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.
Swimming Pool (2003)
Tomatometer
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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
Whether through manipulation or skilled filmmaking, Swimming Pool mesmerizes long after the movie is over.
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.
A brace of superb performances elevates French writer-director Francois Ozon's first English-language movie.
Whether the movie leaves you confused or angry, you will be stimulated to long discussion afterward. How often does that happen these days?
Works well enough as a stylish bit of titillation as well as a showcase for its two marvelous actresses.
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.
Rampling's stuffy performance is fine, but it's Sagnier's sexually charged, emotionally messed-up turn that makes this tale a juicy one.
The suspenseful set-up never pays off, but Rampling continues the impressive collaboration with Ozon that began with Under the Sand in 2000.
Swimming Pool is a lark of a thriller, and a mesmerizing one at that.
[The tension] grows by increments, until you realize the movie, in its quiet way, has you snared entirely.
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.
What had been character-driven drama becomes plot-driven and gimmicky, undermining all of the promise of the first half of the film.
It's visually interesting and demands you leave the theatre talking about what just happened.
If the payoff doesn't live up to the set-up, Ozon's latest remains an intriguing, fascinatingly unpolished film.
Swimming Pool is as lulling as a dead man's float, but you come up for air realizing there's no deep end.
This movie shares with Under the Sand, Ozon's previous collaboration with Rampling, a sense of mystery and languid eroticism.
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