Swimming Pool – 2003
Posted by Scott on 02 Mar 2008 at 06:07 am | Tagged as: Underrated Films
Sexy and mysterious. Two words that best describe French director Francois Ozon’s neo-noir film Swimming Pool. I recommend this with a warning: pay close attention and question everything. Ozon revels playing mind games with his audience. The plot is a bit deliberate but the payoff is worth it.
Wildly successful British mystery writer Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) needs a vacation. Fearing burnout, her editor John (Charles Dance) offers her his villa in the South of France. Sarah agrees, hoping the relaxation will inspire her to start another novel.
Once in France, the stodgy, set-in-her-ways Sarah attempts to cut loose. She eats junk food and wears a funny hat. Quite the party animal. She also begins writing another book. Things are going swimmingly (bad pun intended) for Sarah. However, her solitude quickly erodes after the unexpected arrival of John’s teenage daughter, Julie. Sultry and brash, young Julie and old Sarah clash immediately.
Julie wanders the house topless, lounges by the pool, and engages in sexual trysts with the locals. Needless to say, her behavior perturbs Sarah. Eventually, Julie’s freewheeling ways rub off on Sarah. Fascinated by her youthful exuberance, Sarah begins to adopt Julie’s persona; sexually awakened, her novel takes a new direction.
Swimming Pool is a study of the writer’s process. Ozon enters Sarah’s mind and asks us to make a choice. Is the world we’re being presented real or imagined? Is Sarah living the story she’s creating, or simply documenting events in her life? Ozon’s twists and turns keep an otherwise ordinary plot interesting. Cheers to Ludivine Sagnier, who plays Julie with seductive gusto.
