Rating: 
Summary: ALEXS CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Review: Highlights: The performances; direction; subtle
Lowpoints: Slow-moving, ultimately unfulfilling
Conclusion: Clearly a novelty and therefore a subject of interest in the midst of Hollywood eye-candy, 'Swimming Pool' offers the expected (from both French productions in general, and the director/actors specifically) mix of poignant performances (the young actress holds her own against the electric Gainsbourg) and consistent contemplative atmosphere. It is NOT a thriller though, rather a character study, a battle between an aging writer's exaggerated sophistication and a young woman's bursting sexuality. The twist ending is like the rest of the film - unastounding but meaningful in context with the story; watch the film for the acting, as well as to get a breath of fresh air in the midst of the Dream Factory suffocation. But if you are a film buff, you'd be better off re-watching older Luis Bunuel classics, or Jean Renoir for that matter.SEE IF YOU LIKED: "Waking the Dead", "Wonder Boys", "The Center of the World", French drama productions.
DON'T SEE IF YOU LIKED: "Basic Instinct", Meg Ryan films
Rating: 
Summary: Huge, HUGE disappointment
Review: The movie spends 95% of its running time very effectively building mood and mystery. Everyone is terrific in it. The pace is slow and comfortable, like a good "artsy" movie should be. The sexuality is quite frank and erotic. That's all good. When events turn violent, we're ready for a powderkeg of some sort to go off. Then, the movie lets us in on its big secret!! What a rip off!!! Let it be know here and now, that I am a person who avidly enjoys "artsy" films or little "independent" movies. You can look at my past reviews to see the things I've commented favorably on...ALL THE REAL GIRLS, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, SECRETARY, etc. etc. etc. If you though the "surprise ending" in SIGNS was a let down...it ain't nothin' compared to this. My jaw dropped, literally, at the sheer stupidity of the ending. It was "Bobby Ewing in the shower" with a gloss of artistry and sex. The only reason the movie gets two stars is because the two lead performances are SO adroit and open. Certainly the stars aren't shy about their nudity. And it's a beautifully filmed movie...but that doesn't excuse its creators from giving us SOME sort of payoff. (Sorry there isn't a plot summary...others have already done it well, and I mostly wanted to vent anyway!)
Rating: 
Summary: Mystery, Style and Charlotte Rampling's Smile.
Review: I love Swimming Pool.
Though I have to admit that my opinion is biased for several reasons,
I love French Cinema,Charlotte Rampling, the films of Francois Ozon, and I think Ludivine Sagnier is one of the freshest,sexiest and most talented newcomers.You can say that this is one movie that I really wanted to like, regardless of any reviews be it negative or positive I read beforehand. And, sure enough, I was not disappointed.
After the huge success of 8 Femmes, it was a matter of time before Francois Ozon made his obligatory English language movie.And what a better way to approach this venture than to collaborate with two of his most favourite actresses,Charlotte Rampling(her second for Ozon) and Ludivine Sagnier(her third).
Now to the story of the film,
Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling),your typical English crime novelist with all the cliches and its trimmings, goes to her publisher's house (Charles Dance)in the south of France for the peace and quite she sorely needs to start on her new book. Sure enough,she begins slowly to settle in her new surroundings,relishing a change that seems to do the trick,when her publisher's French daughter Julie, again with all the cliches and its trimmings ,moves in unexpected.
Morton is at first very annoyed at this unseeming intrusion and does not take quite well to her new housemate (or villa-mate more like it). Julie is also bemused but detached from this 'old english friend of papa'.
Personality clashes soon surface between the two women,one that would slowly change to curiosty with Julie's numerous explicit one night stands, and her shady and mysterious past. Curiosity will give way to invesigation, intrigue, up to support and collaboration. The change in the two women's relationship is complex,and totatlly intriguing, because on one hand the air of mystery is never lifted up to the explosive twist at the end, and because on the other despite the intended cliches of the two nationalities characters,it is about two different women with unique personalities, their apparent differences only lead to a strange bond, and the two will end up helping each other directly and indirectly in more ways than they could have ever imagined.
