Jumper, Justin Anderson’s first short, opened on a naked man bathing in a pool. Conceived in 2014 for the tenth anniversary of British fashion designer Jonathan Saunders, the film was a riff on Pasolini’s Teorema; it followed a lunar stranger who shows up uninvited at a luscious Spanish villa and upends the frigid lives of its tenants. Ten years later, the same idea and shot survive more or less intact in Anderson’s feature debut, Swimming Home, based on a 2011 Man Booker-shortlisted novel by Deborah Levy. Except this time the setting is a summer home on an unidentified Greek island, the nude intruder a young woman, and her target is not a whole family but its taciturn, haunted patriarch.
His name his Josef (Christopher Abbott); hers is Kitti (Ariane Labed). He’s a poet and she’s a botanist––but this is his story, not hers, and for all...
His name his Josef (Christopher Abbott); hers is Kitti (Ariane Labed). He’s a poet and she’s a botanist––but this is his story, not hers, and for all...
- 2/12/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
There’s a luxuriantly sensuous quality to the prose of British novelist Deborah Levy — a tactile grasp of land, weather and flesh — that feels intensely cinematic while reading it, as well as an elliptical, concentrated interior psychology that feels liable to trip up any potential adapters. Those rewards and risks hold true in “Swimming Home,” a seductive but opaque adaptation of Levy’s Man Booker-shortlisted novel of the same name, in which the author’s knack for epigrammatic character portraiture and hothouse emotional conflict yields more superficially enigmatic results on screen. In his feature directing debut, British video artist Justin Anderson carries over a chicly serrated, off-kilter audiovisual sense from his commercials and short-form work; his scripting is less assured, as is his command of a fine but under-tested ensemble led by Christopher Abbott, Mackenzie Davis and Ariane Labed.
Recently premiered in competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival, “Swimming Home...
Recently premiered in competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival, “Swimming Home...
- 2/3/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Swimming Home is an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2011 novel, written and directed by debut UK flmmaker Justin Anderson.
The UK-Dutch co-production premiered in the Tiger competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The film centres around a war reporter played by Mackenzie Davis, on a family holiday with her husband (Christopher Abbott), a poet, and their teenage daughter. Returning home to their villa with a friend (Nadine Labaki) they find a naked stranger, Kitti (Ariane Labed) floating in the pool. Invited to stay, Kitti’s presence comes to emphasise the tensions within the family.
Anderson studied...
The UK-Dutch co-production premiered in the Tiger competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The film centres around a war reporter played by Mackenzie Davis, on a family holiday with her husband (Christopher Abbott), a poet, and their teenage daughter. Returning home to their villa with a friend (Nadine Labaki) they find a naked stranger, Kitti (Ariane Labed) floating in the pool. Invited to stay, Kitti’s presence comes to emphasise the tensions within the family.
Anderson studied...
- 2/2/2024
- ScreenDaily
Swimming Home is an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2011 novel, written and directed by debut UK flmmaker Justin Anderson.
The UK-Dutch co-production premiered in the Tiger competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The film centres around a war reporter played by Mackenzie Davis, on a family holiday with her husband (Christopher Abbott), a poet, and their teenage daughter. Returning home to their villa with a friend (Nadine Labaki) they find a naked stranger, Kitti (Ariane Labed) floating in the pool. Invited to stay, Kitti’s presence comes to emphasise the tensions within the family.
Anderson studied...
The UK-Dutch co-production premiered in the Tiger competition of this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The film centres around a war reporter played by Mackenzie Davis, on a family holiday with her husband (Christopher Abbott), a poet, and their teenage daughter. Returning home to their villa with a friend (Nadine Labaki) they find a naked stranger, Kitti (Ariane Labed) floating in the pool. Invited to stay, Kitti’s presence comes to emphasise the tensions within the family.
Anderson studied...
- 2/2/2024
- ScreenDaily
Marriage Story: Justin Anderson Serves Up An Enigmatic Challenge Is His Feature Debut
A marriage in crisis cooks under the summer sun in filmmaker Justin Anderson’s enervating feature debut Swimming Home. Stripping away the narrative thrust and many of the characters in his adaptation of Deborah Levy’s excellent acclaimed novella, the director attempts to grapple more directly with the enigmas at its haunted core. But saddled with deliberately alienating and obfuscating symbolism, the resulting effort is a tedious, overly earnest po-faced slow burn.
Vacationing in a luxe villa in the Greek countryside, Joseph (Christopher Abbott), his wife Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), and their teenage daughter Nina (Freya Hannan-Mills) have barely had time to welcome the arrival of family friend Laura (Nadine Labaki) when the mysterious Kitti (Ariane Labed) is found pleasantly floating naked in their swimming pool.…...
