(There might be a little tiny spoiler here)
Plot -- Facing a creative dead end, a popular British mystery writer (Charlotte Rampling) goes on holiday in her publisher's summer home in France. Hoping to revitalize her creative juices, her literary quest is interrupted by the arrival of his sexy young daughter (Ludivine Sagnier). Their interaction is understandably strained, but later on, things take a drastic, potentially deadly turn.
Critique -- "Swimming Pool" gets my vote for the most overrated film of 2003. Watching it, I was honestly puzzled at all the positive reviews. I won't dismiss it outright--Rampling delivers a solid performance, and the relationship between the two main characters is entirely credible. As the foundation for a character drama, the premise certainly has merit, but the pace is turgid and the film wanders on forever. Then there's the much-discussed twist ending, which basically negates most of the story's details (which I won't get into here). When it was over, I found it hard to care much about the material at all. What's the point? I don't mind films that take their time to get someplace, as long as there's a worthwhile destination. In this case though, it seems like a whole lot of nothing. Still, Sagnier looks gorgeous in and out of costume, and I'm tempted to recommend the film to male viewers on this basis alone. Perhaps the filmmakers should have dropped all their "artistic" pretentious and just made a straightfoward, smutty erotic thriller.
In the end though, only Rampling truly keeps everything afloat. Sagnier is solid but unexceptional, and as the publisher, Charles Dance (a fine character actor) is underused. Oddly enough, some part of me really did want to like the film. Maybe it's just the female nudity, but I'll be a bit lenient with my rating.
Rating: (**1/2) out of four
Released by Focus Features
Plot -- Facing a creative dead end, a popular British mystery writer (Charlotte Rampling) goes on holiday in her publisher's summer home in France. Hoping to revitalize her creative juices, her literary quest is interrupted by the arrival of his sexy young daughter (Ludivine Sagnier). Their interaction is understandably strained, but later on, things take a drastic, potentially deadly turn.
Critique -- "Swimming Pool" gets my vote for the most overrated film of 2003. Watching it, I was honestly puzzled at all the positive reviews. I won't dismiss it outright--Rampling delivers a solid performance, and the relationship between the two main characters is entirely credible. As the foundation for a character drama, the premise certainly has merit, but the pace is turgid and the film wanders on forever. Then there's the much-discussed twist ending, which basically negates most of the story's details (which I won't get into here). When it was over, I found it hard to care much about the material at all. What's the point? I don't mind films that take their time to get someplace, as long as there's a worthwhile destination. In this case though, it seems like a whole lot of nothing. Still, Sagnier looks gorgeous in and out of costume, and I'm tempted to recommend the film to male viewers on this basis alone. Perhaps the filmmakers should have dropped all their "artistic" pretentious and just made a straightfoward, smutty erotic thriller.
In the end though, only Rampling truly keeps everything afloat. Sagnier is solid but unexceptional, and as the publisher, Charles Dance (a fine character actor) is underused. Oddly enough, some part of me really did want to like the film. Maybe it's just the female nudity, but I'll be a bit lenient with my rating.
Rating: (**1/2) out of four
Released by Focus Features