Young and beautiful Delon and Schneider are Marianne and Jean-Paul, a wealthy couple spending a torrid summer in a borrowed villa. They are lovers and cannot keep their hands off each other. The sex card is played from the start as the only motivation of their otherwise vacuous lives. However, apart from the sex, they do not seem to have much to do or say to each other. Their common friend Harry happens to be in the neighborhood and they invite him over, with his pubescent daughter Penelope (played by Birkin, who was well over twenty at the time, but definitely looking younger).
The arrival of the second couple adds considerable sexual tension. Harry and Marianne were lovers and Jean-Paul is jealous. Marianne acts ambiguously, flirting with Harry. Jean-Paul toys with Penelope, creating a stifling, sexually-charged atmosphere, in the lazy summer days. For a while nothing much happens, apart from the couples enjoying the pool of the title and inviting friends for a party.
However, the tension reaches melting point. Besides having a sadistic streak, Jean-Paul turns out to be a cold-blooded murderer, drowning Harry for reasons difficult to understand. The murder passes off as an accident, but Marianne is suspicious, She finds out the truth and considers leaving Jean-Paul, but the final frame shows them together. We can assume that sexual attraction is stronger than any moral instinct and that they will continue their frolic - at least until the passion lasts.
Very voyeuristic movie, with a Schneider at the top of her game, seductive yet fragile and very beautiful. Delon, wooden as usual, still manages decent interpretation. Birkin is terrible, could not act.
The 2015 remake "A bigger splash" is vastly inferior, from the choice of cast to the plot development. Swinton is a far cry from luminous Schneider, having only a fraction of her allure. Johnson is as bad as Birkin and less believable as a teenager. Only Fiennes makes a more engaging Harry, fleshing out a part than in this movie is more ambiguous.
The arrival of the second couple adds considerable sexual tension. Harry and Marianne were lovers and Jean-Paul is jealous. Marianne acts ambiguously, flirting with Harry. Jean-Paul toys with Penelope, creating a stifling, sexually-charged atmosphere, in the lazy summer days. For a while nothing much happens, apart from the couples enjoying the pool of the title and inviting friends for a party.
However, the tension reaches melting point. Besides having a sadistic streak, Jean-Paul turns out to be a cold-blooded murderer, drowning Harry for reasons difficult to understand. The murder passes off as an accident, but Marianne is suspicious, She finds out the truth and considers leaving Jean-Paul, but the final frame shows them together. We can assume that sexual attraction is stronger than any moral instinct and that they will continue their frolic - at least until the passion lasts.
Very voyeuristic movie, with a Schneider at the top of her game, seductive yet fragile and very beautiful. Delon, wooden as usual, still manages decent interpretation. Birkin is terrible, could not act.
The 2015 remake "A bigger splash" is vastly inferior, from the choice of cast to the plot development. Swinton is a far cry from luminous Schneider, having only a fraction of her allure. Johnson is as bad as Birkin and less believable as a teenager. Only Fiennes makes a more engaging Harry, fleshing out a part than in this movie is more ambiguous.