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This
week's featured review & film archive
Sarah Jaffe reviews
independent and foreign films,
in addition to reporting the latest buzz behind
Colorado's film festivals.
SWIMMING POOL
--2003, Francois
Ozon
"Swimming Pool," (Francois Ozon, 2003)
is, in theory (and according to the posters) 'the
summer's sexiest mystery.' It may be that--I haven't
seen any other mysteries this summer, let alone
any sexy ones. But that tagline is a little misleading.
I would be more likely to call it an intelligent,
well-acted, and yes, sexy look at the relationship
between writer and muse, fact and fiction. The
mystery part is far from the most important feature.
Charlotte Rampling plays Sarah Morton, a British
crime-fiction writer in need of a vacation and
some new inspiration. Her publisher (and lover?)
lends her his house in France to rest and seek
new ideas. However, her rest is cut short by the
discovery that the house is haunted--not by ghosts,
but by the publisher's oversexed daughter, Julie,
played by the luscious Ludivine Sagnier, soon
to be seen as Tinkerbell in the new "Peter
Pan." What follows is a clash of generations
as well as nationalities: the older British woman
is uptight, sleeping with earplugs and living
off yogurt, while the French girl swims nude in
the leaf-filled pool, brings home a different
man each night, and stuffs herself on foie gras
and expensive whisky. Rampling's emotions are
discernible only by the slightest facial movements,
while Sagnier is alternately hysterical and indolent,
but always very physically present. One might
call her the id to Rampling's superego: together
they create her story.
Enough psychoanalytical drivel, though. You want
to know--is it a good movie?
I think so. It's got nearly everything I want
in a film: excellent acting, a thoughtful story,
original characters, women who don't end up needing
some man, and I left the theater thinking at the
end. Plus, for those of you who'd rather drool
than think, there are plenty of scenes of the
lovely Sagnier's bare breasts and bikini-clad
body.
So basically, there's something for everyone.
What are you waiting for?
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