A marriage in crisis cooks under the summer sun in filmmaker Justin Anderson’s enervating feature debut Swimming Home. Stripping away the narrative thrust and many of the characters in his adaptation of Deborah Levy’s excellent acclaimed novella, the director attempts to grapple more directly with the enigmas at its haunted core. But saddled with deliberately alienating and obfuscating symbolism, the resulting effort is a tedious, overly earnest po-faced slow burn.
Vacationing in a luxe villa in the Greek countryside, Joseph (Christopher Abbott), his wife Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), and their teenage daughter Nina (Freya Hannan-Mills) have barely had time to welcome the arrival of family friend Laura (Nadine Labaki) when the mysterious Kitti (Ariane Labed) is found pleasantly floating naked in their swimming pool.…...
- 1/29/2024
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- IONCINEMA.com
Award-winning artist Justin Anderson’s debut feature “Swimming Home” has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Variety has secured access to the first clip from the film.
The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), whose marriage is dying when Kitti (Ariane Labed), a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their sunny holiday villa in Greece, is invited to stay. Oscar nominated Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki plays a significant role in the film as does emerging actor Freya Hannan-Mills.
In 2014, Anderson directed “Jumper,” a short inspired by Pasolini’s “Teorema,” about a man emerging from a pool and standing naked in the window during a family dinner. A friend saw the film and suggested that he read Levy’s novel. The book resonated with Anderson and he contacted Levy.
The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), whose marriage is dying when Kitti (Ariane Labed), a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their sunny holiday villa in Greece, is invited to stay. Oscar nominated Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki plays a significant role in the film as does emerging actor Freya Hannan-Mills.
In 2014, Anderson directed “Jumper,” a short inspired by Pasolini’s “Teorema,” about a man emerging from a pool and standing naked in the window during a family dinner. A friend saw the film and suggested that he read Levy’s novel. The book resonated with Anderson and he contacted Levy.
- 1/26/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
M. Raihan Halim’s “La Luna” will close the 53rd edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, which has also revealed the lineup of its Tiger competition section, a platform for up-and-coming filmmakers, and Big Screen Competition, a program for more established talent.
“La Luna,” which has its European premiere at the festival, is a comedy about a conservative Malaysian village shaken by the arrival of a lingerie store.
Among the Tiger competition films is British director Justin Anderson’s “Swimming Home,” starring Mackenzie Davis, Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed. Adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel, it centers on Joe and Isabel, whose marriage is dying when Kitti, a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their holiday villa, is invited to stay. Kitti collects and eats poisonous plants, and Nina their teenage daughter is enthralled by her. The film, which is being sold by Bankside Films, is described as...
“La Luna,” which has its European premiere at the festival, is a comedy about a conservative Malaysian village shaken by the arrival of a lingerie store.
Among the Tiger competition films is British director Justin Anderson’s “Swimming Home,” starring Mackenzie Davis, Christopher Abbott and Ariane Labed. Adapted from Deborah Levy’s novel, it centers on Joe and Isabel, whose marriage is dying when Kitti, a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their holiday villa, is invited to stay. Kitti collects and eats poisonous plants, and Nina their teenage daughter is enthralled by her. The film, which is being sold by Bankside Films, is described as...
- 12/18/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Kitty Spencer, Princess Diana‘s niece, married Michael Lewis in 2021. However, one iconic piece of family jewelry, the infamous Spencer tiara, stayed home. Kitty, daughter of Diana’s brother Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, chose not to wear Diana’s most iconic statement piece on her wedding day due to “painful memories,” claims a jeweler.
Princess Diana wears Spencer family tiara on her wedding day in 1981 | Anwar Hussein/WireImage Kitty Spencer opted out of wearing Princess Diana’s Spencer tiara on her wedding day
When Kitty Spencer tied the knot with Michael Lewis in 2021, she opted out of wearing a statement piece of jewelry traditionally donned by many women in her family. The Spencer tiara became known worldwide after Princess Diana wore the crown at her wedding to then-Prince Charles in 1981.
Per Express, jeweler James Constantinou explained why the tiara could bring Diana’s niece some “painful” memories. “It...
Princess Diana wears Spencer family tiara on her wedding day in 1981 | Anwar Hussein/WireImage Kitty Spencer opted out of wearing Princess Diana’s Spencer tiara on her wedding day
When Kitty Spencer tied the knot with Michael Lewis in 2021, she opted out of wearing a statement piece of jewelry traditionally donned by many women in her family. The Spencer tiara became known worldwide after Princess Diana wore the crown at her wedding to then-Prince Charles in 1981.
Per Express, jeweler James Constantinou explained why the tiara could bring Diana’s niece some “painful” memories. “It...
- 6/1/2023
- by Lucille Barilla
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
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