A deft, straightforward character study with an Ozon twist
Swimming Pool (2003)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for Swimming Pool
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.
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.
The combination of sunny cinematography and an ominous score creates an interestingly offbeat trouble-in-paradise vibe.
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.
Swimming Pool is far from a conventional whodunit; we know 'who,' but there may be no 'dun.'
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.
As in her previous Ozon film, Rampling carries nearly the whole thing.
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.
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.
A deeply layered murder-mystery that keeps you thinking about it in the hours, and even days.
Ozon takes a long time setting up his story, but the interplay between Sagnier and Rampling is electric.
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.
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