It has all the qualities of a great French movie: arguably gratuitous nudity, beautiful countrysides and an ending that will leave you curiously nonplussed for days after.
Yet Franois Ozon's "Swimming Pool" is one of the best English-language films to dive (please forgive the pun) into theaters this summer. After impressing American audiences with last year's musical murder mystery "8 Women," Ozon returns with even more murder, mystery, irony and, bien sur, nudity. Ozon has once again managed to captivate audiences with stunning cinematography, an impeccable cast and an ironic plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat even after the final credits roll.
"Swimming Pool" tells the story of British writer Sarah Morton (played to perfection by the great Charlotte Rampling) who, frustrated with the banality of her popular murder-mystery "Inspector Dorwell" series and facing a bad case of writer's block, travels to her publisher's villa in the south of France to seek solace and inspiration for yet another mystery novel. However, to her dismay, Morton finds anything but serenity in Luberon and is greeted by her publisher's loud and promiscuous daughter Julie (8 Women's Ludivine Sagnier).
Julie is a sexy blond wild-child who brings home different men -- and when I say men, I mean old men, young men, bald men, hairy men; the girl has no standards -- every night, listens to loud music and enjoys walking around the swimming pool with no clothing on (come on, she's French -- what did you expect?) The plot could have been clich
ut Ozon avoids the hackneyed opposites-don't-attract scenario and instead develops a psychologically complex interrelationship between Julie and Sarah. Julie's sexual adventures and effervescent personality never cease to shock the calm and insipid Sarah yet the two ostensibly opposite women share a secret that forces them to embrace their differences.
Like "8 Women," "Swimming Pool" seems to mock the traditional murder-mystery novel and pokes fun at the gravity ubiquitous in suspense fiction. In one (very subtly) humorous scene, Julie brings home local waiter Franck and, with a little help from her friend Mary Jane (en franais, "le marijuana"), the uptight Sarah gets down and boogies to the beat. Yet the plot still features all the elements of a true suspense novel: a murder (don't worry, I'm not giving anything away -- haven't you all seen the previews?), a love affair (or ten), an innocent young girl, a hidden past and a freakish-looking dwarf all dressed in black (okay, so maybe that last bit is just an Ozonesque twist, but the dwarf does add to the mystery however superfluous her character may be). The film is suspenseful-sexy but not necessarily scary.
Like so many recent films, "Swimming Pool" is a film about the process of writing (think: Spike Jonze's "Adaptation"). As the film progresses, the line between fiction and reality, suspense and nonsense is blurred and you will leave the theater (this is not a prediction, this is a fact) wondering what really happened during the last 102 minutes.
Like many writers, Sarah becomes so focused on writing another best-seller that she not only invades Julie's privacy but also takes on many characteristics of her female protagonist (yes, Charlotte Rampling too has a nude scene in this movie). All of Sarah's sexual frustrations appear to manifest themselves in Julie's uninhibited sexual fervor that, at times, borders on pornography (but then we must remind ourselves yet again that despite the English dialect, the film is still French).
The cinematography is beautiful; Ozon has captured the tranquil magnificence of the Luberon region of southern France and the symbolic serenity of the swimming pool. He lucidly juxtaposes the crowded business of London with the calm beauty of the French Mediterranean countryside. In nearly every scene, we see the reflection of the bodies of the characters in the pool and, like the swimming pool, the main characters of the film are mysteriously translucent. Symbolism runs rampant in this film -- the pool, the cross that Sarah so obviously removes throughout the film, etc. -- but not enough to be characterized as clich.
Charlotte Rampling's stellar performance contrasts beautifully with Sagnier's shockingly fresh big screen invasion and it is clear that Sagnier has grown up a great deal since her "8 Women" days. This film represents what may have happened had Alfred Hitchcock and Jerry Springer gone on spring break together and decided to make a movie. "Swimming Pool" is like a good French pastry; it's deliciously unforgettable.
