This movie shares with Under the Sand, Ozon's previous collaboration with Rampling, a sense of mystery and languid eroticism.
Swimming Pool (2003)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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
Reviews for Swimming Pool
Mr. Ozon's first English-language film, is simultaneously a thoroughly mannered, mischievously artificial confection and an acute piece of psychological realism.
Swimming Pool smolders with held-back eroticism and brain-teasing enigmas.
This is the first film Ozon has shot in English, and his attempt to explain Sarah may be a bid to soften her and help the film's commercial viability. Luckily for him, his actress stays in character.
Swimming Pool is being positioned as an art-house film but there is absolutely no reason why it couldn’t play in multiplexes along with T3 or The Hulk.
If "Under the Sand" was Ozon's take on one of Polanski's psychological dramas and "8 Women" his ode to John Waters, with "Swimming Pool," the director enters Claude Chabrol territory
Swimming Pool is surprisingly deep... giving us that special fun that only the very best movies provide—the pleasure of diving in again and again.
Ozon blends sexual tension and quirky psychology to great advantage, setting the stage for a series of incidents that speak to the incomprehensible grey between fantasy and reality.
An inconsequential film ... Still, there are a lot worst things to do than sit in the dark and admire Sagnier's phenomenal figure.
Swimming Pool is an entertaining act of provocation that lingers in the mind like iridescent fabric: Turn it one way and it yields this; turn it another and it's a different story.
Here's the art house version of Caddyshack, also known as 'the slob versus the snob.'
Unlike Hitchcock, who was forced to curtail his fetishes behind the movie code, Ozon lets it all hang out.
However elegant and feral the film appears on the surface, it’s constantly betrayed by Ozon’s cultural reductivism.
The 57-year-old Charlotte Rampling reveals a body that most teens would die for.
At the press conference for Swimming Pool, the wondrous Ozon is asked "How many women will you put in your film next time?" "I will think about it", he laughs.
Stands as the filmmaker's most satisfying and contained work to date.
Latest News for Swimming Pool
April 19, 2005:
Get Ready for Another Dose of "Basic Instinct"
You've heard it mentioned for years, but production is (finally) about to get underway on "Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction." A follow-up to Paul Verhoeven's sexual... More...
More DVDs
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 36% 36% | G.I. Joe: The Rise of … |
| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Swimming Pool at Rotten Tomatoes
- Swimming Pool at IGN
- Swimming Pool at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.



Top Critic

