The Swimming Pool (1969) User Reviews

From Nowhere to Somewhere?

[ilpohirvonen · 8/10 · 21 October 2011]

La piscine or The Swimming Pool is a French crime film, directed by Jacques Deray, who is known as a master of crime, and written by Jean-Claude Carriere; a long time companion of Luis Bunuel, for instance. La piscine isn't necessarily the most accessible French crime film but I would say it is one of the best, at least from the 1960's. It is an erotic, Antonionian film characterized by French existentialism. Although, it is not a perfect film, by any means, it is a surprisingly captivating and intriguing study on modern life as well as on alienation from the world and the society; loneliness, anxiety, love and freedom. The absurdity of being and the meaninglessness of life, how, in the end, nothing really matters.

The story happens somewhere in the French Riviera, where a couple is spending their holiday at a luxury château, borrowed from their friends. During the opening credits, we see reflections of nature on water: images of birds and trees. After the credits, the camera rises up and the water surface turns out to be a swimming pool, next to which there lies a man -- an insightful shot of the vacant and anguished life of the bourgeoisie. Everything was a lie; beauty and the happiness of life were only elusive reflections -- which happens to be the leading theme of Deray's film.

Soon we hear a woman shouting "Jean-Paul," and the man turns out to be Alain Delon. The woman (Romy Schneider) swims across the pool, comes to the man and they start kissing, fiercely. The physic happiness of this married couple is almost perfect. But details reveal pressures that begin to erupt, slowly, beneath the surface. In order to resist this anxiety, they make up the most shallow things for them to do and, therefore, invite a friend of theirs, Harry who surprisingly brings his 18-year-old daughter (Jane Birkin) with him. At a surprise party -- that resembles the party of The Night (1961) by Michelangelo Antonioni -- the pressures lead to tragic consequences.

La piscine strips seemingly beautiful and happy people down from their illusory facade. Jean-Paul turns out to be a failed writer whose fragile ego hides mysterious cruelty in it. On one level, he resembles Camus' Mersault as an apathetic and disregard man who has lost his lust for life. His wife, Marianne (Schneider) is, in turn, a prisoner of her emotions and is unable to free herself from the chains of her husband. Harry is good-looking and wealthy but, in reality, all of his relationships are elusive and mendacious. Nobody cares about him. His daughter, Penelope (Birkin) is a beautiful young woman who arises to her femininity but finds it hard to compete with Marianne.

Jacques Deray relays a competitive, jail-like vision of the lives of these characters. We see them behind bars, pillars and windows; trapped in an unending rat race. They are captivated like wild beasts, who are ready to kill each other at any second. Furthermore, all the characters are spying on each other: Jean-Paul keeps an eye on Marianne and Harry, for he thinks that they might have an affair. Harry, on the other hand, spies on Jean-Paul and Penelope because his juvenile father instincts can't bear a contestant. Marianne is also spying on them, because she thinks that she might lose the competition of Jean-Paul to a younger woman.

In the name of existentialist film, La piscine begins from nowhere and ends in somewhere which is quite the same. So why watch a film where nothing happens? Because, on the other hand, everything happens. Why read Kafka and watch Tarkovsky? For the very same reason. Although, La piscine is not a masterpiece, I would recommend it as an insightful film about loneliness and the illusion of idyllic life.

Torpor in St Tropez

[shakercoola · 7/10 · 1 July 2018]

A French drama; A story about crime in a sumptuous idyll in the South of France. Still air. Mediterranean sun. One pool. Two lovers. Two guests. One an old acquaintance to one and a former lover to another; the other his daughter, a mystery to all. Hedonism, sensuality, eroticism, sexual longing, anxiety and unfulfillment - it all leads to a weakness for one and a dastardly deed. A film that is slow moving and as enervating as the heat from the sun over the villa. It could easily be hard viewing but the camera loves these beautiful chic people and the intrigue they create.

lots under the surface but only eye candy above

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 14 January 2017]

And what eye candy - Alain Delon.

