Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie, Bad DVD
Review: .
The three stars and this comment are about the DVD, not about the film.This DVD is so badly put together that there's no way to escape the previews and promos for other movies at the beginning of the disk. There's no way to skip them or jump past them to the main menu. The only way you can get to the main menu is by letting the trailers play, or at best to fast-forward through them. But you can't avoid them completely. This means that years from now if you want to watch this movie, you'll still have previews for what will then be old movies going past your face, even if it's at fast speed. This shows an incredible contempt for the audience by the studio--"We'll MAKE 'em watch our promos!" It's sad that a good movie has to be presented in this environment. There's also no chapter insert in my copy.
Rating: 
Summary: Sexy and Surprising
Review: I only saw this movie on DVD so I cannot say whether the scenes deleted in the theatrical release harmed or help this latest version. However, if these additional scenes caused harm I wouldn't know it. This was a fascinating, sexy, mysterious movie that kept my attention throughout. The relationship between the older and younger women was hard to predict, but compelling to watch. There is much to say about this film, but I do not want to spoil it for anyone. Even after seeing it, I am still not sure that I understand all that happened. It's the type of movie to watch again and notice things that you missed the first time.
Rating: 
Summary: Backyard at Marienbad--SPOILER ALERT
Review: Who's kidding who? All rave reviews aside, this is pretentious art-house schlock at its most pointless. Since the ending couldn't have been what was actually happening, was the whole thing in the heroine's imagination? And if it was, who cares? If you're looking for a more mentally-stimulating way to kill a few hours, hop in the pool and play Marco Polo. It'll be time better spent.
Rating: 
Summary: Wrongful Imprisonment
Review: By the time the movie started I was already in a bad mood. Focus Films makes you sit through nearly seven minutes of trailers for their upcoming titles and they won't let you skip ahead or go to the menu. Thanks a lot.
Rating:
Summary: "Interesting and confusing"
Review: I don't know what really attracted me to Swimming Pool but I've been waiting to see it since its release in theaters. Swimming Pool is an erotic tale of two women at odds. The movie begins with Sarah Morton tired of writing books about murder. Her Publisher lets her stay at his house in France. There she meets her Publisher's French daughter Julie. But when Julie becomes an annoyance the two argue non-stop. When Swimming Pool begins it isn't very interesting, it's rather boring actually but as the movie moves along and Julie is introduced things start to become more interesting. It takes a while for the mystery to build up but when Julie starts to bring her nightly partners home, the nudity is clearly displayed. My advice would be to get the rated version. The Unrated version contains Full frontal nudity through out which can get uncomfortable at times if you are viewing with another person. Towards the end things get very confusing. The so-called plot twist can be interpreted in many ways. There is no definite explanation for the ending. People have their own interpretation for what really happened. Swimming pool doesn't give you much help on solving the plot twist and that made things much more difficult. Scenes were thrown in just to confuse the viewer even further. Overall; Swimming Pool didn't have what I was looking for. It didn't have the suspense or thrills and the trailer and advertisements are missleading.The nudity is very distastefully displayed and at one point is down right trashy and that wasn't necessary. This film could have been better but it is still worth a look. It was ok I just didn't enjoy the ending. A large amount of the film was in subtitles but that never was a problem for me. I watched it twice and realized that the director left varies clues that are not very noticeable to hint you of the twist ending but I'm still a bit confused. I loved the whole atmosphere of Swimming Pool. It had a summer time feel to it that made me want to take a dip in the pool and the scenery was beautiful.
The DVD features were annoying. I had a hard time fast forwarding through the many previews but the bonus deleted scenes were good but not very helpful. The DVD had few special features but I still enjoyed it. François Ozon the film's director didn't do such a good job of making things interesting in the beginning and the ending was unsatisfying but I liked the quality
Rating:
Summary: Everyone out of the pool!
Review: This is not so much a review, as a plea for an explanation. I'm not at all averse to a film that requires multiple viewings to be fully understood or appreciated. Take for example Christopher Nolan's "Memento" or Alejandra Amenebar's "Abre Los Ojos"; both fantastic films that get better each time you see them. But it's nice to have SOME understanding of what you've just seen on the first viewing. Even after a 2nd try, and noticing the attention to reflections in glass, mirrors and pool water, I was still left with a jumble of perplexing possibilities, none of them satisfying. Sara, a British novelist, retreats to the unoccupied summer home of her publisher, John, to rejuvenate her imagination in solitude. Shortly thereafter, a young vixen claiming to be John's daughter, Julie, arrives to stay awhile as well. Julie is an unwelcomed intrusion and the two don't get along, even though Sara seems fascinated with watching the beautiful and sexually liberated girl. The story starts out slow and deliberate, which is not a criticism. But the pace never picks up; I never got the feeling that anything bad OR good was about to happen. When the murder does occur, it seems silly and unmotivated. When Sara asks Julie why she did it, Julie replies, "I dunno...for your book." This makes no sense regardless of whether Julie is real or imagined; John's daughter or not. I get that some of what takes place is in Sara's imagination, but that doesn't help much. After reading reviews calling this film "thrilling" and promising that in the end, the mysteries would be "fully and tantalizingly revealed", I must disagree. If you feel that you understand what the director was trying to say, won't you please write a review explaining it? Just start it with a Spoiler Alert, but by all means share your insights with us dimwits who were dumbfounded as the end credits rolled. After seeing this and "Hiroshima Mon Amour", I'm about to give up on the French.
Rating:
Summary: Stagnant Fish Pond
Review: Absolutely vapid, pretentious nonsense that moves about as fast as an arthritic turtle. No tension, no suspense, unengaging, obnoxious characters and an interminable pacing, and those are the high points. Watching grass grow offers many more thrills than this flotsam, and is certainly less painful too.
Rating:
Summary: le stinky...
Review: and i thought their cheese was overrated.
blech, i find more tension and intrigue sitting in traffic. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back. I dove in for ya - the pool was empty.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow pool
Review: In spite of the fact that hot, young French nymph Ludivine Sagnier spends half the film topless and the other half in a soaking wet bikini this is one uninspired piece of filmmaking. Charlotte Rampling is perfectly serviceable as the dried prune of a mystery writer on sabbatical in her publishers French villa. While struggling with a new novel her life becomes as contrived as a bad PBS mystery. The so-called twist ending proves only one thing - this is one Swimming Pool without a deep end.
Rating: 
Summary: Depth more than surface: Ozon's masterwork
Review: Following his subtle and quietly haunting examination of dementia in Under the Sand, director François Ozon returns to familiar territory with Swimming Pool. This time, however, the focus shifts to the structures of narratives, both real and imagined, rather than the protagonist's psychological traumas. For those who want to read films as if they are poetry, this film has it all. Each frame is carefully considered and integral to the surprise ending. Ozon builds a tapestry of symbols and motifs, most notably the use of windows as portals to heightened states of reality, to convey the main character's relationship with her work and her environment. It would be unfair to reveal what actually happens, suffice to say the film rewards multiple viewings in the same vein as David Lynch's masterwork Mulholland Drive.
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