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Swimming Pool (film)
Encyclopedia
Swimming Pool is a 2003 thriller film directed by François Ozon
and starring Charlotte Rampling
and Ludivine Sagnier
. The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upscale summer house in Southern France
for solitude to work on her next book. However, the arrival of Julie, the publisher's daughter, induces complications and a subsequent crime.
While the film's protagonist
is British and both of the lead characters are bilingual, the majority of the story takes place in France - thus, the dialogue throughout the film is a mixture of French and English, which is appropriately subtitled.
Swimming Pool premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 2003, and was released in France a few days later, with a U cinema rating, meaning it was deemed suitable for all ages. It was given a limited release
in the United States that July, and was edited in order to avoid an NC-17 rating due to its sexual content and nudity.
The film also ignited controversy with audiences over its ambiguous nature and unclear conclusion which can be interpreted and argued in various ways - while in France many comparisons were made with the noted 1969 Jacques Deray
's movie La Piscine
( "The Swimming-pool") , starring Romy Schneider
and Alain Delon
.
), a middle-aged English mystery
author, who has written a successful series of novels featuring a single detective
, is having writer's block
that is impeding her next book. Sarah's publisher, John Bosload (Charles Dance
), offers her his country house near Lacoste
, France
for some rest and relaxation. After becoming comfortable with the run of the house, Sarah's quietude is disrupted by a young woman claiming to be the publisher's daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier
). She shows up one night claiming to be taking time off from work herself. She also claims that her mother used to be Bosload's mistress, but that he would not leave his family.
Julie's sex life consists of one-night stand
s with various oafish men, and a competition of personalities develops between the two women. At first Sarah regards Julie as a distraction from her writing. She uses earplugs to allow her to sleep during Julie's noisy nighttime adventures, although she nonetheless has a voyeuristic fascination with them. Later she abandons the earplugs during one of Julie's trysts, beginning to envy Julie's lifestyle. The competition comes to the fore when a local waiter, Franck (Jean-Marie Lamour), is involved. Julie wants him but he appears to prefer the more mature Sarah, having struck up a relationship with her during her frequent lunches at the bistro.
An unexpected tragedy
occurs after a night of flirting among the three. After swimming together in the pool, Franck refuses to allow Julie to continue performing oral sex
on him, once Sarah, who watches them from the balcony, throws a rock into the water. Franck feels frightened and tells Julie he is leaving. The next day, Franck is missing. While investigating Franck's disappearance, Sarah learns that Julie's mother has been dead for some time, though Julie had claimed that she was still alive. She returns to the villa, where a confused Julie thinks that Sarah is her mother and has a breakdown. She eventually recovers and confesses that Franck is dead because Julie repeatedly hit him over the head with a rock as he tried to leave her at the pool. His body is in one of the sheds.
When Marcel (Marc Fayolle) becomes suspicious of the mound of fresh soil where the body is buried, Sarah seduces the elderly gardener to distract him. Julie leaves, thanking Sarah for her help and leaving her the manuscript of an unpublished novel written by her late mother, which she had previously claimed that John made her burn. Sarah returns to England and visits her publisher's office with her new novel. His daughter also shows up just as Sarah is leaving, but is revealed to be a completely different girl than the one Sarah spent the weekend with.
and $12,311,215 in the rest of the world for a total of $22,441,323. It had a budget of €6.1 million (approximately US$7.8 million), meaning that it was a financial success.
, with most critics' praise centering on the two leads. Roger Ebert
gave the film a positive review and stated that "François Ozon, the director and co-writer (with Emmanuele Bernheim), understands as Hitchcock
did the small steps by which a wrong decision grows in its wrongness into a terrifying paranoid nightmare."
Neil Smith of BBC
also praised the film, calling it a "compelling psychological melodrama" and "Hitchcockian thriller".
François Ozon
François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter and whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality....
and starring Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
and Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier is a French actress and model, who has appeared in 33 films since 1989. She was nominated for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Swimming Pool and Un secret .-Early life:...
. The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upscale summer house in Southern France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
for solitude to work on her next book. However, the arrival of Julie, the publisher's daughter, induces complications and a subsequent crime.
While the film's protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
is British and both of the lead characters are bilingual, the majority of the story takes place in France - thus, the dialogue throughout the film is a mixture of French and English, which is appropriately subtitled.
Swimming Pool premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
2003 Cannes Film Festival
The 2003 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Elephant by Gus Van Sant.-Jury:* Patrice Chéreau, President * Aishwarya Rai * Meg Ryan * Karin Viard...
in May 2003, and was released in France a few days later, with a U cinema rating, meaning it was deemed suitable for all ages. It was given a limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States that July, and was edited in order to avoid an NC-17 rating due to its sexual content and nudity.
The film also ignited controversy with audiences over its ambiguous nature and unclear conclusion which can be interpreted and argued in various ways - while in France many comparisons were made with the noted 1969 Jacques Deray
Jacques Deray
Jacques Deray was a French film director and screenwriter. Deray is prominently known for directing many crime and thriller films.-Biography:...
's movie La Piscine
La Piscine (film)
La Piscine is a 1969 Italian-French film directed by Jacques Deray. It is set in a villa with a pool in August at the Côte d'Azur...
