Why Deep Water’s Ending Is So Different From The Book
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Deep Water!
The recently released Deep Water takes a drastic departure from the original book’s ending, with the differences creating a major change in the overall story. Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne returns from a 20-year hiatus to helm Hulu’s 2022 film Deep Water, an erotic psychological thriller depicting the tumultuous marriage of Vic and Melinda Van Allen. Starring Gone Girl's Ben Affleck and No Time to Die's Ana de Armas, Deep Water was received with primarily negative reviews, with much of the criticism being attributed to the film’s abrupt final act.
Deep Water isn’t Adrian Lyne’s first book adaptation, with some of his best-known erotic dramas like Indecent Proposal and9½ Weeks also being inspired by notable literature. This time around, Lyne brings to life Patricia Highsmith’s 1957 novel, Deep Water, which was remarkable at the time for breaking gender stereotypes. Like the film, the Deep Water novel depicted the strange agreement in which Melinda is allowed to take lovers as long as she doesn’t break up their family. While Vic puts on a public mask of indifference to his wife’s affairs, he finally snaps and begins to kill Melinda’s lovers as the stakes for the couple’s twisted mind-games grow higher.
Related: Why Deep Water's Reviews Are So Negative
While the underlying story for Deep Water remains the same, including Vic’s strange obsession with snails, the 2022 movie notably diverges from its source material in the last act. The major change has a significant impact on the overall motivations of Melinda and Vic Van Allen’s characters, as well as a completely new take on what the future holds for the couple. Here’s a breakdown of how Deep Water’s book and
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