"La Piscine" is about two impossibly beautiful people in various stages of undress having a lot of foreplay. Or so it seems. Jean- Paul (Delon) and his lover (or wife, not sure) Marianne (Romy Schneider) are vacationing in a friend's mansion in Saint-Tropez. Lots of sun, making out, and swimming.

Marianne's ex-beau, Harry (Maurice Ronet) calls to say he's in the area, and Marianne invites him and his nubile daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin) to stay with him.

It's obvious that Harry still desires Marianne, so there is automatic tension. Then Jean-Paul seduces Penelope. Soon tension leads to something worse.

"La Piscine" is a typical foreign film - the ideas are sometimes obtuse, and it moves slowly. It's also too long by as much as a half hour. It's hard to concentrate on the plot because the beauty of the stars, Delon and Schneider, and their incredible chemistry overwhelm the story - to the extent that one doesn't really understand Jean- Paul's attraction to Penelope.

What erupts is the suppressed anger of the once-suicidal Jean-Paul, the competitiveness between him and Harry, and Harry's jealous possession of his daughter, whom he only recently met. As Penelope says, he likes to have her travel with him because people often think she's his mistress.

Schneider and Delon were a famous real-life couple but had broken up about five years earlier. Their chemistry is undeniable, and it's heartbreaking to think about what happened to her. Both actors give very "movie" performances - nothing overplayed, many subtle, nonverbal reactions. All of the acting is good, and the conflict scene between Harry and Jean-Paul is excellent.

"La Piscine" is considered a classic, but I believe many Americans had a hard time with it due to its languid pace and a tendency to look for action rather than psychology. Enjoy it for the beautiful photography and beautiful actors, if nothing else.

France has never looked more beautiful

[lazarillo · 26 July 2007]

An incredibly attractive bourgeois couple (Romy Schneider and Alain Delon) are luxuriating in an idyllic French villa when they receive a visit from an old friend of the husband and old flame of the wife (Maurice Ronet) who had actually first introduced them to each other. Their visitor is accompanied by his temptingly nubile 18-year-old illegitimate daughter (Jane Birkin). Infidelity, jealousy, and eventually murder ensue.

This film in some ways resembles the emerging Italian gialli thrillers(especially the early ones with Carrol Baker and/or Jean Sorel), but it is much more staid and psychological and less over-the-top than the Italian films. And of course, it also fit squarely in the tradition of French thrillers somewhere between "Diabolique" and Claude Chabrol. The three leads are very good, but Jane Birkin is pretty miscast--she was too old for this role and seemed to be trying to overcompensate by running and skipping around, acting more like a 12-year-old girl than an 18-year-old one (and the result, needless to say, is pretty bizarre). Birkin also tragically keeps her clothes on (although she does spend most of the movie modelling various bikinis), but the equally gorgeous Schneider more than makes up for it. Ironically however, the major flaw in this movie is that the four principals are all SO glamorous and beautiful that it's hard for us normal folk to relate or sympathize with them.Schneider and Birkin would appear together again with better results in "Love at the Top" (where the latter more than makes up for her regrettable lack of skin here).

I suspect this movie not only partially inspired the likes of Claude Chabrol, but also the very recent sexy French thriller with same name ("Swimming Pool" in the English-speaking world) in which Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier seemed to be respectively channeling the erotic spirits of Schneider and Birkin. One thing's for sure, France has never looked more beautiful than it does here.

Simple, Sensual and Tense

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 14 February 2015]

The failing writer Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and his lover Marianne (Romy Schneider) are together for more than two years and spending vacation in a mansion in Saint-Tropez that belongs to a friend of them. They spend most of the time in the swimming pool that is the main attraction of the real estate. Jean-Paul is an insecure man and tried to commit suicide because of the reviews of his last novel but now is recovered.

When the successful composer Harry (Maurice Ronet), who had been Marianne's lover for four years, calls her and tells that he is passing by Saint-Tropez with his teenage daughter Pénélope (Jane Birkin), she invites them to come to the mansion to stay with Jean-Paul and her. Soon Harry woos Marianne trying to rekindle their former relationship and there is a tension in the house. Jean-Paul does not react and seduces Pénélope instead that discloses the true feelings of Harry towards him. One night, Harry comes late night drunken and argues with Jean-Paul, telling that he is a loser. However he falls in the swimming pool and Jean-Paul does not let him leave the water. Harry is drowned by Jean-Paul that forges a situation indicating that Harry has accidentally died. However the smart Inspector Lévêque (Paul Crauchet) does not buy the evidences of accident. What will happen to Jean-Paul?

