La Piscine [The Swimming Pool] *** (1969, Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Jane Birkin, Paul Crauchet) – Classic Movie Review 3346

The modish, stylish, sexy 1969 French drama film La Piscine [The Swimming Pool] stars Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin, who give mesmerising performances.

Director Jacques Deray’s handsome looking 1969 French drama film La Piscine [The Swimming Pool] stars the formidable quartet of Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin, who give mesmerising performances.

In the screenplay by Jean-Emmanuel Conil, two men (Delon and Ronet) and two women (Schneider and Birkin) end up spending a traumatic weekend in a villa in summertime on the Côte d’Azur in the South of France.

Delon and Schneider play lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne, who are spending their holiday in a villa near St Tropez. Ronet plays Harry, Marianne’s former lover whom she invites to stay along his teenage daughter, Pénélope (Birkin).

Partners are swapped as writer Jean-Paul seduces the 18-year-old Pénélope, strange games are played, tension rises and murder most foul is committed in this dark and puzzling film with flashes of wit and style. Enjoying the film’s one other decent role, Paul Crauchet plays the police inspector, Lévêque.

Despite the attractive warmth and comfort of the setting, it is a pretentious and chilly art movie, though it has a reputation as being cool and chic, and it certainly remains intriguing and is greatly enlivened by the top cast. The film is a very modish, stylish, sexy item, which explains its continuing appeal. French designer André Courrèges created many custom pieces for it, including the swimsuits worn by Schneider and Birkin.

It was shot in two versions: a French version and an English-language version. The actors speak English on the international release, a rare thing as foreign movies were then usually dubbed or subtitled.

The French version runs 124 minutes and the English international version runs 114 minutes with slightly different editing.

The cast are Romy Schneider as Marianne, Alain Delon as Jean-Paul Leroy, Maurice Ronet as Harry Lannier, Jane Birkin as Pénélope Lannier, and Paul Crauchet as Inspector Lévêque.

It was shot from 19 August 1968 to 19 October 1968.

It was the first of the nine films Delon and director Jacques Deray made together, notably including Borsalino, and the only one Delon did not produce.

It was remade as A Bigger Splash in 2015.

Real-life Sixties dream couple Delon and Schneider had broken up a couple of years earlier. Schneider married German director and actor Harry Meyen in Berlin and had a child. But Delon asked Deray to hire her for the film and continued to pursue her, both before and after filming.

During filming, on 1 October 1968, the body of Delon’s friend and bodyguard Stevan Marković, was discovered in a public dump in the village of Élancourt, Yvelines. The press speculated that Delon was involved but Marković’s murder is still unsolved.

La Piscine is directed by Jacques Deray, runs 124 minutes (French version) or 114 minutes (English version), is distributed by Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie, Variety Distribution and Embassy Pictures (US), is written by Jacques Deray, Jean-Claude Carrière and Alain Page, is shot by Jean-Jacques Tarbès, is scored by Michel Legrand.

Release dates: 31 January 1969 (France) and 5 April 1969 (Italy). In the Italy it was released with 20 minutes cut and was a popular success. In the UK it was released as The Sinners but hardly seen.

Alain Delon in Plein Soleil (1960).

Delon and Ronet memorably starred together previously in Plein Soleil (1960), the first version of The Talented Mr Ripley.

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (8 November 1935 – 18 August 2024) died peacefully at his home in Douchy, France, surrounded by family members, aged 88.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,346

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

The Alain Delon collection includes Diaboliquement vôtre, La Piscine, La veuve Couderc, The Gypsy and Notre histoire.