So Jane Asher thinks that Deep End hasn't dated at all.
Surely, the mumsy, super posh, 60-something cake-maker can't be serious.
Everything about Deep End conjures memories of a time well in the past.
From the slipper baths, where people went once a week for their wash and brush up, to the medicated shampoo. From the chips in newspaper to the lecherous school teachers who could get a way with a slap on the bum - this was life in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
Even Cat Stevens, who was responsible for some of the music in this movie, was er... Cat Stevens in 1970.
That's not to say the principle of Deep End, doesn't pass the test of time, however.
And, I was certainly pleased to see this remastering of a movie which was critically acclaimed when it was released but has virtually disappeared since to the point that I had never even heard of it before.
Asher is wonderful as the cocky sexually liberated swimming pool attendant. Not only was she fantastically attractive in her early 20s but she could clearly act too.
One would never know that she is the same prim and proper (and beautifully spoken) actress who adorns our TV screens so regularly nowadays.
John Moulder-Brown is also very convincing as the 15-year-old who becomes besotted with her.
Moulder-Brown is Mike, the teenager, who is super shy when we first meet him but is determined to be a match for Asher's Susan.
The problem is that she is already involved in a sleazy world which is far beyond anything he has ever experienced.
Director Jerzy Skolimowski was the man behind Deep End, throwing a swathe of colour and surreality at what is essentially a story of unrequited love.
He introduces a couple of interesting cameos including an absolute star-turn by love-hungry Diana Dors.
Deep End gives us a splendid insight into the London of its day. Down at heel Leystonstone stars as does tacky Soho.
It is intriguing but ultimately disjointed. Even Asher says Skolimowski's English was so rudimentary that she had to re-write parts of her script.
It shows in parts with the plot leaping around madly.
That said, it was certainly worth watching, and gets 6.5/10
0 Comments