Refreshing and bracing but increasingly murky the longer you stay in the water...
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.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jul 2, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $9,942,554
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
A well-acted film that examines the creative process in a fairly crafty manner.
The dangerous byplay between Rampling and Sagnier gives Swimming Pool a surprising depth.
Director Francois Ozon fabricates an engrossing mystery thriller by throwing disparate samples of the female gender together and finding a way to make the mixture more explosive than forcing oil and water to go into solution.
Had Ozon stayed with his mid- film story, he would have had one of the year's best films on his hands.
Rampling and Sagnier play women for whom danger means different, opposing things, women who become unlikely allies in a tidy little mystery. Inspector Durvell -- and Alfred Hitchcock -- would approve.
Shares a heightened reality with [Ozon's] sugar-coated musical mystery 8 Women.
Swimming Pool offers something few other movies this summer can match: A dreamy, intoxicating sensuality.
Like a good summer book, Swimming Pool may not be weighty with profound issues. But it's a heck of a fun read.
We float lazily for much of the movie in familiar, seemingly shallow waters. Just as we get comfortable, we feel the bottom drop away and paddle frantically to get our bearings.
François Ozon's sexy but grimly pedestrian Swimming Pool is as obvious as it is uninspired.
Ozon takes us for a dip into a swimming pool that is as tempting as it is out of reach for those who prefer diving into deeper water.
The story occasionally wanders, but Swimming Pool is definitely worth a dip.
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