PLAYING WITH FIRE

Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck star in a steamy thriller about a married couple caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse

- HANNAH DAVIES

NEW THRILLER

Deep Water

From Friday 18 March, Prime Video

It’s been 20 years since we were last treated to an erotic thriller from renowned director Adrian Lyne, who brought us such steamy classics as 9½ Weeks and Fatal Attraction.

Now, the British film-maker is back with another psychological drama, Deep Water, based on the 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, but set in present-day New Orleans and starring Ben Affleck and No Time to Die’s Ana de Armas as wealthy couple Vic and Melinda Van Allen.

Right from the off, it’s clear their marriage is nothing short of toxic, despite their picture-perfect American lifestyle, glamorous circle of friends and adorable young daughter Trixie (played by newcomer Grace Jenkins).

Melinda is a bored alcoholic who uses sex as a weapon, while Vic has a penchant for keeping snails as pets and is racked by guilt about having made his fortune by inventing a chip for combat drones that allows them to seek out human targets.

However, their mistrust and mutual mind games become all the more intense when Melinda begins indulging in extramarital affairs with younger men, including her piano teacher Charlie De Lisle (Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi), and starts flaunting her lovers in front of her jealous husband.

MYSTERY

Then when her lovers either die or go missing, one by one, Vic quickly becomes the prime suspect…