"La Piscine" is a movie with a simple, sensual and tense story with a sexy beginning. Romy Schneider is among the most beautiful women in the world and her eyes, her face and her body mesmerize any male viewer. The characters are not well developed and keep a mystery of their true intentions, leaving to the viewer's interpretation. The cinematography is bright like the weather in Saint-Tropez, and the beauty and the eyes of Romy Schneider, Jane Birkin and Alain Delon are highlighted by the camera. The most impressive is that this movie has not aged after almost fifty years. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Piscina" ("The Swimming Pool")

Note: On 28 January 2017, I saw this film again.

Superficial and slow-moving, but provides a certain nostalgia

[allyjack · 6/10 · 6 August 1999]

The movie is languid and superficial and slow-moving but that's generally fine, if you feel like revisiting one of those archetypal, now almost forgotten, mildly (extremely mildly) titillating flicks which used to show up (dubbed) in the Adults Only slot on Friday late-night British TV in the late seventies. The earlier sequences glisten with tanned flesh, against which the slowly building tensions (Ronet and Schneider's past affair; Delon's attraction toward the daughter; Delon's relative failure as a writer and his realization that Ronet doesn't really like him) sometimes seem almost resonant. The movie becomes merely formulaic once it has to tie up the strands of the murder though - the only question being whether Schneider will stay with Delon or not, and it's clear at the end that this amounts to little more than the flip of a coin. Neither the writing nor the acting in the later stretches is sufficient to make very much out of this game of psychological cat and mouse.

Delon and Schneider back together...

[dbdumonteil · 6/10 · 19 January 2005]

After ten years .Their last and only movie together(Schneider had only a cameo in "plein soleil")was "Christine".That movie helped Delon become a star when his partner was famous (the "Sissi saga").But Schneider's career ran into difficulties when she tried to get rid of her image of a very nice Austrian empress.And in the late sixties ,when her success was waning,Delon returned the favor,in a gentlemanly manner.He was right:Schneider soon gained critical acclaim again and became one of the biggest actresses of the seventies in France till her tragic death.We still miss her now.And Maurice Ronet too.

"La piscine" is a psychological detective story.There are only four characters well portrayed by the four leads.Almost all the action takes place around a pool (hence the title) in the middle of a desirable villa(I wish I could spend my vacation here).Tempers rise as it appears that Jean-Paul (Delon) is a wash-out professionally and that his guest (Ronet)is a show-off ,and Jean-Paul's lover's (Schneider) 'ex -partner.It's a cat and mouse play,not always original ,but where the actors can display their skills.The murder can remind people of "plein soleil" ,mainly because it's the same actors.

Not flawless but still a classic

[AristarchosTheArchivist · 9/10 · 30 May 2002]

This film about surface and inner passion (derangement, fear, etc...obviously symbolized by the pool) is a pleasure, mostly through the performances of Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. Most of the plot lies under the surface and there are many scenes where one must read between the lines to understand where everything will lead to. Okay, the film could have been a bit shorter, but the actors in my opinion really make up for it. We've seen everything now in the movies - but still, the opening sequence is one of the hottest scenes ever filmed. I cannot explain, see it yourself.

A portrayal of difficult characters

[blumdeluxe · 7/10 · 19 October 2018]

"La Piscine" tells the story of a young and succesfull couple that live in an isolated villa near the seaside. When a mutual friend, more the playboy kind of man, visits them with his young, seductive daughter, their relationship and identities are questioned more and more.

The producers managed to create a thrilled atmosphere full of suspicion and subtile erotic. Indeed you feel dragged into this tiny universe of very complex relations. Objectively seen, not all too much happens in this movie. There's one big bang and the rest is more waiting for something to escalate. But it is especially this dangerous silence that makes for the tension. Additionally, I respect the two lead roles a lot for being able to play a couple after their own history together.

