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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: Dramas

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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101 - 120 (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
 
 

Clever and exceedingly well-acted.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
07/11/03
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

Deftly mixing eroticism, psychology and art, Ozon has made a provocative movie while adding another stunning performance to Rampling's collection.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
07/11/03
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

In taking one sort of movie and seemingly teasing it into another, the director and his leading ladies have made a lovely argument about where the real mysteries lie in our lives.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
07/11/03
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

Works as a character study and a quiet thriller.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
07/11/03
Chris Vognar
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News

Swimming Pool is a slick psychological blender with an ending that causes a re-evaluation of everything that preceded it.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/11/03
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

Swimming Pool seduces and annoys.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
07/10/03
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

A watchable, provocative film.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/08/03
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post

...primarily a movie about the disruptive and empowering effects of female nudity -- which is kinda cool. Too bad about the ending.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
07/08/03
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

Unsure of the correct solution but aware of all the possibilities, the only conclusion I could come to was how I didn’t give a hot damn about any of them.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/08/03
Erik Childress
Erik Childress
eFilmCritic.com

Swimming Pool is more an exquisite art object than an involving movie. So be it.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
07/08/03
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

A taut, psychological tete-à-tete that rivets us and keeps us guessing.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/07/03
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

An elegant, brilliant and rapturous work... a languid cinematic treatise on the beautiful mystery of creativity that possesses the swirl of an involving dream.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | comment Comment
07/07/03
Brent Simon
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today

Visually arousing and perceptive in its sexy cynicism, Pool allows one to dip more than just their reluctant toe in the cool and calming turquoise waters...provocative

Full Review Source: Movie Eye | comment Comment
07/06/03
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
Movie Eye

Sex, murder, mystery, psychological drama, vintage Rampling, sensuous Sagnier, and a summer house in Provence -- here Ozon has all bases covered.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
07/06/03
Mary Colbert
Mary Colbert
Boxoffice Magazine

Like other Ozon movies, it feels lifeless and freeze-dried -- in the end, it's more about its own ideas than it is about actual characters.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
07/05/03
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com

...partly about a novelist's seach for inspiration, but it's mostly about the sort of inspiration that can come from watching Ludivine Sagnier stretched under the sun in a barely there bikini.

Full Review Source: Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) | comment Comment
07/04/03
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL)

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Modamag.com | comment Comment
07/04/03
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
Modamag.com

Ozon means to have perversity speak for him, but in the end, it doesn’t have a lot to say.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
07/04/03
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

A moodily effective thriller that in the end also works as a clever commentary on the creative process.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
07/04/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
07/04/03
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Nitrate Online
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
all

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