The Deep End 暗夜搖籃曲

Ready for a moody film noir? "The Deep End" is set to entertain with its hallmarks of the genre: gritty characters, improbable plot twists, and lush visuals which earned it the award for Best Cinematography at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Based on Elizabeth Sanaxy's novel "The Blank Wall", the film is the second feature by David Siegel and Scott McGehee, whose previous film, "Suture", contained similar themes about the disruption of stability.

The story revolves around ordinary mom Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton), whose quiet suburban life is disturbed when she finds out her 17-year-old gay son is seeing a sleazy bar owner. The story intensifies when she finds said lover dead near the family's property. Thinking that her son must be involved in the murder, Margaret springs into protective-mother gear and disposes of the body, without thinking of the consequences.

The nightmare is indeed far from over, when unsavory associates of the man come to blackmail Margaret with an amateur porn tape of her son with his lover. Margaret and the blackmailer, Alek (Goran Visnjic), end up developing a strange bond, which is part of the film's payoff.

Never sinking into melodrama, the story is buoyed by ironic twists, Swinton's considerable acting ability, and evocative cinematography. The film has also earned kudos for respecting the audience's intelligence and never taking the easy way out.

The widespread distribution of "The Deep End" marks a departure for Tilda Swinton, an icon of independent film. While you may not have heard of her before, she has a small but fierce following based on her mesmerizing performances and interesting roles. Swinton's passion for close-ups--where she says "figurative cinema becomes art"--is evident in her new film, which critics say may earn her an Oscar.

Swinton hails from an upper-class Scottish family in London and was educated at Cambridge before working in theater. Her foray into film began with a long collaboration with English art house director Derek Jarman. Later successful films of Swinton's include "Female Perversions", "Love is the Devil", and her most well-known work to date, "Orlando", in which she played a man who lived for more than 400 years and became a woman. Swinton became a bankable actress in the wake of that movie, but continued to choose unorthodox and challenging roles.

Her character in "The Deep End" is an apparently ordinary suburban mom, but one that is shaken out of complacency by dramatic events. Swinton likes the fact that her character is forced to think and question things, which she says is all too rare in female roles. Her performance may make her a household name, but regardless of impending fame, Tilda Swinton has her feet firmly on the ground and continues to maintain her creative integrity.

想看一部陰郁的黑色電影（注）嗎？《暗夜搖籃曲》正準(zhǔn)備以它的這類特征來娛樂觀眾：果敢堅(jiān)毅的角色、匪夷所思的劇情轉(zhuǎn)折，以及豐富的視覺效果， 從而榮獲今年圣丹斯電影節(jié)最佳攝影獎(jiǎng)。這部影片是根據(jù)伊麗莎白·沙娜希的小說《The Blank Wall》改編而成，是戴維·西格和史考特·麥基合作的第二部 影片，前一部影片《縫合》與本片相似的主題是關(guān)于社會(huì)安全遭到破壞。（注：犯罪電影的一種，以晦暗的攝影手法與背景不祥的音樂作為烘托，著重描寫憤世嫉俗的反派角色）

故事圍繞一位平凡的母親瑪格麗特·霍爾（蒂爾達(dá)·史溫頓飾）展開，當(dāng)她發(fā)現(xiàn)自己17歲的同性戀兒子與邋遢的酒吧老板交往時(shí)，她平靜的郊區(qū)生活因此而被攪亂了。而在她發(fā)現(xiàn)所說的情人死在她家附近后，故事情節(jié)就更加激化了。想到她兒子肯定卷入這起謀殺案，瑪格麗特立即進(jìn)入保護(hù)子女的角色，不計(jì)后果地處理了尸體。

惡夢(mèng)到此并未結(jié)束，這個(gè)男人的狐朋狗友們拿來業(yè)余愛好者拍的她兒子和他情人的色情錄影帶來勒索瑪格麗特。瑪格莉特和勒索者亞歷克（高倫·維斯吉克飾）最后發(fā)展成一種奇特的關(guān)系，這是電影高潮的組成部分。

本片從未淪為情節(jié)劇，故事以諷刺性的曲解、史溫頓出色的演技，令人回憶的攝影得到維系。影片也因?yàn)樽鹬赜^眾的智慧，絕無投機(jī)取巧，敷衍了事而贏得了贊賞。

《暗夜搖籃曲》的廣泛發(fā)行標(biāo)志著一個(gè)獨(dú)立制片的偶像蒂爾達(dá)·史溫頓的一個(gè)新的開始。以前你可能沒聽說過她， 但她憑著魅力四射的演出和吸引人的角色，擁有了一群人數(shù)不多但狂熱的擁護(hù)者。史溫頓鐘愛特寫鏡頭，她曾說：“象征性電影是藝術(shù)”，這在她的新上映的影片中一覽無遺，影評(píng)們說那可能會(huì)為她贏得奧斯卡獎(jiǎng)。

史溫頓來自倫敦的一個(gè)蘇格蘭上層階級(jí)家庭，在踏入戲劇界之前在劍橋受過教育。她涉足電影界始于與英格蘭藝術(shù)電影導(dǎo)演德里克·賈曼的長(zhǎng)期合作。后來，史溫頓受歡迎的電影有：《黑色芳心》、《Love is the Devil》，和迄今為止最出名的作品《美麗佳人歐蘭朵》。她在劇中扮演一個(gè)男人，活了四百多年后最終變成了女人。史溫頓也因?yàn)檫@部影片而成為了可以保證票房收入的女演員，但她仍繼續(xù)接演一些非傳統(tǒng)而具挑戰(zhàn)性的角色。

她在《暗夜搖籃曲》里的角色，顯然是個(gè)普通的郊區(qū)母親，而不是一個(gè)被激動(dòng)人心的事件從自滿中搖醒的人。史溫頓喜歡她的角色被迫去思考與質(zhì)疑，她說，在女性的角色中，這是十分少有的。蒂爾達(dá)·史溫頓的演出或許會(huì)使她成為家喻戶曉的人物，但盡管她的名聲唾手可得，蒂爾達(dá)·史 溫頓仍然腳踏實(shí)地，繼續(xù)保持她創(chuàng)造性的人格。