All in all this is probably more something for film lovers or people open-minded towards older movies but it delivers the same plot as the remake with an equal or even better atmospheric approach.

Pool of conscience

[mim-8 · 9/10 · 29 June 2013]

This fine French crime drama, is not appreciated as it should be. The cast may be the reason, but there is no one, that comes to mind of contemporary French actors, at the time, that could have added something more to this. The centerpiece of this tale, of moral and emotional decadence is the swimming pool by beautiful villa, somewhere near Saint-Tropez and it radiates summer passion, it's turquoise waters filled with guilty conscience, calling for trouble between three old friends and lovers. Burden each of them carries, would lead to crime even without "sweet Jane" stirring it up to boiling point. Her presence is so light and she almost appears as a mirage, in between scenes of old passions, lust and grudges not forgotten.

The film is everything but slow paced and boring. There is no surplus scene, and I can't imagine how it could be done differently. Of course such films in general are not for audiences of ready-made movies, but for those who will savor Jacques Deray's fine direction, and beautiful cinematography of Jean-Jacques Tarbès. They did a fine job in submerging a willing viewer into exquisite beauty of Romy Schneider, Alen Delon's cool in portrayal of insecure, troubled man that finds his life utterly pointless, Maurice Ronet's subtle acting performance of a successful composer who is afraid of his success, and Jane Birkin's girlish naiveté, ruffle the pool of love and hate. Interraction between Schneider, Delon and Ronet adds another level to it, and the story glides well with every scene serving the story of superficial, emotionless people trapped in their small worlds, in witch they are suffocating. Beautiful film, worth every minute of your time, and not just in cold winter months.

Sluggish, atmospheric French thriller.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 12 January 2005]

"Sluggish" is the key word here. In the movie's sluggish first hour, director Jacques Deray does little except perfectly capturing the atmosphere of summer heat - the blazing sun, the rippling water of a pool, the sensuousness of the almost-naked bodies....while the characters say things like "I'm going to shave", compete in swimming and go shopping. Because this is also supposed to be a thriller, a murder must eventually come - and it comes after 80 minutes, in an atmospheric and memorable, but also poorly motivated scene. The aftermath of the murder is as sluggish as its preparation. It's really a well-made film, but maybe TOO suggestive - the audience has to fill in too many blanks. Another problem, already pointed out by a previous reviewer, is that Birkin (the young girl that catches Delon's eye) is a lot less attractive than Schneider (the woman he already has by his side) (**1/2)

sin under the sun

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 30 January 2021]

In "La piscine", a couple of lovers enjoy a sun-kissed holiday sizzling with sex and fun. Their golden days of pleasure gradually turn ugly after the arrival of two visitors, to wit a mutual friend accompanied by his pretty daughter. It turns out that even scantily clad sunbathers as handsome as Greek gods and goddesses can harbor painful secrets, deep resentments and troubling failures of judgment...

Both a thriller and a drama, "La piscine" focuses on the psychological development of the characters, rather than on the mystery or puzzle aspect of the crime. Indeed, it delves deep into the characters' souls : by the time murder is committed, the viewer knows just why that particular murderer is killing that particular victim. The pace is slow, but this is not a bad thing, since it gives the story ample time in which to breathe and evolve. Certainly there is no lack of tension - on the contrary. The acting is excellent, with a tangible chemistry between Alain Delon and Romy Schneider.

"La piscine" points out that a life of sustained hedonism may have considerable drawbacks, such as an impossibility to create family ties based on both tenderness and duty. The movie is notable also for its dissection of the kind of friendship that, upon closer examination, will turn out to be not friendship, but rather hatred or rivalry turned inside out. Here it is hard not to think of an old French saying : "It is better to be alone, than to have a bad companion"...

Captures a certain atmosphere, but quite a bit flawed

[vostf · 6/10 · 29 March 2008]

La Piscine stands out the atmosphere of a quiet summer vacation in Saint-Tropez, that is away from all the tourists and partying. A dull vacation? Not for the happy ones who can be content with "love and fresh water" (as we say in French). That's the starting point. The opening shots establishing this are probably the best part of the movie. Yes, once in a while the first reel contact is not on a part with the rest.

