"Swimming Pool" is nothing more than a soft porn movie with a better than average story line. Alas, some people require an excuse to view titillating sexual themes and Director Francois Ozon is more than willing to oblige. Charlotte Rampling's character, Sarah Morton, is a detective fiction writer who seems sexually frigid and indifferent towards developing viable human relationships. She encounters the boss' daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier), who is a sex addict who indulges in high risk one night stands. Does Sarah envy the young girl? What about Charles Dance? His role as a successful editor is modest and takes up no more than ten minutes of the film.
The French scenery is beautiful and the dialogues doesn't get in the way of the continuous frontal nudity and sexual activity. Is there a plot? Not really. We are slightly entertained with a possible murder and a coverup. Does any of this make any sense? Of course not. This is a sex film masquerading as an existentially "serious" film. Does this mean that I hated it? Nope, I took it for what it is actually is---and it deserves four stars.
Erotic mystery thriller
I hadn't even heard of this movie when my fiance rented it and we brought it home. I guess from reading other reviews it has become somewhat infamous due to the nudity. Putting that aside, it wasn't a bad movie. It was puzzling though, with a disturbing ending that I still don't quite understand. I was hoping for more explanation, but there was none! I can't give more details without spoiling the movie for those who have not seen it.
The basic story is mystery novelist Sarah Morten (played by Charlotte Rampling) is middle-aged and burned out and needs a vacation. Her publisher, John (Charles Dance), offers the use of his house in France for her to relax at. When she arrives, she really enjoys the house along with the solitude, until John's sexy daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) arrives and stirs things up. Julie has loud random sex with a different man every night, sunbathes and swims in the pool nude, and basically disrupts the uptight Sarah's life. Sarah starts to become a sort of voyeur and constantly spies on Julie, watching practically her every move.
The ending of this movie is incredibly confusing and the director offers no answers. I suppose its meant to be a puzzle for you to figure out. Every time I come up with a plausible explanation, something in the film contradicts that and I have to start from scratch. I've finally given up and just let it go.
The first hour of the film is VERY slow. I found myself getting bored and even fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it. After that however, it picks up and becomes much more interesting. The scenery is excellent - they shot the film at a very beautiful location! Overall, I'm giving the film 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. While the acting was wonderful, I didn't fully appreciate the ending with no explanation and I also felt the start of this film dragged on way too long.
Nudity, yes; get over it!
Wow! Swimming Pool is an intelligent, and fantastic film. Don't expect to be a passive viewer, and wait for everything to be explained to you. There is nudity. Enjoy it. Get over it. This is a film about a writer, who's become locked into a series of books she's sick of. At her publisher's house in France, she spends several days with writer's block. She creates a character, and writes the best book of her career. I recommend Secret Window starring Johnny Depp, to be seen with this movie!
Like a good dream, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation envelops you with an aura of fantastic light, moody sound, head-turning love, and a feeling of déjà vu, even though you've probably never been to this neon-fused version of Tokyo. Certainly Bob Harris has not. The 50-ish actor has signed on for big money shooting whiskey ads instead of doing something good for his career or his long-distance family. Jetlagged, helplessly lost with his Japanese-speaking director, and out of sync with the metropolis, Harris (Bill Murray, never better) befriends the married but lovelorn 25-year-old Charlotte (played with heaps of poise by 18-year-old Scarlett Johansson). Even before her photographer husband all but abandons her, she is adrift like Harris but in a total entrapment of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Scarlett Johansson - Bill Murray - Giovanni Ribisi Director(s): Sofia Coppola DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Based on Susanna Moore's popular novel, In the Cut centers on Frannie (Meg Ryan), an emotionally stifled English teacher who gets steamy with sultry Malloy (Mark Ruffalo, You Can Count On Me), a cop who's investigating a series of brutal murders--but Frannie soon suspects that Malloy may be the killer. As a psychological thriller, In the Cut is heavier on psychology than thrills; the story is a skeleton that director Jane Campion (The Piano, An Angel at My Table) cloaks in one of the most nightmarish visions of urban life since Taxi Driver or Seven, accompanied by lots of explicit sex. The movie's dark tone will put some viewers off, but Ruffalo's effortless magnetism serves him well; no woman in the audience will question how quickly Ryan... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jennifer Jason Leigh - Meg Ryan - Mark Ruffalo Director(s): Jane Campion DVD Release Date: Released the 10 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Sex and Lucia engages mind and body with its time-bending narrative and images of beautiful Spaniards having vibrant sex. The story shifts between past and present, fact and fiction, so a plot summary won't capture it, but… A young writer named Lorenzo falls into a passionate relationship with a waitress named Lucía. But he also finds himself drawn to a young nanny taking care of a child who just might be the result of an anonymous fling Lorenzo had with a woman he met on an island the year before. Lorenzo fantasizes about the lives of all of these women until a horrific event sends him into a suicidal depression. This may sound obscure or flat, but Sex and Lucía unfolds clearly and beautifully, featuring stunning visual images of both nature and flesh, and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paz Vega - Tristán Ulloa - Najwa Nimri - Daniel Freire - Elena Anaya Director(s): Julio Medem DVD Release Date: Released the 25 March 2003 This item is currently not available.
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Sean Penn and Benecio Del Toro, two of the most gripping actors around, play wildly different men linked through a grieving woman (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, The Ring) in 21 Grams. Del Toro (Traffic, The Usual Suspects) delves deep into the role of an ex-con turned born-again Christian, a deeply conflicted man struggling to set right a terrible accident, even at the expense of his family. Penn (Mystic River, Dead Man Walking) captures a cynical, philandering professor in dire need of a heart transplant, which he gets from the death of Watts' husband. 21 Grams slips back in forth in time, creating an intricate emotional web out of the past and the present that slowly draws these three together; the result is remarkably fluid and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Sean Penn - Naomi Watts - Benicio Del Toro Director(s): Alejandro González Iñárritu DVD Release Date: Released the 16 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A gut-wrenching portrait of adolescence, Thirteen is made all the more powerful because it was co-written by a genuine teenage girl, Nikki Reed, who also co-stars in the movie. Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), a serious good student, finds herself needing to express her anger and resentment at her fractured family life. To rebel, she pursues a friendship with the reckless, alluring Evie (Reed), who seems to have all the cocksure freedom that Tracy desires. What follows is both harrowing and compelling: Tracy becomes enmeshed in a relationship with Evie that empowers Tracy and drags her deeper into the misery she wants to escape--and terrifies her mother (Holly Hunter), who struggles desperately to hold on to her daughter's love. Thirteen makes every step on this path utterly... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Holly Hunter - Evan Rachel Wood - Nikki Reed Director(s): Catherine Hardwicke DVD Release Date: Released the 27 January 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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