( "The Swimming-pool") , starring Romy Schneider
Romy Schneider
Romy Schneider was an Austrian-born German film actress who also held French citizenship.-Early life:Schneider was born Rosemarie Magdalena Albach in Nazi-era Vienna, six months after the Anschluss, into a family of actors that included her paternal grandmother Rosa Albach-Retty, her Austrian...
and Alain Delon
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot...
.
Plot
Sarah Morton (Charlotte RamplingCharlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
), a middle-aged English mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
author, who has written a successful series of novels featuring a single detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
, is having writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
that is impeding her next book. Sarah's publisher, John Bosload (Charles Dance
Charles Dance
Walter Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. His most famous roles are Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown , Dr Clemens, the doctor of penitentiary Fury 161, who becomes Ellen Ripley's confidante in Alien 3 ,...
), offers her his country house near Lacoste
Lacoste, Vaucluse
Lacoste is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.Its population doubles in size during the height of the summer tourist season.-Geography:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
for some rest and relaxation. After becoming comfortable with the run of the house, Sarah's quietude is disrupted by a young woman claiming to be the publisher's daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier
Ludivine Sagnier is a French actress and model, who has appeared in 33 films since 1989. She was nominated for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Swimming Pool and Un secret .-Early life:...
). She shows up one night claiming to be taking time off from work herself. She also claims that her mother used to be Bosload's mistress, but that he would not leave his family.
Julie's sex life consists of one-night stand
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
s with various oafish men, and a competition of personalities develops between the two women. At first Sarah regards Julie as a distraction from her writing. She uses earplugs to allow her to sleep during Julie's noisy nighttime adventures, although she nonetheless has a voyeuristic fascination with them. Later she abandons the earplugs during one of Julie's trysts, beginning to envy Julie's lifestyle. The competition comes to the fore when a local waiter, Franck (Jean-Marie Lamour), is involved. Julie wants him but he appears to prefer the more mature Sarah, having struck up a relationship with her during her frequent lunches at the bistro.
An unexpected tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
occurs after a night of flirting among the three. After swimming together in the pool, Franck refuses to allow Julie to continue performing oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
on him, once Sarah, who watches them from the balcony, throws a rock into the water. Franck feels frightened and tells Julie he is leaving. The next day, Franck is missing. While investigating Franck's disappearance, Sarah learns that Julie's mother has been dead for some time, though Julie had claimed that she was still alive. She returns to the villa, where a confused Julie thinks that Sarah is her mother and has a breakdown. She eventually recovers and confesses that Franck is dead because Julie repeatedly hit him over the head with a rock as he tried to leave her at the pool. His body is in one of the sheds.
When Marcel (Marc Fayolle) becomes suspicious of the mound of fresh soil where the body is buried, Sarah seduces the elderly gardener to distract him. Julie leaves, thanking Sarah for her help and leaving her the manuscript of an unpublished novel written by her late mother, which she had previously claimed that John made her burn. Sarah returns to England and visits her publisher's office with her new novel. His daughter also shows up just as Sarah is leaving, but is revealed to be a completely different girl than the one Sarah spent the weekend with.
Cast
- Charlotte RamplingCharlotte RamplingCharlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
as Sarah Morton - Ludivine SagnierLudivine SagnierLudivine Sagnier is a French actress and model, who has appeared in 33 films since 1989. She was nominated for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Swimming Pool and Un secret .-Early life:...
as Julie - Charles DanceCharles DanceWalter Charles Dance, OBE is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. His most famous roles are Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown , Dr Clemens, the doctor of penitentiary Fury 161, who becomes Ellen Ripley's confidante in Alien 3 ,...
as John Bosload - Jean-Marie Lamour as Franck
- Marc Fayolle as Marcel
- Mireille Mossé as Marcel's daughter
- Lauren Farrow as Julia
- Sebastian Harcombe as Terry Long
- Frances CukaFrances CukaFrances Cuka is a British actress, principally on television, whose career has spanned nearly fifty years.Cuka was born in London, England, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie , a tailor, and Joseph Cuka, a process engraver. On stage, she created the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of...
as Lady on the Underground
Ending interpretations
The intentionally ambiguous ending sparked much controversy with audiences. One suspicion is that Sarah had been alone at the villa for the entire time. Ostensibly this would mean that the character of Julie is a total fiction conjured by Sarah for the purpose of her new book - also titled Swimming Pool - which she presents defiantly to Bosload at the end of the film. Ozon himself has stated:Box office
Swimming Pool grossed $10,130,108 in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and $12,311,215 in the rest of the world for a total of $22,441,323. It had a budget of €6.1 million (approximately US$7.8 million), meaning that it was a financial success.
Critical reception
The film was well received and earned an 85% "freshness" rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, with most critics' praise centering on the two leads. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film a positive review and stated that "François Ozon, the director and co-writer (with Emmanuele Bernheim), understands as Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
did the small steps by which a wrong decision grows in its wrongness into a terrifying paranoid nightmare."
Neil Smith of BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
also praised the film, calling it a "compelling psychological melodrama" and "Hitchcockian thriller".