A psychiatrist faces his past, present and future when he finds himself involved in the treatment of a young man recently released from prison for a murder committed when the boy was just 11 years old.
If there's anything worth mulling over about The Drowning, it's the way it proffers the East Coast couple as an inevitably miserable institution without really meaning to.
Despite the wildly uneven plotting, Gordon's atmospheric direction in coastal New London propels the drama, as does her sensitivity to what remains unspoken between people.
tackles the weighty themes of voyeurism, altruism, and self-preservation artfully and inventively, subverting clichés and taking the genre in a refreshing direction
The film's biggest surprise may come when the credits roll to reveal that this almost perfectly bland, low-intensity mystery is directed by New York indie scene veteran Bette Gordon.
Gordon is not out of her depth. She knows exactly that she's doing. Working with a story that could easily have become confused, she delivers something powerful.
