu Grosbard’s wife), John Kapelos

COUNTRY: USA

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Jacquelyn Mitchard

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Flamingo

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1999

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1996

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Drama

WORDS: I saw this pretty much just after it was released, and haven’t thought of it since.

During her high school reunion Beth Cappadora’s three year old son Ben vanishes whilst being watched by his older brother. Police search but are unsuccessful and Beth experiences a nervous breakdown as her husband and family unravel. Nine years later a boy that looks like their son turns up on their doorstep.

It’s not an is he is he not our son story. It is revealed that one of the alumni at the reunion took her son, renamed him, and raised him before getting sick and leaving him with his adoptive father who doesn’t know about the kidnapped. The film (and the book) are about reintegrating the son into the family at the expense of his adopted family, the only one he has known for nine years. All the usual problems arise, though the book also has a interesting theme on ethnic identity only hinted at in in the film. The son is Italian American, his adoptive family is Greek American. The desires of the parents as they argue over identity vs happiness, causes conflicts amongst the other re-integration conflicts. It’s quite the mess.

I probably watched the film because I quite liked Treat Williams. He was an actor who never made the ultra big time despite having enough stabs at it … Prince of the City (1981), The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper (1981), Flashpoint (1984), Deep Rising (1998) are enjoyable. Apparently his career was derailed by substance abuse problems in the 80s … Hollywood will do that to you, especially in the 70s. By 1999 his career had slipped into action leads in B films or supports in A pictures. Here he gets a showy role which shows (sic) off his everyman persona, coming across like a slightly hyper Van Johnson.

Michelle Pfeiffer was the whole show in another of those roles where actresses emote in stories designed for Oscar nominations (which didn’t happen here. Michelle is still waiting for an Oscar. Odd given other actresses have won with far less in much the same types of roles).

Whoopi Goldberg is in a supporting role and is thankfully quiet and John Kapelos as the adoptive father is good. For ethnic actor trainspotters the kinetic Tony Musante has a small role.

Ulu Grosbard, Belgian born but naturalized American after moving there in 1948, worked mainly in theatre and it shows. The movie is full of acting and telegraphed moments which is usually good enough for a Hollywood Oscar as long as you don’t look like a Made for TV film, which is the case here. Grosbard also directed The Subject Was Roses (1968), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), Falling in Love (1984, Georgia (1995) which are all literate and full of “acting”. They aren’t bad but the dramatics never surprise. Only Straight Time (1978) and maybe True Confessions (1981) are worth revisiting more than once.

Screenwriter Stephen Schiff who had written Lolita (1997) went on to do True Crime (1999) and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) compacts the book and adds a happy ending as opposed to an ambiguous one in the book (apparently test audiences wanted a happy ending). And I get that, anyone who is a parent wants this to end happily and wants all ambiguities pushed into a corner.

The film plays on a parents fears but the characters seem real in fits and starts.

Optimistic ending or not the film flopped ($38M budget, $28m return)

The Deep End of the Ocean was journalist Jacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, and it became a best seller after it was the first selection for Oprah’s Book Club, on September 17, 1996 (which probably indicates at what intellectual level it sits on). Bolstered by being featured by Oprah Winfrey, the novel sold close to 3 million copies by May 1998 and went to #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list where it sat for 29 weeks, including 13 weeks at #1. The paperback would spend a further 16 weeks on the list.

Mitchard wrote other novels, mainly domestic dramas (where the dramas are a result of exceptional circumstances) with strong empowered women, had some other bestsellers but like Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Kate Morton and many others these are read when they come out books … or, in my case, don’t read at all.

Hey, I have enough to read already.

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