Starring: Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier
Director: Francois Ozon
Rated: MA15+
FRENCH directors are noted for the impeccable craftsmanship, the elegance of their cinematic style and the intensity of their portrayal of emotions and relationships.
In recent years, Francois Ozon, particularly with Under the Sand, has emerged as one of the best of these directors.
One reviewer made the snide remark that in Swimming Pool, he remains at the shallow end of the pool. I wonder.
Given the excellence of his two leading ladies and their skills in communicating contrasting characters and generations and his portrayal of a detective fiction writer who is observing everything for inclusion in her book, we are taken more deeply into these characters than might appear on the surface. While, at times, their behaviour seems bizarre and psychologically improbable, this is all part of the plot twist that brings it all to a satisfying conclusion.
Forty years ago, Charlotte Rampling was emerging as a glamorous starlet in films like Georgy Girl. After an increasingly strong career, she has become an icon, an intense screen presence.
Playing the aging mystery writer as an introverted, moody personality, she has the opportunity to develop into a more open, sensual, scheming and playful woman. It is a performance to be relished.
Ludivine Sagnier is able to keep pace as the wilful, self-absorbed promiscuous teenager who changes the writer’s attitudes.
Set in beautiful French countryside, the film is an intelligent drama, a psychological thriller and a satisfying adult entertainment.
