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Movies / On DVD / Swimming Pool
Swimming Pool

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Swimming Pool (2003)

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Reviews Counted:149

Fresh:126

Rotten:23

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: A sensual thriller with two engaging performers demanding our undivided attention.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Swimming Pool is world-premiering In Competition at the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival. With Swimming Pool, Europe’s most daring and inventive writer/director, François Ozon, reunites with... Swimming Pool is world-premiering In Competition at the 2003 Cannes International Film Festival. With Swimming Pool, Europe’s most daring and inventive writer/director, François Ozon, reunites with his two favorite leading ladies, Charlotte Rampling (of Under the Sand) and Ludivine Sagnier (of 8 Women). Deliciously sophisticated and sexy, Swimming Pool, the first of Mr. Ozon’s movies to be made in the English language, revisits the sense of mystery that infused Under the Sand. Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is a famous British mystery author. Tired of London and seeking inspiration for her new novel, she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload (Charles Dance) to stay at his home in Lubéron, in the South of France. It is the off-season, and Sarah finds that the beautiful country locale and unhurried pace is just the tonic for her – until late one night, when John’s indolent and insouciant French daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) unexpectedly arrives. Sarah’s prim and steely English reserve is jarred by Julie’s reckless, sexually charged lifestyle. Their interactions set off an increasingly unsettling series of events, as Sarah’s creative process and a possible real-life murder begin to blend dangerously together. François Ozon wrote the original screenplay in collaboration with French novelist and screenwriter Emmanuèle Bernheim (with whom he previously worked on Under the Sand). The film is produced by Mr. Ozon’s longtime collaborators, Fidélité’s Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc. Mr. Ozon’s most recent film was the award-winning Focus Features release 8 Women, one of France’s top-grossing films of 2002. Prior to making 8 Women, Mr. Ozon attained international attention for his features Under the Sand, Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Criminal Lovers, and Sitcom; his hourlong film See the Sea; and several award-winning short films, among them A Summer Dress. The Paris native is a graduate of the French national film school (FEMIS). A Focus Features presentation of a Fidélité co-production with Headforce Limited, France 2 Cinéma, Gimages Films, and Foz with the participation of Canal +. Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance. A Film by François Ozon. Swimming Pool. Director of Photography, Yorick Le Saux. Costume Designer, Pascaline Chavanne. Art Director, Wouter Zoon. Editor, Monica Coleman. Original Score, Philippe Rombi. Produced by Olivier Delbosc and Marc Missonnier. Screenplay Collaborator, Emmanuèle Bernheim. Written and Directed by François Ozon. [More]

Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Marc Fayolle

Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Marc Fayolle, Jean-Marie Lamour, Mireille Mosse, Michel Fau

Director: Francois Ozon

Director: Francois Ozon
Screenwriter: Francois Ozon, Emmanuelle Bernheim
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for Swimming Pool

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81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A deft, straightforward character study with an Ozon twist

Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
07/18/03
Marty Mapes
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
07/16/03
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A delectable and daring psychological drama.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
07/16/03
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A delicious little thriller about an uptight, ill-humored English mystery writer who becomes enmeshed in murder, Swimming Pool is at once comical, contrary, resourceful and ambiguous.

Full Review Source: Dallas Observer | comment Comment
07/16/03
Jean Oppenheimer
Jean Oppenheimer
Dallas Observer
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BlackFilm.com | comment Comment
07/16/03
Wilson Morales
Wilson Morales
BlackFilm.com

Women will have to explain what happened to the men on the way out, as they're pushing their spring-loaded eyes back into their sockets.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
07/16/03
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Erotically delicious.

Full Review Source: FilmsInReview.com | comment Comment
07/15/03
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com

The combination of sunny cinematography and an ominous score creates an interestingly offbeat trouble-in-paradise vibe.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
07/12/03
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

Think of it as a box of chocolates, with Sagnier being the chocolate-covered cherry. And you know the problem with chocolates: They're great to eat but they offer no nourishment whatsoever, and afterwards you feel guilty for the indulgence.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
07/11/03
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star

Swimming Pool is far from a conventional whodunit; we know 'who,' but there may be no 'dun.'

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
07/11/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

Shimmering with eroticism and simmering with the tension of unfamiliarity — we never know, right up to the flourish of its end, quite where this film is going.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
07/11/03
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

As in her previous Ozon film, Rampling carries nearly the whole thing.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
07/11/03
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Swimming Pool is full of nudges and nuance.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
07/11/03
Paula Nechak
Paula Nechak
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Rampling and Sagnier are very good in roles that demand very different things of them, and Ozon's mix of peril and playfulness make for a seductive cinematic diversion.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
07/11/03
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

Swimming Pool comes by its 'erotic thriller' label honestly, not merely because the women are naked, but because they deploy their sexuality in a way that's crucial to the narrative.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
07/11/03
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

[A] solid, somewhat decadent treat.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
07/11/03
Marc Mohan
Marc Mohan
Oregonian

Offers an inside-out twist on TV's Murder She Wrote.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
07/11/03
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

A deeply layered murder-mystery that keeps you thinking about it in the hours, and even days.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
07/11/03
Jane Stevenson
Jane Stevenson
Jam! Movies

Ozon takes a long time setting up his story, but the interplay between Sagnier and Rampling is electric.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
07/11/03
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle

Well-acted, nicely shot, slick and certainly sexy, Swimming Pool may be all foreplay and no climax, but what the heck -- there are worse ways to be teased.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
07/11/03
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
 
 
81 - 100 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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