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Swimming Pool on DVD (2003)

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Average rating: 65%
1216620151634
3.0
from 1,229 members
 
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Marc Fayolle, Jean-Marie Lamour, Mireille Mosse, Michel Fau
Director: Francois Ozon
Studio: 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 98 mins
Certificate: 12
Collections: 100 Feisty Females
User collections: Super-duper films!
Genres: Thriller
Languages: French, English
Released: 17/05/2004

Brief synopsis of Swimming Pool

In Francois Ozon's SWIMMING POOL, Charlotte Rampling plays Sarah Morton, a prim and proper British author who has written a successful series of mystery-crime novels. However, when she visits her London publisher (Charles Dance) in a dour mood, wearing a depressive pout, and complains that she's no longer his favourite, he invites her to use his holiday home in the south of France as a tranquil escape to try her hand at writing something a little bit different. Once there, Sarah receives an unexpected and highly unwelcome visit from his bold, sexy, confrontational teenage daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). The two are instantly at odds with each other, as Julie drinks, smokes, and slinks around the pool topless. Her loose sexual mores and mysterious late nights infuriate Sarah, whose puritanical unease is only exacerbated in Julie's presence. Wonderful scenes of Sarah writing at her computer, her lips twitching wickedly with twisted inspiration, indicate that the story is about to take a turn for the weird. And that it does, quickly, as booze-clouded activities by the swimming pool become dark and seedy.
In this immaculate thriller, Rampling and Sagnier ignite the screen with static tension. Stunted conversations, resentful glances, and strange insights about the personality of each character give the story a tangible electricity. The idyllic French home and sun-drenched swimming pool put an ironic spin on the haunting story. And as Ozon works his magic with pensive camerawork, providing moments of true visual comedy that only enhance the plot's intrigue, viewers will delight in what is at once an understated yet powerful narrative feat.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 4 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Charlotte Rampling's emotionally repressed crime writer and publisher Charles Dance's carefree daughter, Ludivine Sagnier, encounter each other in France when Rampling takes a working break to gain inspiration for her next book in this teasingly ambiguous study of creative angst and sexual tension. Director François Ozon continues to pry into the psyche of the vulnerable, while Yorick Le Saux's cinematography is key to establishing the contrast between the drab frustration of London and the scorching temptation of the southern French hideaway of Luberon. This in turn serves to reinforce the differences between the two women. But it's the skill with which Ozon and his stars explore clashing attitudes and universal urges that ensures this knowing melodrama is compelling viewing right up to its mischievous conclusion.

Time Out

Bored by her successful series of crime mysteries, uptight British novelist Rampling agrees to take a break in her... Read more on www.timeout.com

Rating of 2 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Teasing mystery about a novelist's transformation of actuality into fiction.

See all 4 Critics Reviews »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 3 starsA Guilty Pleasure - Like Peeing In The Pool......

Clucky from Cardiff, Wales , 23/08/2004

There are three reasons why you should watch this film - Ludivine Sagnier in a swimsuit, Ludivine Sagnier topless and finally Ludivine Sagnier in the buff. Sexist? Possibly. Harsh? Not really considering the amount of time Ozon allocates towards examining every angle of her curvaceous young body. Now don?t get me wrong the plot is initially intriguing, the characters fairly well defined and the acting from both Rampling and Sagnier is assured. But for me the film never really ignites and after watching ?Water Drops on Burning Rocks? it felt too ?safe? and somewhat lacklustre in effort.

Arguably the cinematography is crisp but lacks any real imagination and whilst Ozon?s direction is confident, it is rather bland and more orientated, I felt, towards the mainstream elements of cinema. On the positive side, both actresses capture the stereotypical caricatures perfectly, with Rampling playing the dowdy but manipulative English woman and Sagnier the seductive but emotionally insecure young tearaway. However, I found the actual relationship between the two unconvincing and this unfortunately allowed me to pre-empt where the script was going.

Overall this is a solid if rather uninspiring film and is certainly worth a rent for the sultry pouting of Sagnier alone. However, if you are looking for a good thriller then I would advise you to look elsewhere and for a more risqu? example of French cinema try ?Water Drops on Burning Rocks?. 3 out of 5.

Extras ? Interviews (Charlotte Rampling ? 8m & Ludivine Sagnier ? 11m), Cannes Film Festival 2003 (3m), Stills Galleries, Trailer, Promo Reel and French Teaser.

Subtitles ? Only available during the French dialogue but these are clear to read.

  41 out of 63 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 2 starsA triumph of style over substance

Rehan from London , 16/10/2004

This a wonderfully chic film: great production values, excellent acting, beautiful settings. In fact, quite operatic: but, alas, one of those operas that are essentially pointless.

If ever you seek an example of arty French filmmaking which is ultimately shallow and entirely unsatisfying, this is it: a tremendous waste of the spectacular acting talents that are part of it. Why anyone would bother making a film like this -- let alone making people sit through it -- is a conundrum. Paint-by-numbers cleverness.

  21 out of 28 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsSimply stylish

Jen Movie Addict from London, UK , 04/10/2004

This is classic French Cinema (and I'm generally not one to rave about it)! Unlike most movies from across the Channel, this is not about adultery! Swimming Pool is a cleverly written tale about a sexually frustrated British crime writer, fabulously portrayed by one of the great actresses of our time Charlotte Rampling, who goes to France to her publisher's house to write her next novel. However, all hell brakes loose when her publisher's daughter arrives and stirs things up. If you missed it on the big screen make sure you see it at home, it's classic Sunday afternoon entertainment.

  10 out of 13 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 stars

David#542 from ROCHDALE , 21/08/2004

A slick, and beutifully observed drama. Charlotte Rampling is fantastic. This is a slick well observed movie, no fast cars, serial killers or big explosions. The film explores the characters and draws them out beautifully. We the audience care for the characters and there is an unexpected twist at the end that keeps you thinking long after the credits. This is a film noir feel movie. Worthy of a rental.

  7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsSomething different for the weekend

KP from Manchester , 30/01/2005

A bit of a puzzler this one. Almost throughout there was a feeling that all was not as it seemed: a dreamlike, unnatural quality pervaded. I'm undecided about exactly what was meant to have occurred even now. There is nudity but I'm not going to harp on about it as I do feel there was a reason for it. I think the film had a lot to say about outward appearances and the faces we wear to people and about stereotypes. The action does mount slowly but I didn't find myself bored or restless at any time. I'm not familiar with the director's work but I did enjoy this and was happier to have seen it than much I went to see at the cinema this year.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 stars

David#542 from ROCHDALE , 21/08/2004

A slick, and beutifully observed drama. Charlotte Rampling is fantastic. This is a slick well observed movie, no fast cars, serial killers or big explosions. The film explores the characters and draws them out beautifully. We the audience care for the characters and there is an unexpected twist at the end that keeps you thinking long after the credits. This is a film noir feel movie. Worthy of a rental.

  7 out of 7 people found this review helpful
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