re:mote voices

Title: Swimming Pool
Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance
Director: François Ozon

crime writer sarah morton (rampling) has become stuck in a rut; it starts to feel like her writing is parodying itself. with this she is somewhat miserable when she visits her publisher (dance)- tired of her popularity and what that means, threatened by fresh, up and coming writers. as a result he suggests she takes some time off, she should visit his villa in france, perhaps even write something entirely different.

at first this seems to be a great idea. morton settles into the quiet life, the small local village, the good weather. an idea has come already and she is straight working again. however, the arrival of her publisher's daughter upsets her peace. julie (sagnier) is a ferocious teen, part french-part english and filled with youth and vigour. every night she comes crashing home with a different man. the result is that sarah and julie start playing off each other, circling each other, reacting to each other - with volatile results.

swimming pool has various themes, which seem clear. there are the contrasts between young and old - the jaded burnt out sarah is considerably different from the vivacious julie. something which is very much played to the fore - julie's sexuality is something which is lingered on at every opportunity. added to that though is the contrasts between cultures - the stuffy, reserved english woman, and the easy going, confident french one. the two leads playing to their parts in order emphasize the differences entirely.

for the most part ozon is on form here. there is a certain darkness underlying the plot, which is familiar from films like sitcom and 8 women. the feel and mood of swimming pool does have something in common with those films. the main weakness in the end though is the ending, in some ways a typical ozon touch. something which probably falls into the spoiler category, but it strikes me that there is a clear inconsistency, which bemuses to some degree. apart from that, on the whole i quite enjoyed swimming pool.