The end which I will not spoil, will leave many questions unanswered..Who was Julie really? Why was the publisher except for the very beginning and end so elusive? what was reality and what was the figment of Morton's imagination? These will not beg for an answer..because it does not matter as much as the fact that Morton smiles at the end..a satisfying, fulfilled smile, one that is a confirmation of the beginning of a new chapter in her life, without the psychological, emotional and creative dilemmas that haunted her througout her professional and personal life.
This is superb writing from Ozon,who also delighted me with his visual sensitivities, his gentle camera work, and the frames and pans he choses, poetry to the eyes.
There is a lot of nudity in the film. Sagnier's body is filmed in close details from tip to toe, while Rampling all nude scene is not only a brave decision by this great actress to take,and shows the trust and understanding she has with her director, but it is filmed (and indeed all the nudity and sex scenes in the film) in such a way that instead of being tantalized, the viewer will come to believe that it is the most natural thing.
I would of course advise to buy the 'unrated' version, not because of the extra flesh content, and the one particularily daring scene by the pool at night, but because somehow these scenes are an integral part of who Julie is, and the shocking value that move Sarah Morton,and this is vital to the plot.
The auteur cinema is far and few in between these days, and when films and artists like Ozon present us with the fruit of their creativity, it should be a must see, a great addition to our library and a visual and as importantly a mind journey that will not forget easily.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Film And Rampling is Still Fascinating To Watch.
Review: Swimming Pool is not to be missed. It is an artisic and intelligent movie, that is a treat in a wasteland of useless cinema. The story the acting makes you hungry for each scene. And Charlotte Rampling fans will be overjoyed to see her in a movie deserving of her talents...
Rating: 
Summary: A stinker
Review: The message: British woman are uptight and repressed, and if they could learn to relax and enjoy sex more like the French women do, they could transcend to become happier, more French like. One of the main conflicts of the movie is how easily the attractive young French girl goes around naked, having sex with any man, feeling free vs. the extremely uptight English woman portrayed by Charolette Rampling (who eventually ends up naked with a 65 year old gardener).
There is supposed to be the conflict between cultures, lifestyles, the personalities of the two women, there is a murder, solving the murder, covering up the crime: All of this done without creating any tension or suspense. If you like nudity, the first half of this movie could be for you. If you are French and think the English are too uptight, this movie will make perfect sense to you. And to top it off, the ending doesn't make any sense.
Rating: 
Summary: SOMEWHAT ARTSY, SOME INESSENTIAL NUDITY, BUT INTRIGUING PLOT
Review: Barring the highfalutin artsy stuff, I'd equate this movie with "Memento." Yes, it's that good, one of those rare films that exist on two different levels -- once you've seen them and understand what was actually going on, you have to see them again, when they turn out to be an entirely different film. Can't help loving films that exist on that level, particularly when they're cleverly constructed. A word needs to be said about the stunning performances, courtesy especially of the charming Charlotte Rampling and her wonderful co-actor Ludivine Sagnier (for whom Ozon wrote the movie) who does her Lolita-type jig as a nymphy teenage daughter. Which understandably means that there's a great deal of toplessness (nudity) going on, some of it rather inessential if my prissy opinion was asked for, but don't let that keep you (would it?) It's a riveting plot, don't read too much into the negative reviews. To me the ending was not terribly opaque but it was to my three companions, so take your chances. Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, not great
Review: It is difficult to compare this film to another. A hack writer vacations, meets a sexually liberal teen who is the daughter of the writer's publisher, and covers up a murder, the subject of her books. The sexual escapades of the young girl are rather odd and there is a fair amount of gratuitous nudity. Since that is pretty much the extent of the romance in this film, I wouldn't consider it a "date" movie. The murder comes late in the film and isn't as tense as the previews let on. I guess the worst part, though, is the ending, which I don't want to go into too much detail for fear of spoiling the film. It isn't clearly explained. In summary, the film is okay but don't expect the magnificent film that Ebert and Roeper made it out to be.
