Erotic? Thrilling? Snails? Our burning questions about Deep Water

So you've just finished watching Deep Water, the sexy-murderous marriage story that finally dropped on Hulu after years of delay. Director Adrian Lyne's long-awaited return to the erotic thriller genre stars Ana de Armas as Melinda, the merrily adulterous wife of Ben Affleck's jealous Vic.

Precisely how jealous Vic really is requires a SPOILER ALERT, though in fairness, it's hard to tell whether Deep Water is even supposed to be a mystery. Vic confesses to murdering one of Melinda's boyfriends almost immediately. Everyone assumes he is joking. Then Melinda's next boyfriend winds up floating dead in a swimming pool during a party. Then Melinda's next boyfriend makes a foolish decision to get in Vic's car for a ride out to a remote location. Then that guy's corpse refuses to stay hidden. Then, finally, viewers learn a valuable lesson about the dangers of texting while driving.

Here are some of the biggest questions we're left to ponder at the end of Deep Water:

What, exactly, was Vic's plan when he took Tony (Finn Wittrock) out to the forest?

"Tony was the first American I f---ed!" is how Melinda cheerfully introduces her latest boy toy to her husband. Hackles sufficiently raised, Vic drives up to Tony one day and tells the younger man that Melinda has "a building site she wants to show you." One tense drive out into a remote corner of the wilderness later, Vic stops the car. Now, in some movies, this would be the moment when the killer meticulously eliminates his prey. Instead, Vic picks up a small rock and throws it at Tony's head. Then he picks up a bigger rock and throws it at Tony's chest. Then Tony falls, does a few backward flips down a cliff, and knocks himself dead on the biggest rock of all. Thanks, rocks!

Does anyone read Xenophon?

Years ago, Vic designed some kind of computer chip for drone warfare, an invention as morally dubious as it was financially prosperous. "Vic is a genius and he's rich as f---!" is about all we get backstory-wise from his pal Grant (Lil Rel Howery). When pressed about his current job, Vic vaguely explains that he does some kind of photo publishing. He isn't lying. Print lives! Vic keeps a private office in town, where — after Tony's murder — we see him assemble "issue No. 10" of something called Xenophon. The issue is dedicated to Melinda and features various shimmery photos of her and her clothes. This gesture may or may not save their marriage. It remains frustratingly unclear what the other nine issues have been about.

How much does the Van Allens' daughter know about their bad behavior?

Everything, apparently. Trixie (played by delightful newcomer Grace Jenkins) seems to have a reasonable childhood awareness about mom's fooling around and flat-out tells her dad that she thinks he killed Charlie (Jacob Elordi), Melinda's drowned boyfriend. She tells him this while the camera moodily zooms into her own sinking scuba toy. That is cinema.

(The closing credits feature an entire Trixie singalong to "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," and the very end of the credits features a reprise of her favorite Alexa tune, "Old MacDonald." Trixie rocks.)

Did he really need to text his wife right at that moment?

Tracy Letts gives by far the best performance in the movie as Don Wilson, a frustrated screenwriter who takes an interest in Vic because everyone should take an interest in Vic because his wife's boyfriends keep dying. However, the biggest break in Don's case happens more or less by accident, when he stumbles upon Vic trying to hide Tony's body. Don gets into his car and feels quite assured about his getaway: "You gonna catch me on your bike, you motherf---er?"

Alas! It's a tortoise and the hare situation, if the hare had a smartphone. Driving down the windy road, Don visibly starts counting all the dollars he's going to get from publishing Vic's story. "This is a book!" he declares. He pulls out his phone and tries to text "I was right." He takes his eyes off the road: "Goddamn f---ing autocorrect!" He drops the phone and tries to pick it up. Vic comes stumbling out of the road, Don swerves to miss him… and goes flying off a cliff. The water is not deep, but it doesn't matter.

Snails?

We asked the experts. Snail handler Max Anton gave EW's Clarissa Cruz an inside look into his work on the film and, in addition to revealing that Affleck was "exceptionally good" at holding snails, he provided some insight into the slimy symbolism:

"In the book and in the movie, I hope this came through, the fidelity of these two snails… they were a foil for Ben and Ana's characters," he explained. "Even these dumb animals, these very simple animals, without even really brains, as you know, by definition, exhibited the kind of love and fidelity that these humans were seemingly incapable of. The draw of the snails, for Ben's character, is that it's almost like peering into a world that he desires and he can't have."

Can Vic actually dance?

At one of the movie's many backyard get-togethers, Vic asks Don's wife Kelly (Kristen Connolly) to dance. "You ever see Vic dance before?" asks Vic's friend Jonas (Dash Mihok.) "I didn't know he could dance," responds Gordon, "Did you know he could dance?" Across the yard, Kristen (Rachel Blanchard) asks Melinda, "Is that Vic dancing? I didn't know he could dance."

Now, what makes this interesting is not that apparently Man Can Dance is the hottest piece of gossip to hit this friend group all year. What makes this interesting is that Vic just keeps spinning Kelly in a circle. (By my count, we see eight spins.) I ask you, is that dancing?

Does Goldie ever go inside?

In my favorite scene of the movie, Vic crashes the Wilsons' dinner. He reveals that he knows Don and Melinda hired a private investigator to follow him. Kelly, who likes Don and generally despises her husband, is embarrassed and horrified. Forget the adults. Focus on Goldie.

Now, the movie does not seem to think Goldie is important. In the end credits, the Wilsons' daughter is credited as Wilson Daughter. She's played by an actress named Goldie Wilson. Knowing nothing whatsoever, I assume the decision to name the character "Goldie" was an on-set improvisation. Which is amazing, because the whole drumbeat of the scene requires Don and Kelly to say her name over and over again. "Goldie, go inside!" Kelly says when the adults start swearing at each other. "Goldie, I said go inside." As Vic walks away and the couple keeps yelling, Kelly concludes: "Goldie, I thought I told you to go inside!"

"She did tell you to go inside," says Don. "Go inside, Goldie. Go inside, Goldie!"

She does not.

Related content:

• Deep Water review
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• Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas' Deep Water pulled from theatrical release