neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Swimming Pool
	François Ozon Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Marc Fayolle, Jean-Marie Lamour 2002		In a serious tonal shift away from the period musical parody of his previous film "8 Women," writer/director François Ozon drifts into the realm of the psychological thriller with "Swimming Pool." It's a master stroke for Ozon. "Swimming Pool" takes a while to get going, but when it does, it's a provocative, pulse-quickening affair with enough puzzling circumstances and emotional heft to hold your attention to the end credits and beyond. The elegant Charlotte Rampling plays Sarah Morton — successful, reclusive British mystery author with a serious case of writer's block. Her London publisher (Charles Dance) offers the use of his vacation home in the French countryside, where she can relax and renew her creative juices, and she accepts. But he doesn't alert Sarah that his headstrong teenage daughter Julie, a smug sex kitten played with sauciness and hauteur by Ludivine Sagnier, has planned a getaway of her own. Sarah's working holiday is undermined as soon as Julie unexpectedly arrives at the house and begins to rattle the austere Sarah's cage. Sarah tries to channel her displeasure into a new manuscript about murder, until life and art begin to scarily, inextricably intertwine.