Deep End

"Generally speaking, films by great filmmakers in exile possess a sense of strangeness and observational acuity that makes them fascinating. In Deep End, Skolimowski hardly ever leaves the confines of a swimming pool (filmed in Munich, as the co-production required!), yet a street corner, the entrance to a nightclub and a stretch of snow-covered countryside are enough to evoke the London of that era, far less glamorous than Antonioni’s but utterly authentic, with that blend of bad taste, seedy atmosphere and erotic candour. Rightly regarded as one of the finest films ever made about adolescence (a theme already explored in Skolimowski’s early films and his first feature film outside Poland, The Departure, shot in Belgium with Jean-Pierre Léaud), Deep End was long confined to a niche cult following due to its rarity, viewable only in poor-quality 16 mm or 35 mm prints in poor condition that had survived the ravages of time since the early 1970s, a turbulent period for new wave cinema worldwide, the rediscovery of which remains as relevant as ever. (...) The film, finally restored with its dazzling pop colours cutting through an overcast London, is a masterpiece of melancholy and cruelty, a not-so-distant forerunner of Gus Van Sant’s sensitive teen films in its empathetic exploration of the defining emotions of adolescence." (Olivier Père; lesinrocks.com)