Review: Swimming Pool


Charlotte Rampling is a burned out, middle-aged mystery novel writer who takes some time off suggested by her publisher Charles Dance, who allows her to use his country house in France. Seeking solitude, relaxation and inspiration, Rampling gets a rude shock when Dance’s skanky teen daughter Ludivine Sagnier shows up. Rampling is reserved, snobbish and repressed, Sagnier is a wild exhibitionist and possible sex addict, and the two immediately butt heads until circumstances see them joining forces under a crisis.


2003 Francois Ozon (“8 Women”) flick is yet another reason to hate the French. Oh, I’m kidding…but after the simmering but similarly prick-teasing “Nathalie…” and this, I’ve gotta say I’m sick to death of arty European films that clearly set up a lesbian-oriented relationship only to never actually show us anything. In fact, I’m not sure Ozon even knew what the status of their relationship was, it keeps changing in the most unconvincing, unoriginal, and contrived of manners throughout the film. But why have Rampling clearly perving on topless Sagnier drying herself off after a swim if they’re not even gonna play tonsil hockey? Don’t give me this repressed—older-woman-opening-up crap, ‘coz a lesbian scene could easily have been worked into that, too. But it isn’t. It’s all subtext, if that even. And for what is essentially a mystery film featuring a mystery novel author in the lead, the film is surprisingly obvious (and yet that final scene still perplexes me). Gee, d’ya think Rampling is gonna have a novel out of this experience? Is someone gonna wind up dead? Gee, I dunno…does Ozon think we’ve never seen a movie before? At least “Nathalie…” had the erotic build-up before copping out. All this one has is Rampling’s sexy performance (and she’s perfectly cast as a middle-aged icy prude). Works best when the contrived and frankly unoriginal plot isn’t rearing its ugly head (in all fairness, this one has a little sizzle at times, but its surface- level). But hey, you do get to see Rampling naked, and she ain’t half bad.


Yeah, that’s right, I’m criticising this film for not giving us girl-on-girl action. Petty, perhaps, but true, it just doesn’t go anywhere, certainly nowhere one hasn’t been many times before, and certainly it doesn’t go where it’s setting itself up to go. Scripted by Emmanuele Bernheim and Ozon, it’s not awful, but still an ultimately unsatisfying experience. I have no doubt plenty of others will have a wildly different interpretation of the film, but this was a massive tease.


Rating: C+

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