The first time I saw it, La Piscine left me with a good impression. The atmosphere was sufficient for my pleasure, the whole plot consistent and above all you felt on holiday with the characters. Now on second viewing you can't but feel sorry for Delon as Romy Schneider and Maurice Ronet clearly are in charge there. Even with the sometimes (very) weak lines they shine. On second viewing you also notice that the furniture in the house are ugly, that the director does a poor job (ah those awful zoom shots and unnecessarily moving camera...).

On the whole it could have been quite a bit better. Still worth watching for the opening scene, Romy, Maurice Ronet, and Romy again.

A shallow pool?

[JasparLamarCrabb · 5/10 · 14 June 2008]

Jacques Deray's psychological drama stops short of being a real thriller by keeping the pace maddeningly slow. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider are well paired as an upper class couple enjoying an idyllic vacation on in the south of France. Their holiday in the sun is interrupted by old friend Maurice Ronet and his young, very odd daughter. Ronet and Delon are old pals and Ronet and Schneider MAY be old lovers...Delon goes slowly mad trying to find out. Complicating things is Jane Birkin as Ronet's bored daughter. What seems like a straightforward triangle blooms into something hellish. LA PISCINE (The Pool) is strikingly photographed, and the principles are all at their peak, however the overall viewing experience is not exactly enjoyable...Deray (a very good director) really mis-steps. The buildup is just too long for the finale to be very satisfying. Still, he gets terrific performances out of the swinging cast and the movie includes one of Michel Legrand's more bearable music scores.

fair crafted

[Kirpianuscus · 7 October 2022]

I saw it few times with the nostalgia of the great first scenes. A film about love, hate, jealousy, games and death . Admirable work of Romy Schneider and Alain Delon and great craft of the nuances of story. And, sure, a young Jane Birkin , seductive and well acting.

Maybe, the remarkable good point remains the dialogue and the ambiguous games of characters. Sure, a classic , with its obvious virtuous but, more important, with few sins who, after a half of century are very near to the status of virtues.

A good cast and a fairs slice of thriller. And the summer proper reflected in the water of pool.

The most simple is to say : see it ! Not for story but for emotions inspired by a fist of scenes.

A Summer Movie

[marydanza · 7/10 · 20 June 2021]

'La piscine' is a movie that mainly offers the beautiful landscapes of France without having a real strong plot but it is still able to make some reflection about the recondite desires of the human condition. Jealousy is almost as present as the swimming pool where everything that counts happens. The movie is a bit slow and it starts to develope towards the end but it gives a great occasion to the audience to relax and enjoy the summer feeling.

Voyeuristic, but strangely seductive

[dierregi · 6/10 · 21 July 2017]

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.

"One always has a preference,even for worthless things."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 12 July 2016]

Talking to my dad about planning to watch one French film a day over the next few months,I was happily caught by surprise,when he revealed that he had picked one up for me.Recently catching a glimpse of her in the superb Purple Noon,I decided that it was the perfect time to pay Romy Schneider a visit at her villa.

The plot:

Deciding to go on holiday,lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne choose to spend their time at a villa.Diving into the swimming pool,the couple pass the time by with sun bathing and swimming.Letting each other's guard down,Jean-Paul is taken aback,when Marianne's invites her old lover Harry and his teenage daughter to the villa.Seeing Harry reveal his wooing charms,Jean-Paul begins to think about taking drastic measures in order to save his relationship.

View on the film:

Backed by a sizzling score from Michel Legrand,co-writer/(along with Jean-Claude Carrière and Alain Page) director Jacques Deray & cinematographer Jean-Jacques Tarbès swagger round the villa like dapper dressed lounge lizards,where every corner of the villa is presented in an immaculate manner,that colour coordinate everything from the clothes to the wall paper. Plunging Jean-Paul and Marianne's relationship under the water,Deray splashes the outdoor of the villa with vibrant yellows which subtly keeps the disintegration crumbling away behind closed doors.

