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SWIMMING POOL
by Peter Sobczynski

July 4, 2003

(Out of 4 stars)

FILM CREDITS: Written by Francois Ozon and Emmanuele Bernheim. Directed by Francois Ozon. Starring Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier and Charles Dance.

Francois Ozon is a French filmmaker who is only in his mid-thirties and who has, to date, only directed six feature films and a few shorts yet he is already being hailed as one of the most intriguing new directors on the world film scene. In America, such films as "Under the Sand" and "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" have attracted a loyal arthouse audience and critical raves. In Europe, his films are hugely popular and his reputation is already so great in France that when he set out to make the quirky musical mystery "8 Women", he was able to attract eight of France’s most notable actresses-veterans like Isabelle Huppert and Emmanuelle Beart, ingenues like Virginie Leyoden and the indomitable Catherine Deneuve-to join his cast simply because they all wanted to work with him.

Although he started his feature career aping the surrealist leanings of David Lynch in "Sitcom" (significantly, the least interesting of his films to date), most of his movies have taken the form of mysteries. However, his are not the typical mysteries in which cardboard characters are jerked around by the contrivances of the plot. He realizes that the best mysteries, like any other kind of story, is only as intriguing as the characters are and that the question of whodunit is always less important than why they dunit. "Swimming Pool" (his first film in English) is his latest nod to the genre and it is his most complex and entertaining work to date-a film that works as both a straightforward mystery and as a self-reflexive examination of its traditions.

The great Charlotte Rampling stars as Sarah Morton, a British author of best-selling mysteries who nevertheless seems at odds with her life. Although her books are still popular, it is clear that they are mostly selling because they are familiar brand names rather than because of any literary merit. Although happy to be raking in the money from her efforts, Sarah’s publisher (Charles Dance) offers her the use of his lavish home in the South of France for the summer so that she can recharge her batteries and get back to work. Sarah accepts and begins to settle into her work when her peace and quiet is shattered by the unexpected arrival of Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), the publisher’s daughter, who has also decided to use the house for the summer as well.

Instantly, the quiet, serious Sarah is infuriated by Julie, whose moral and emotional behavior is as flexible as her body. Julie crams the fridge with junk food, leaves dirty dishes everywhere, spends her hours skinny-dipping in the backyard pool and brings different men back to the house every night for loud, enthusiastic sex. Julie, on the other hand, suspects that Sarah is her father’s lover (a question that is never fully answered) and considers her to be a prudish stick-in-the-mud. Eventually, though, the two declare a sort of truce and Sarah even secretly begins to use Julie as the inspiration for her new book. Soon, though, there is an astonishing sequence of events (which I wouldn’t dream of revealing) that forces the viewer to reexamine everything that we know about the two characters and leads to the most head-spinning, gotta-talk-about-it-afterwards ending since "Mulholland Drive".

See what I mean about the film acting as an examination of genre traditions? The notions of the repressed British spinster and the heedless young French sexpot are as old as the hills but Ozon forces us to look at them in a different way here. What is especially intriguing is how Ozon’s diabolically clever screenplay (co-written with Emmanuele Bernheim) unfolds in such a way that the two characters begin to subtly take on characteristics of each others behavior-Sarah becomes more reckless and free-spirited while Julie begins to show more complexities-without it seeming like a forced conceit. By the end of the film, two characters that could have been thin as cardboard in the hands of others wind up being among the most intriguingly developed female roles to come along in a while.

A lot of times, the pairing of a veteran performer with a relative newcomer in what is essentially a two-character piece can be a disaster-either the veteran refuses to bring their A-game along or the neophyte is simply overwhelmed by the more experienced co-star. "Swimming Pool", on the other hand, stars a vet and a newcomer who are in perfect sync with each other and the results are fascinating to watch. Charlotte Rampling is one of those actresses who comes off as so steely-eyed, determined and no-nonsense that Hollywood, which prefers actresses to be warmer and sweeter, has never quite known what to do with her and her fascination with quirkier, darker material (her past films have included "Zardoz", "The Night Porter" and one, the title of which escapes me, in which she falls in love with an ape) didn’t exactly help her cause either. Happily, Ozon knows exactly how to deploy her considerable gifts and the result is one of the two greatest performances she has ever given on-screen (the other being her previous film with Ozon, "Under the Sand"): she is always fascinating to watch, able to handle the character changes that she has to undergo and without even trying, she is still more devastatingly sexy than the vast majority of actresses working today. All of the people currently writing about how great the post-op Demi Moore looks like at 40 should check out this film to see what true beauty really is.

As the sexpot, Ludivine Sagnier more than holds her own on-screen with Rampling in every single scene. Certainly she is gorgeous when she is lounging by the pool in various states of undress (and those who saw Ozon’s "8 Women" will be startled to how Sagnier has transformed herself from the tomboy in that film to her character here) but the role of Julie is a difficult one that requires a real actress, not simply a modeling job, and Sagnier is more than up to the challenge. Every year or so, there always seems to be an ingenue from a foreign country hyped as the next big thing: most of the times, these things rarely work out (wherefore art thou, Valerie Kaprisky?) but based on her work here, I’d say that Sagnier (who will be seen next as Tinker Bell in the new version of "Peter Pan") has what it takes to be a great actress as long as directors are smart enough to look past her beauty (admittedly difficult since she is attractive enough to inspire the kind of reactions that are usually seen only in old Tex Avery cartoons) and give her more challenging roles to tackle.

"Swimming Pool" is being positioned as an art-house film but there is absolutely no reason why it couldn’t play in multiplexes along with"T3" or "The Hulk". The more artistically inclined audience members will appreciate the subtle acting and the ways in which Ozon plays with genre conventions. Those who complain that they only want to see a good story will be caught up with Ozon’s nifty plot developments. Both groups, I’m guessing, will be equally intrigued by the sight of attractive people lying around in various states of undress. Some concepts, after all, transcend all boundaries.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.