In the guide of films by Jean Tulard, one of the very valuable bibles for any French cine buff, Claude Bouniq-Mercier had qualified "Swimming Pool" as "an accomplished work which intrigues and fascinates". He should have been attributed these flattering words to François Ozon's previous work, "8 Femmes" (2002), arguably his very seminal piece of work and one of the top five movies of 2002. In this film, the filmmaker transcended the whodunit by incorporating to a plot à la Agatha Christie other cinematographic genres like drama, comedy and especially musicals. Ozon also had had fun by peppered his film with movie-loving details and there was a strong Chabrolesque aura to unearth dark secrets of this bourgeois milieu. And, so the expectations were high for Ozon's next movie. Ozon had the guts to produce another work one year after "8 Femmes": "Swimming Pool". Did Ozon depicted himself in the character of Sarah Morton? Was he afraid not being able to renew himself and to be marooned to write another movie? Did he write and direct his 2003 film to eschew at all costs a block which could have been fatal? Anything goes but he seems to have overcome his fears and cropped a film up with several possible understandings and which isn't here to make the viewer lazy in spite of its little holiday feel because of the landscapes. At first sight, "Swimming Pool" is a film difficult to define and label. It could be a cross between a psychological drama, thriller with a dash of fantastic.
"Swimming Pool" seems to be located in the continuity of Ozon's precedent worked and adds to the cohesion of his early work. The director showcases some of his trademarks which contributed in asserting his own style. Thus, there's an evident taste for derision like in the sequence when Sarah, Julie and Franck dance to the sound of a tech no music. It's reminiscent of a similar sequence in "Gouttes D'Eaux Sur Pierre Brûlantes" (2000) in which the quartet of this film danced on a German dance song. Shocking is also well present. Like in his other films, Ozon likes to put his characters in an isolated, closed space to unearth what's going on in their tormented minds and seems to prefer to film women than men. Here, two women. On the one hand, Sarah, a successful, uptight, frustrated English writer with a bias for alcohol. On the another hand Julie, a brazen bimbo girl who leads a carefree life and collects masculine conquests. The perfect mismatched pair until Sarah begins to show a vivid interest in her partner and the two women start to come together. Sarah seems to envy her partner even if she doesn't declare it straight to her and perceives Julie as an object for her fantasy. The famous swimming pool is the strong contender for Sarah's fantasy to fully express herself. When she arrives in the villa, she's reluctant to dive in it. It's after she better made the acquaintance of Julie that she feels strong enough to act. Especially, Julie will be her source of inspiration to write her new and supposedly drastically different novel. In another extent, Ozon's directing virtually evolutes on the razor's edge, efficiently enough to install a disquieting tension which doesn't really fade away after Sarah is in good terms with Julie. It reaches a climax in the murder sequence and when the writer wants to learn more about Julie's past which seems to be murky, things take an eerie turn. Julie seems to be John's offspring from a first relationship, her mother died in mysterious circumstances and seemed to have suffered of this. Check the sequence in which she hysterically screams "Mum! Mum!". So, like in "8 Femmes", Ozon unmasks her two main actresses and things could have stopped there but the director preferred to go beyond with an unexpected twist which destabilizes the viewer.
At the end of the film, there is an unexpected twist which gives the inkling that illusion reigned throughout the film and Ozon may have played a trick on the viewer. His or her certainties about what he or she watched are subverted and the first reflex would be to separate what may come from Sarah's imagination and what would be real. In the second case, the sequences when she's in front of her laptop could be strong contenders and the most important part of the film would consist of Sarah's novel unfolding before our eyes as soon as she arrives at the villa. But other points may leave the viewer baffled because they are hard to put in one of the two categories mentioned above. After Julie's arrival, Sarah desperately tries to get through John and she doesn't manage to do it. Is he ashamed of Julie? Does he refuse to deliver information about her to Sarah? Ozon said once that he didn't really like to write the scenario of his films and preferred to let the viewer decide what he wanted about the contents of his works. So, up to the viewer to make his brain work about the mystery which shrouds the whole film and its unclear aspects. To quote Bergman: "questions are more important than the answers". I think that beyond an unlikely relationship between two different women, Ozon showed us the act of creation for an artist in general.
