Deep End of the Ocean (1999) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Treat Williams, Ryan Merriman, Jonathan Jackson and Whoopi Goldberg.
For a parent, losing a child is the unthinkable. Nothing can assuage the guilt or the void.
The only way a parent can cope is to survive day-by-day and use distractions to keep the buried memories from welling up and drowning him or her.
It is bad enough when a child is killed, but what if the child disappears, is kidnapped, stolen? The uncertainty, the not knowing if that child is alive or dead, can be so overwhelming that a parent can cease to function as a parent and merely exist. Like the child, the parent disappears, but it is into the self.
All this is touched upon in "The Deep End of the Ocean" a powerful film based on Jacqueline Mitchard's best-selling novel.
Attending her 15-year high school reunion in Chicago, Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) steps away for a moment from her young sons, 7-year-old Vincent and 3-year-old Ben, in a crowded hotel lobby.
When she returns, Ben is gone. He is nowhere to be found.
Torn by despair and guilt, Beth retreats into herself, merely going through the motions of daily life.
Eventually the family moves from their Madison, Wis., home to Chicago where Beth's husband, Pat (Treat Williams), fulfills his dream of opening a restaurant.
Nine years pass. Then one day, a miracle.
A young boy is at the door talking to Beth's daughter, Kerry. His name is Sam, and he lives a couple of blocks away.
Yet Beth recognizes him as Ben. And so the family is reunited and whole again.
Or is it?
The reason for divulging so much of the plot is because the story is secondary.
Even the circumstances surrounding Ben's kidnapping is explained in one or two sentences.
No, it's the emotions that resonate through the film, created by the various situations that dominate "The Deep End of the Ocean."
Beth and Pat are overjoyed. They have their son back.
Vincent, however, is jealous, resentful. He has spent his growing years fighting with a ghost for his mother's attention. Now that ghost is in the flesh and he is again, the odd child out.
And what about Ben/Sam. Beth and Pat may love him and shower him with affection, but to him they are strangers. The boy is torn between his new-found family and the love and protection of the man who raised him - the only family he remembers.
Pfeiffer gives a very taut, controlled performance as Beth. In a part where the temptation for any actress might be to allow your feelings to overflow the screen, Pfeiffer keeps herself contained, showing occasional bursts of anger, confusion, pain, defiance and guilt.
Williams has his best role in years. His Pat is the ultimate family man. He, too, mourns the loss of Ben, but he refuses to wallow in self-pity. He knows that the his son and daughter are still there, needing his support and strength.
The acting honors, though, go to a trio of young performers: Cory Buck, Jonathan Jackson and Ryan Merriman.
As young Vincent, Buck shows the resentment of being forced to grow up quickly and become mama's little helper. He comes home from school to take care of his sister, and displays his anger by casually smashing a vase.
Jackson plays the teen-age Vincent, a rebellious youth bursting with guilt and resentment. The shadow of Ben stands between him and his mother, and he can do nothing to overcome it.
Ryan Merriman is compelling as Sam, a boy torn from the world he knows and thrust into the bosom of well-meaning, kind-hearted strangers who profess to love him, yet hold him prisoner emotionally.
Whoopi Goldberg also makes an impact in the supporting role of the police detective trying to find Ben.
Director Ulu Grosbard uses a deft touch to keep the action moving. He does not overplay his hand. He is a subtle manager. The scene in which Goldberg's detective explains her sexual preference to Beth is done matter-of-factly with no special emphasis, for example.
Grosbard elicits a naturalness from his actors, showing them coping, or failing to cope, under extraordinary circumstances.
"The Deep End of the Ocean's" first half-hour-plus is peak filmmaking. And while the rest of the movie cannot hold the intensity of the first act, it still is gripping entertainment.
"The Deep End of the Ocean" is intelligent, adult drama.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at cbloom@iquest.net
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