Swimming Pool (2003) - Rampling and Sagnier stand out in Ozon's suggestive, sensual thriller

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Erotic Movie of the Year

A young and an older woman meet by a swimming pool in this poster for François Ozon's Swimming Pool

A British female crime novelist accepts boarding in a plush French residence belonging to her publisher to look for inspiration, but instead she finds her publisher's daughter Julie, who is missing a mother figure in her life ...

Swimming Pool is written by Emmanuèle Bernheim (Lucas (1993, TV movie)) and co-writer/director François Ozon (Under the Sand/Sous le Sable (2000)), with Sionann O'Neill (À Quatre Mains (1995, short)) doing translation. It is not the king of thrillers that keeps one captured in breathless suspense, SPOILER because the murder and resulting suspense is placed towards the end of the film. 
Countering this are alluring shots of magnificent France and a cinematic quality that is hard to describe in words. The acting is also fine; Charlotte Rampling (Broadchurch (2015, TV-series)) and Ludivine Sagnier (Water Drops on Burning Rocks/Gouttes d'Eau sur Pierres Brûlantes (2000)) are both excellent as women of different ages who are both searching for something elusive.
Swimming Pool is an underplayed and suggestive erotic-psychological thriller - with plenty of nice breasts.

 

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Ozon and stars arrive for the film's glitzy premiere in Cannes in this video

Cost: 7.8 mil. $
Box office: 22.4 mil. $
= Box office success (2.87 times its cost)
[Swimming Pool premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place in France and in London, UK. The film opened #24 to a 287k $ first weekend in 13 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 259 theaters (different weeks), grossing 10.1 mil. $ (45.1 % of the total gross), becoming a rare French breakout hit in the market. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were main production country France with 4 mil. $ (17.9 %) and Germany with 3 mil. $ (13.4 %). Cannes' Palme d'Or was lost to Gus Van Sant's Elephant. The film was also nominated for 2 César awards, France's Oscar, and won 1/5 European Film awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ozon returned with 5x2 (2004). Rampling returned in Imperium: Augustus (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in The Statement (2003); Sagnier in Little Lili/La Petite Lili (2003). Swimming Pool is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.04/10 critical average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Swimming Pool?