RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Swimming Pool
Swimming Pool

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Swimming Pool (2003)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
85 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Swimming Pool - Clip
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Swimming Pool

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
141 - 160 (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
 
 

This movie shares with Under the Sand, Ozon's previous collaboration with Rampling, a sense of mystery and languid eroticism.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
07/01/03
Bruce Newman
Bruce Newman
San Jose Mercury News

Mr. Ozon's first English-language film, is simultaneously a thoroughly mannered, mischievously artificial confection and an acute piece of psychological realism.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
07/01/03
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Swimming Pool smolders with held-back eroticism and brain-teasing enigmas.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
07/01/03
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
07/01/03
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fine sunlit noir, oozing sensuality and menace.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
07/01/03
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

Take a dip -- the water's fine.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
07/01/03
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

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.

Full Review Source: Critic Doctor | comment Comment
07/01/03
Peter Sobczynski
Peter Sobczynski
Critic Doctor

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

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
07/01/03
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

I loved every inch of this movie.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
06/30/03
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper

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.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
06/27/03
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

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.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
06/17/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

An inconsequential film ... Still, there are a lot worst things to do than sit in the dark and admire Sagnier's phenomenal figure.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
06/16/03
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

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.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
06/14/03
Erica Abeel
Erica Abeel
Film Journal International

Here's the art house version of Caddyshack, also known as 'the slob versus the snob.'

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
06/14/03
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
Filmcritic.com

An erotic, pate de foie gras-flavored thriller.

Full Review Source: NY Rock | comment Comment
06/13/03
Spyder Darling
Spyder Darling
NY Rock

Unlike Hitchcock, who was forced to curtail his fetishes behind the movie code, Ozon lets it all hang out.

Full Review Source: ToxicUniverse.com | comment Comment
06/12/03
Jeremiah Kipp
Jeremiah Kipp
ToxicUniverse.com

However elegant and feral the film appears on the surface, it’s constantly betrayed by Ozon’s cultural reductivism.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
06/09/03
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

The 57-year-old Charlotte Rampling reveals a body that most teens would die for.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
06/02/03
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

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.

Full Review Source: FilmFestivals.com | comment Comment
05/21/03
Moira Sullivan
Moira Sullivan
FilmFestivals.com

Stands as the filmmaker's most satisfying and contained work to date.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
05/19/03
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
all

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...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
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…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Prince of Persia

Prince of Persia

Your first look at the swashbuckler.

Vampires

Vampires

We rank cinema's bloodsuckers.

Avatar

Avatar

The full trailer for Cameron's epic.

2012

2012

12 facts about Emmerich's disaster flick.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
4
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
102
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
  • Forbes Names Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors Source: Forbes
20
  • Chris Weitz Says He's (Almost) Done with Directing Source: Film School Rejects
26
  • Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumors Multiply Like Rabbits Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
51
  • McTeigue Says Superman Is "In a Weird Place" Source: MTV
204
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
148
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
129
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
74
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
51
  • Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
50
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
31
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
2
  • Ho, ho, ho! It's RT's Great Big Gift Guide!
0
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
16
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
  • Emma Stone talks Zombieland - RT Interview
41
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Swimming Pool at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Swimming Pool at IGN
  • Swimming Pool at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

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

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

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

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.