So, Mr Bouniq-Mercier, I partly agree with your opinion but I have little doubts about its first part. But it's nevertheless a work which will haunt you for a long time after you've seen it and will probably make your brain work when you think about it. Try to watch several times in a row and if thinking too much causes you headaches, why not watching Ozon's following works which are easier to follow?: "5x2" (2004) and especially "Le Temps Qui Reste" (2005). I relish more on the second work which is perhaps Ozon's best film since "8 Femmes".
"Swimming Pool" seems to be located in the continuity of Ozon's precedent worked and adds to the cohesion of his early work. The director showcases some of his trademarks which contributed in asserting his own style. Thus, there's an evident taste for derision like in the sequence when Sarah, Julie and Franck dance to the sound of a tech no music. It's reminiscent of a similar sequence in "Gouttes D'Eaux Sur Pierre Brûlantes" (2000) in which the quartet of this film danced on a German dance song. Shocking is also well present. Like in his other films, Ozon likes to put his characters in an isolated, closed space to unearth what's going on in their tormented minds and seems to prefer to film women than men. Here, two women. On the one hand, Sarah, a successful, uptight, frustrated English writer with a bias for alcohol. On the another hand Julie, a brazen bimbo girl who leads a carefree life and collects masculine conquests. The perfect mismatched pair until Sarah begins to show a vivid interest in her partner and the two women start to come together. Sarah seems to envy her partner even if she doesn't declare it straight to her and perceives Julie as an object for her fantasy. The famous swimming pool is the strong contender for Sarah's fantasy to fully express herself. When she arrives in the villa, she's reluctant to dive in it. It's after she better made the acquaintance of Julie that she feels strong enough to act. Especially, Julie will be her source of inspiration to write her new and supposedly drastically different novel. In another extent, Ozon's directing virtually evolutes on the razor's edge, efficiently enough to install a disquieting tension which doesn't really fade away after Sarah is in good terms with Julie. It reaches a climax in the murder sequence and when the writer wants to learn more about Julie's past which seems to be murky, things take an eerie turn. Julie seems to be John's offspring from a first relationship, her mother died in mysterious circumstances and seemed to have suffered of this. Check the sequence in which she hysterically screams "Mum! Mum!". So, like in "8 Femmes", Ozon unmasks her two main actresses and things could have stopped there but the director preferred to go beyond with an unexpected twist which destabilizes the viewer.
At the end of the film, there is an unexpected twist which gives the inkling that illusion reigned throughout the film and Ozon may have played a trick on the viewer. His or her certainties about what he or she watched are subverted and the first reflex would be to separate what may come from Sarah's imagination and what would be real. In the second case, the sequences when she's in front of her laptop could be strong contenders and the most important part of the film would consist of Sarah's novel unfolding before our eyes as soon as she arrives at the villa. But other points may leave the viewer baffled because they are hard to put in one of the two categories mentioned above. After Julie's arrival, Sarah desperately tries to get through John and she doesn't manage to do it. Is he ashamed of Julie? Does he refuse to deliver information about her to Sarah? Ozon said once that he didn't really like to write the scenario of his films and preferred to let the viewer decide what he wanted about the contents of his works. So, up to the viewer to make his brain work about the mystery which shrouds the whole film and its unclear aspects. To quote Bergman: "questions are more important than the answers". I think that beyond an unlikely relationship between two different women, Ozon showed us the act of creation for an artist in general.
So, Mr Bouniq-Mercier, I partly agree with your opinion but I have little doubts about its first part. But it's nevertheless a work which will haunt you for a long time after you've seen it and will probably make your brain work when you think about it. Try to watch several times in a row and if thinking too much causes you headaches, why not watching Ozon's following works which are easier to follow?: "5x2" (2004) and especially "Le Temps Qui Reste" (2005). I relish more on the second work which is perhaps Ozon's best film since "8 Femmes".