Rating:
Summary: A clash of cultures produces the conflict necessary for art
Review: I enjoyed many aspects of "Swimming Pool". The female leads both gave excellent performances: Charlotte Rampling's is noteworthy for the strength of her character portrayal, and Ludivine Sagnier, while having an easier character to portray (a hedonistic young French woman), deserves much credit for her lack of inhibitions and for several scenes (particularly her dance scene) which will please anyone with an eye for female beauty and the power it can wield. The story is, on its surface, a clash of cultures between a staid, uptight British author who only imagines nefarious doings and hedonistic pursuits, and a young free-spirited French woman whose life is mostly devoted to actually partaking in pleasures of the flesh. However, by the end, the viewer realizes that what has actually been portrayed is a depiction of the artistic process. How does an artist absorb information from the world around them, especially from a muse, and then transform that into art? To what degree is reality altered? What is fact, and what is fiction? And even more importantly, what do the alterations and choices made by the author reveal about them, as opposed to the subject of the artwork? Similar questions are posed in the 2002 film "Adaptation", which was my favorite of the year, and which I would still recommend as a better movie than "Swimming Pool". However, "Swimming Pool" definitely has its pleasures, and is worth seeing. After all the fuss we had with France over the war in Iraq, it is good to be reminded that France has its positive attributes, Ludivine Sagnier being one of them.
Rating:
Summary: My 3-star rating has crept up to 4...
Review: Upon leaving the theater after seeing this film, I was pretty disappointed. My mistake was having read reviews of the film before having seen it, and as a result my expectations for "psychological thriller" were dashed upon the rocks. While somewhat psychological in nature, this is NOT a thriller. At all.
What this is is a character study, which seems fitting since the lead role is played by a character writer. This fact seems even more pertinent at the film's end, but unlike some of the folks here, I'll leave the details of what transpires to the viewer to discover.
Per usual, I have to laugh when I read some of the reviews here, in particular the ones which say that this film has no plot and is shallow. Tsk, tsk...seems like people have become too reliant upon the director's feeding them plot details by the heaping spoonful. You won't get that here, and if you leave the theater without asking questions, I'd wager there's a good chance that you've missed it completely.
I was very impressed by the quality of acting in this film, each of the two lead roles were very well done. Sarah's character in particular, with little dialog to support her, relays a wide spectrum of emotion, character and dysfunction. To me this is the sign of a talented actor/actress. I really felt like I came to know Sarah, despite the fact that I didn't necessarily *like* her. Bravo.
If you're looking for excitement of the edge-of-your-seat nature, look elsewhere, as you will undoubtedly find this film progresses too slowly for your tastes. With a little patience and some inquisitive imaginination, however, I think the viewer is rewarded with an interesting, unique film-going experience.
Rating:
Summary: Just a theory
Review: A theory: The writer made up the whole story. She does indeed take the house in France, and maybe makes phone calls to the editor, which he ignores, but staring at the swimming pool from her window gives her another idea for a book. I think she's sick of herself, her books and her readers. (Think of her reaction in the editor's office when the other author says his mother can't wait for her next book. Also on the subway she doesn't acknowledge that she's the author of the book the pudgy middle-aged lady is reading.) In my opinion, the characters: Julie, the waiter, all those men; the situation: the murder, the diary, the story of Julie's mother, the editor as a libertine - all made up. She includes herself in the story, acts it out in her mind, and what we see is the acting out. She'd rather be the person she portrays herself as. Know what I mean? She makes herself sexier and more attractive (remember how pleased she was that the waiter preferred her to Julie?). She makes herself clever and heroic when she helps Julie cover up her crime. She makes herself more maternal when she comforts Julie and understands the loss of her mother. Julie trusts her even when she finds out she's read her diary. I think she's miffed at her editor over perceived slights and doesn't think he respects her talents except in a limited way. Even in the end, she's very pleased with her new book and knows it's her best by far, but he likes the steady cash cow. She knew he would which is why she gave it to another publisher, although she'll give him her next Inspector So & So book. The biggest clue to me was at the end in the editor's office. He's read the book and although he doesn't care for it, is not upset or furious which he would have been if it had really been about his daughter; if he had recognized himself as the creepy, absent father, and included his wife's story, which he supposedly had read and thought was destroyed. He doesn't react because he doesn't see any resemblance between himself and the people in her story because there is none. And of course in walks cute, pudgy little Julia, and by the way they greet each other you know there's a good relationship between them.
The author looking puzzled at the end is either a ploy to throw us off, or her musing for a moment on the contrast between her Julie and his Julia.
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