Swimming Pool: juegos perversos

Our neighbor Donna has a knack for buying offbeat DVDs, and 'Swimming Pool' is one of the more. She asked us to see it, and explain it to her. Charlotte Rampling plays the central character of Sarah Morton, a writer who seeks new inspiration at her publisher's vacation home in the south of France. All is well and quiet until Julie (pretty and nubile Ludivine Sagnier) shows up, claiming to be the daughter that Sarah's publisher failed to mention. Sarah and Julie are like fire and ice, oil and water, acid and caustic. Everything that Julie is, carefree, bold, and over sexed, Sarah isn't. Then, what we see developing is Sarah using Julie as the inspiration for her writing. Sarah begins to encourage Julie. And Julie provides much inspiration! This isn't a movie for those put off by nudity or the French habits of liberal sleeping around. But for those who like a clever and absorbing story, that will tingle your brain cells when it is over, having you asking "What exactly happened?" , then you will probably enjoy this one.

SPOILERS follow, quit reading if you have not seen 'Swimming Pool.' As the story progresses, Sarah gets less annoyed with Julie's bratty and loose behavior, and actually seems to be inspired to experiment a bit too. Things turn sinister when Julie is putting off the night time poolside advances of one of the men she brought home, and ends up murdering him. Instead of admonishing Julie, Sarah helps her dispose of the body. The next day, when the village-dwelling gardener shows up, threatening to discover the deed, Sarah offers misdirection by stripping and inviting the old gentleman to her room for sex. BIGGEST SPOILER -- when Sarah gets back to London, her publisher's offices, meets 'Julia', the young daughter who looks and acts nothing like 'Julie' of the movie. My best interpretation, which is also based on comments by writer/director Ozon, is the 'movie' in France was in the imagination of Sarah, starting when she opened her window at night, and which was actually the book she was writing. As the movie ends in London, Sarah shows her publisher John the manuscript for 'Swimming Pool', which he doesn't like. Then she gives him a copy of the published book, telling him he knew he wouldn't like it, because it was a parody of him, and had someone else publish it.

Update: Saw it again January 2011 and it is a great movie to re-watch.

In London, the successful and weird middle-aged writer of crime and mystery novels Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is passing through a phase of lack of inspiration. Her publisher John Bosload (Charles Dance) invites her to spend some summertime days in his house in a small town in France, where there is inclusive a swimming pool. He also suggests her to make the experience of writing about a different theme to break her block. Sarah accepts the invitation and travels to the wonderful and lonely place. A few days later, she starts writing again, but her quiet rest is shaken with the unexpected arrival of Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), the sexy daughter of John. From that moment on, reality and dream blend in Sarah's world.

"Swimming Pool" is a film with ambiguous conclusion by François Ozon. I did not dislike this movie, but I believe it is indeed an excellent idea, wasted in a very disappointing conclusion. There are many unexplained subplots and the story is completely open to the most different interpretations, and of course I have mine. But without reading any information or clue from the writer and director François Ozon about his real intention, it is impossible to give a precise clarification. Europeans usually like this type of open-ending to discuss about, but in this situation, the film does not give necessary hints about the real intention of the plot. The viewer can speculate only. Charlotte Rampling has a magnificent interpretation, Ludivine Sagnier has a very erotic performance, but to become an excellent film, many clarifications are missing. The Unrated DVD from Focus Features offers deleted scenes that may help the interpretation that Sarah was alone in the house. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Swimming Pool: À Beira da Piscina" ("Swimming Pool: On the Edge of the Swimming Pool")

Note: On 21 January 2025, I saw this film again.

This film is beautifully staged and acted, with some good dramatic tension and lovely scenery. Unfortunately, the payoff falls a little flat. It's kind of like a really long joke with a punchline that's not quite funny enough to justify having sat through the telling.

Released in 2003, "Swimming Pool" is a drama/psychological thriller about a popular English novelist named, Sarah (Charlotte Rampling), who vacations at her publisher's villa in France to find inspiration for her next book. Unfortunately, the publisher's oversexed daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), visits and disrupts her activities.

If you remember 70s' films like "Orca" and "Zardoz" you'll know that Rampling was stunning in her physical prime in a looks-that-kill way. In "Swimming Pool" she's still in decent shape for a woman verging on 60, but her character's a joyless biyatch desperately seeking inspiration. Julie, by contrast, is young, friendly and overflowing with sexuality, but – like Sarah – she's not a pushover in the least.

Sagnier shines as the wild child French hottie. There's just something about the female French accent that's a turn-on. Despite her sexiness, it's clear in some scenes that Julie's actually sort of plain in a girl-next-door kind of way. It's what she does with what she's got that makes her stunning.

Like 2005's "Match Point," "Swimming Pool" is the antithesis of the modern 'blockbuster' and all its moronic trappings -- there's no quick editing, no CGI, no goofy one-liners, no explosions and no promise of $400 million at the box office. No, "Swimming Pool" is movie-making based simply on excellent writing and cinematic storytelling. The end is a revelation to the viewer even if you were expecting it, particularly because, if you research it, it's way more than even that, believe it or not. It's amazing how good writing & storytelling can create a 'Wow' reaction more so than the most elaborate overkill action sequence with all its requisite CGI and explosions.

The film runs 102 minutes and was shot in Luberon, Vaucluse, France, and London.

GRADE: A-

***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further if you haven't seen the film)

The obvious interpretation is that Julie isn't real, but rather a character created by Sarah for her next book whereas Julia is the publisher's real daughter, revealed at the end. People who draw this conclusion, like me on my first two viewings, are on the right track, but this interpretation is only accurate to a point. For details see the thread on the IMDb message board "The Definitive Answer / Color-Key to Swimming Pool."

Makers of erotic thrillers need to be careful, as that is a genre that, if not handled carefully, can quickly fall prey to silliness and excess (think "Fatal Attraction"). "Swimming Pool" is a thriller in the style of "The Deep End," and more than once I was struck by similarities between the two in their respective tones and reliance on water as a recurring visual motif. Also, both films have a middle-aged female as the protagonist who becomes involved in covering up for the actions of a child (in "The Deep End" a literal child, in "Swimming Pool" a figurative one). Also, both films are completely unpredictable. Neither goes the direction in which the viewer thinks it's going to. However, "Swimming Pool" is much more abstract, and its ending leaves you wanting to watch the whole thing over immediately with an entirely different perspective on the action. This gimmick always makes for a memorable ending in movies that employ it, but too often it makes the rest of the movie seem somewhat pale in comparison, and this is the case here. "Swimming Pool" plays tricks with your perceptions, but the finale to which the film builds seems somewhat anti-climactic when it finally comes.

It's a leisurely paced film, and you'll need to have patience with it. You'll also need to have patience with the main character, played by Charlotte Rampling. Rampling gives a fine performance, but her character is really unlikable (intentionally so), and it's always a liability for any story that focuses almost solely on one person to make that person unlikable, or at least sympathetic.

"Swimming Pool," though billed as an erotic thriller, is really about the creative process (I think), and I won't say anymore about that because to do so will give away the ending. It's an interesting idea, imperfectly executed.

Grade: B