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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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121 - 140 (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
 
 

It's worth seeing twice just for the privilege of watching Rampling and Sagnier match each other stroke for stroke.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
07/03/03
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny
Premiere Magazine

With a little sex, some mystery, a little sex, an appealing title and a little sex, France's Swimming Pool has what it takes to become an art house audience magnet.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
07/03/03
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today

Tricky thriller.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/03/03
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Whether through manipulation or skilled filmmaking, Swimming Pool mesmerizes long after the movie is over.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
07/03/03
Carla Meyer
Carla Meyer
San Francisco Chronicle

It's Sagnier, a young Bardot, who lifts the movie, and Rampling, 58, who gives it nuance, not to mention a nude scene that shows off a body Demi Moore would envy.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
07/03/03
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone

Swimming Pool has the edgy chill of early Polanski.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
07/03/03
Bob Campbell
Bob Campbell
Newark Star-Ledger

A brace of superb performances elevates French writer-director Francois Ozon's first English-language movie.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
07/02/03
Megan Lehmann
Megan Lehmann
New York Post

Whether the movie leaves you confused or angry, you will be stimulated to long discussion afterward. How often does that happen these days?

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
07/02/03
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

Works well enough as a stylish bit of titillation as well as a showcase for its two marvelous actresses.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
07/02/03
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

The narrative logic of Swimming Pool slips through our hands like cool water, shimmery and light-dappled, leaving behind the pleasures of summer heat and goose bumps.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
07/02/03
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Rampling's stuffy performance is fine, but it's Sagnier's sexually charged, emotionally messed-up turn that makes this tale a juicy one.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
07/02/03
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The suspenseful set-up never pays off, but Rampling continues the impressive collaboration with Ozon that began with Under the Sand in 2000.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
07/02/03
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Sensuous and deceptive.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
07/02/03
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Swimming Pool is a lark of a thriller, and a mesmerizing one at that.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
07/02/03
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

[The tension] grows by increments, until you realize the movie, in its quiet way, has you snared entirely.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
07/02/03
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

A mesmerizing and imaginative psychological thriller about the delights that can come when we explore aspects of ourselves that we have previously ignored or covered up.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
07/02/03
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

What had been character-driven drama becomes plot-driven and gimmicky, undermining all of the promise of the first half of the film.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
07/01/03
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

It's visually interesting and demands you leave the theatre talking about what just happened.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
07/01/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

If the payoff doesn't live up to the set-up, Ozon's latest remains an intriguing, fascinatingly unpolished film.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
07/01/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Swimming Pool is as lulling as a dead man's float, but you come up for air realizing there's no deep end.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
07/01/03
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice
 
 
121 - 140 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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