Swimming Pool **** (2003, Charlotte Rampling, Charles Dance, Ludivine Sagnier) – Classic Movie Review 3347

Charles Dance plays John Bosload, a British publisher who sends his prize mystery thriller author Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) off from London to his French getaway home at Luberon, in the South of France. There the strange, liberated ways of his weird, sexually charged daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) puts Sarah in the heightened mood of a sexual frenzy.

Rampling is absolutely fabulous in writer-director François Ozon’s posh, splendidily teasing, Antonioni-esque mystery drama. It is an extremely sleek and satisfying movie, bearing a slight resemblance to another French film with a similar title La Piscine [The Swimming Pool] (1969).

And how good does Rampling look at 58!  The British make her play dotty old ladies like Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, but the French know exactly what to do with her.

Rampling’s character Sarah is named after her sister, who committed suicide at 23.

Rampling celebrated her 70th birthday on February 5 2016 with an Oscar nomination for 45 Years.

François Ozon is also the maker of Jeune & Jolie (2013) and The New Girlfriend [Une nouvelle amie] (2014).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3347

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