Hanging round the pool with everyone,the screenplay by Deray/Page and Carrière gives the domestic Drama a playfully dark comedic chop,lit up by Jean-Paul trying to get a grip on why Harry and his daughter have been invited.Hitting the movie with a dark twist,the writers block the ending from landing at full force,by presenting all 4 characters in a detached manner which stops any menacing atmosphere being fanned across the title.

Stepping out of the swimming pool looking ravishingly beautiful, Romy Schneider (who beat first choice Angie Dickinson) gives a very good performance as Marianne,via Schneider delicately crossing a free- spirit nature with a brittleness over the relationship falling from her hands. Joining his real life ex-girlfriend, Alain Delon gives a great performance as Jean-Paul,thanks to Delon injecting Jean-Paul with a heartfelt fragility,as Jean-Paul sees his hopes and loves fall to the bottom of the pool.

Underrated Classic

[soundoflight · 8/10 · 7 January 2022]

Ignore the Naysayers, "La Pacine" is a masterful film. A true example of the kind of film they only really made in that area: vibrant and glossy, where a voyeuristic camera just hovers and lingers, putting the viewer right there. It reminded me a lot of Jean-Luc Godard's "Contempt." The way it is filmed makes the viewer want to be in that world, and stay there as long as possible. I know that South France in 1960's seems a hell of lot better than our world today. If "La Pacine" was 3 hours long, I would still sit through it, just to BE there.

I found the acting performances to be extraordinary. So much in this film is conveyed through body language and facial expressions, that one hardly even needs to know French (or read subtitles) to understand what it happening. Romy Schneider and Jane Birkin are both great to look at, and I thought Jane Birkin in particular really did well to say a lot with few words.

The only thing that slightly drags "La Pacine" down is that it's slightly overlong in the drawn out expository section after the climax, which causes the film to loose a bit of punch by the end. So come hang out by the pool for a while, I don't think you'll regret it.

A film that has not aged well

[frankde-jong · 6/10 · 9 January 2021]

"La piscine" is not a "ménage a trois" but a "ménage a quattre". Two men and two women and all sorts of love affiars between them, imagined and real, old and new. "La piscine" is a sultry film with sexual freedom at the surface but strong undercurrents of jealousy. Especially the relationship between the two men is peculiar. Under cover of friendship they try to belittle each other as much as possible.

"La piscine" has not aged well. In 1969 is may have been daring, now it is garish at most. Alain Delon and Romy Schneider manage more or less to conceal the datedness of their characters by acting pretty well. The character of Harry (Maurice Ronet), who is supposed to be a playboy, is outright laughable with his shirts and pantalons that are too tight.

Watching "La piscine" made me wonder how well Henri George Clouzot could have visualised jealousy in a film with Romy Schneider in the lead, had he managed to complete "L'enfer" (1964).

The film that introduced me to Alain Delon!

[circagirl · 9/10 · 26 March 2020]

The camera loves Alain Delon but it isn't just his remarkable good looks that turned me into a huge fan but his very sensitive, subtle acting. This is a rare psychological thriller that explores the complexities of the male ego and toxic male friendships. It's passive aggression and malicious subtext between competitive old frenemies until the burden of civility is thrown out in a swift act of violence.

A tragic story of love triangle

[esteban1747 · 6/10 · 2 July 2002]

Maurice Ronet is the usual victim of the perversive Alain Delon. This happened in "A plein Soleil" film (first version of Mr. Ripley) and it happens again in this film. Teenagers like to flirt with different partners, and this is seen in this film, but the fact is that Delon, Ronet and Rommy Schneider are young but not teenagers. A latino macho will never accept the behavior of Rommy Schneider, and will react in the same way as Delon did. Probably the director wanted to mix different feelings to prepare the scene for murdering Ronet once again. Nice to see the beautifulness of Rommy Schneider, all the way wonderful, desirable, simply too sexy. The daughter of Ronet in the film is not so attractive to compete with Schneider, so this was one minus against the director of the film.

