Getting wet in the deep end

I went to see “Swimming Pool” the other night with some other graduate students. Before… I went to see “Swimming Pool” the other night with some other graduate students. Before going into the theater, I went to the bathroom. As I washed my hands, an older man who had just gotten out from the earlier show, asked me if I was going to see “Swimming Pool.” I told him that I was.

As he left he said, “You’ll be thinking about that one later tonight.” I had no idea what he was talking about, of course, until after I saw the film.

“Swimming Pool” is a sexual thriller, though it is much more sexual than thrilling. I dare say that it is the most sexual thriller I have ever seen.

Sarah (Charlotte Rampling) is a mystery writer spending a summer at her boss’s vacation home in southern France in an attempt to get her creative juices flowing. She only gets to enjoy the peace and quiet for a few days before her boss’s daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) also decides to crash there for the summer.

Topless for much of the movie, Julie’s sexually charged lifestyle of parading around the swimming pool nude and bringing a different guy home every night quickly brings an end to the creative atmosphere that Sarah hoped to enjoy.

Unlike most sexual thrillers, the sexual nature of “Swimming Pool” is not without purpose. Julie’s lifestyle ultimately leaves Sarah with a choice between distraction and inspiration, and it is this decision that provides the narrative thrust for “Swimming Pool.”

The end result is not for the weak-minded. I left the theater scratching my head, desperately trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. In spite of this, the film works well with its sexually charged approach and with its slightly ambiguous ending. I recommend it highly.