Always a deeply moving experience

[carlsabatzki-655-12166 · 10/10 · 23 August 2019]

Reviewing this as slow or shallow proves that one is not understanding the French culture or French cinema of that time as well as being oneself shallowly viewing this rather powerful depiction of inner psychological struggle. This is a magnificent film in many aspects. One of which being the fine details in voice, gestures and dialogue. Small moments and looks. In addition to the layer of dialogue and the actually normal moving pace there is an emotional layer found in the expressions and behaviour of the characters towards one another. This is by far anything but shallow but, in fact, the opposite. It requires empathy and emotional perception to be able to enjoy it. While it is often painful and full of strong emotions, it tells the viewer a lot about human relations and feelings. Jealousy and revenge as the primary, and at times soul destroying, ones on display. Subtlety isn't for everyone to uncover. The actors transport those emotions in a very real fashion. Their helplessness in that struggle doesn't appear to be superficial but honestly felt. One can observe the true love Alain Delon possesses for Romy Schneider. It is understandable that even today this film is stirring up such strong feelings inside him. It may be exhausting to viewers for whom reality and real feelings are too slow or too painful to confront. It may also be hard to comprehend when one can't relate to those situations. Yet this is exactly what makes this film so outstanding and beautiful.

1969 : erotic year (tv)

[leplatypus · 7/10 · 25 May 2014]

Well, it's not an erotic movie but the thematic is highly sensual however : adults vacationing during a hot summer in a isolated villa with a pool. Sure, they dress light and short and their desire goes up as well as tension. In a way, it was expected as it's hard to stay alone and promiscuity was unavoidable.

The remarkable facts here are first the historic value of the movie : as it has nearly 50 years, you can appreciate how France looked in the swinging sixties, especially in the infamous spot of French Riviera ! If the vigor of a country can be traced in its fashion, i can understand then the may 68 revolt as everyone is dressed with colorful, vivid clothes. It's a change from nowadays black and gray.

Next, the cast is rather interesting : Romy and Delon exudes passion a bit like Belluci and Cassel would do it again in the new millennium as it's a bit a bit special to watch a real couple being intimate on screen. If Romy is always thin skinned with her feelings, Delon is really this unpleasant, narcissist guy media depicted (looking a bit like coach Mourinho) but he did a great job when he becomes crazy, very feline, very leopard as the title of one of his masterpiece. Birkin was a charming teen and his father was really good even if for me he is a total stranger.

At last, the story is a bit wicked as if you consider Romy as absolute purity and that criminal laws are superior to heart laws, well, you could be surprised.

You keep expecting to see fireworks and all you see is ennui....

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 9 December 2011]

"The Swimming Pool" is not a bad movie nor is it a very good one. Instead, it starts with a reasonably interesting premise and infuses it with almost zero energy and passion. The end result is like a diet of tap water and bread--not especially satisfying.

The film starts off horribly. There is a really, really annoying opening song--one of the worst I've heard in fact. Fortunately, the film does get better--it couldn't get any worse! Alain Delon and Romy Schneider are a couple enjoying their time together on vacation. They mostly just lounge around the pool and make love--and considering how beautiful this couple is, I am sure many folks didn't mind this slow portion of the film. It certainly was very sexy.

An old lover of Schneider's shows up uninvited (Maurice Ronet) and brings his 18 year-old daughter (Jane Birkin). Instead of maintaining their passion, however, Schneider begins drifting towards her old lover and Delon just looks very bored. Later, Delon begins paying a lot of attention to the 18 year-old--though exactly how deep this relationship goes, you never know. What you do know, though, is that both Delon and Schneider begin to take the other for granted and their relationship suffers badly.

While this sounds like there would be a lot of excitement, there isn't--and it's all very strangely muted. Instead of anger, they mostly seemed filled with ennui and self-absorption--making the film very tough to enjoy. Only towards the end are there any--and by then it just seemed too late, as my attention had long since vanished--and it's a shame, as the ending was pretty interesting (at least compared to the rest of the film). Had there been more fireworks along the way and some performances seeming more like normal human reactions, then the film could have been a lot more interesting. Slow and tough to love.