I went into Swimming Pool without too many expectations based on what I saw in the trailer, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. For a film without too many different sets or too much dialogue, I must say that I was intrigued about where the movie would take us next. The beginning was a bit slow, but it had to be known that something between Sarah and Julie would eventually happen. This is where the suspense came from, as it was impossible to know when and how it would happen. Their relationship took a while to build into something, but I feel, that this relationship was the whole premise of the film. At first, I was a little skeptical on why Ozon decided to have Franck killed, as I felt it was out of place, but then I realized that it would end up being another mystery written by Sarah. One thing I noticed about the camera movement throughout was the slow, yet steady zoom on the characters faces. I believe that this was done as a way to feel closer to their thoughts. I did also notice that the color of the bedroom Sarah stayed in was the same blue color as the pool, which I’m sure was done purposely.
Swimming Pool was definitely one of those movies that played tricks with my mind and it is only at the very end where I questioned the ambiguity between what is real and what is not. However, I don’t think that anyone can conclude with any real answer to this which is what makes this movie so good. After requisitioning everything that I saw previously in the movie, I feel that the only true reality that took place was at the beginning and the end of the movie and everything else was made up in Sarah’s mind for the purpose of writing her book. In a way, the movie in itself can be seen as the book even though much of it was visual and told without dialogue. While watching I did take notice of some of the camera angles but I didn’t really apply their importance to the film. However now that I look back, I realized how many subtle changes the camera makes to show the merging between the two identities of Sarah and Julie. I think the role reversal and switch of identity becomes apparent after Sarah enters the pool that she previously referred to as “full of bacteria.” The fact that Sarah is always seen as looking or gazing at Julie and what she is doing could be Sarah envisioning Julie’s character in her head. Usually immediately after observing Julie, Sarah begins typing the story up on her computer or sleeps on it. I thought it was weird how she kept Julie’s underwear though. That is probably one of many scenes that confused my perception of reality and imagination. Also the scene when Julie went upstairs and read the first couple of pages within the book I found to be confusing when questioning her imaginary character. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and how it was very different from any of the others that I have seen.
Swimming Pool is not so much of a thriller as it is a psychological drama. The two main characters, Sarah and Julie, are complete opposites. Sarah is an uptight English woman whereas Julie is a loose, troubled “free-spirit” French girl. Julie’s father problems become apparent almost as soon as she is introduced. She sleeps around, smokes, drinks, parties and is very free (according to Sarah), yet very restrained by her demons (father issues, abandonment issues). Only after Sarah decides to write her next book about Julie, does Sarah even attempt to be civil to Julie. It struck me as odd—how mean Sarah was to someone she didn’t even know, who was younger than her, and did nothing to evoke such feelings of hostility. Gradually as the film goes on, Sarah becomes fascinated with Julie, always watching her, going through her items, and even partying with her a bit. There are multiple times throughout the movie where the audience can’t tell fiction from reality, like when Franck is murdered. This leads me to believe Julie was completely imagined and it was Sarah the entire time, similar to the movie: Secret Window. The writer has snapped, for one reason or another, in this case, I believe it is because of stress. Sarah is being replaced by Terry Long, the other writer, at her publishing company and this causes her to have a meltdown since she was always top dog, her publisher’s favorite. Toward the end of the film when Sarah hands John her new book, and he tells her it has no plot, no twists, it’s very strange. It made me very curious as to what she could’ve written in there. Perhaps it is a mixture of her story about Julie and Julie’s mother’s story, but maybe it’s just a detailed description of her experience at the summer house in France. Although the movie was filmed in 2003, the film style, is reminiscent of something much older, like late 70s or early 80s. The colors, music and the camera’s movements are very much like those in The Shining.
“Swimming Pool” definitely utilizes cinematography and camera angles effectively. The panning shots of Julie’s body convey more about her unrestrained sexuality than any action or piece of dialog can. The various angles used to show Sarah’s constant observance of Julie also create an eerie atmosphere of building tension throughout the film. The pool itself also functioned as a powerful symbol of sexuality and exchange of identity. However, while the plot had its interesting moments, it also had periods of long, drawn out sequences of nothing but Sarah just…doing things. The entire beginning was an endless boring montage of her at her laptop, or her at the store, or her eating boring foods. The film then proceeds into an endless montage of Julie barely wearing any clothes. It overdid the contrasting cultural aspects of English/French for me by the time the film completed. Also, I personally think Julie had to be real, because otherwise the viewer wasted his or her time watching a movie about the crazed, random imaginations of a washed up English author. Julie’s reference to her father not wanting to leave his family in England for her and her mother confirms in my mind that she was really at the house with Sarah. However, some of her actions, including the murder of Franck, may have been a part of Sarah’s creative process rather than actual events.
Swimming Pool: I am so confused about the ending; the question is, which Julie is the real daughter of John? Is the sexy Julie the imagination in Sarah’s fiction? As classmates discuss in class, we didn’t see the exact car when the sexy Julie came home. There were many scenes very wired, such as the waiter watched Julie’s body and did some sexual behavior near the swimming pool. As well as the old gardener watched Sarah’s body and had sort of sexual behavior near the swimming pool. These were too weird and unconnected to happen in the real life. When this film went to climax, the gardener was looking at an area of sand very closely; Sarah just induced the gardener and had sex with him. I was questioning all the time, why Sarah had to help Julie? If she created the sexy Julie, what’s the point and idea of this imagination? Is this fiction the expression of Sarah’s ego self? All Julie did was what Sarah wanted to do. It’s very liked a mirror effect, the authors always put themselves in their work of writing, painting and even the film. All in all, I still feel confused what the author wants us to know from the film, what is the main idea of this film. I don’t like the story, but I like the way it shot, and the colors of the film, which is warm, soft rather than using the sharp and dark colors to express mystery.
Swimming pool: If regarded as a horror movie, Swimming Pool seems has few scenes that will horrify the audiences and the violent scenes are far less than the pornographic and naked scenes. On the other hand, the suspenseful plots have just shown some clues in the second half of the movie and misled the audiences. Julie, who appears at last, has completely overturned the original story and only left some details for us to recall.
The swimming pool is like a symbol of desire. The whole story unfolds around it. However, when the woman writer Sarah Morton finally has finally jumped into the pool, all the desire begins to release. The movie story gradually develops into a murder case, but in fact it is just a stunt. We can even believe that this is an inexistent event according to the ending. The entire movie is like a fraud. With indistinct dividing line, the real space and the imagine space are difficult to distinguish whether truth or illusion. But in my own opinion, without any hints, this movie has combined Sarah Morton’s imagination and her on-going detective novel, thus creates abstract and fantastical effects.
This movie directed by Ozon seems has played a joke on the audiences, leaving a huge fantasy behind the bewildering story. The fist half is full of enjoyment, sunshine, green leaves, country villa, a writer without inspiration. The villa has unique condition, and being more attractive especially when the swimming pool fist comes out. The director uses various shooting styles to arrange all the pictures and rhythm in order, and draw the audiences’ attention by the leading roles, sexy Julie and smart Sarah through such shooting styles and scenes from different angles.
Swimming Pool was one of the most interesting "thriller" films I have seen due to its narrative quality. When I think of films like Swimming Pool I assume I am going to be annoyed with the shotty narrative work and over acting, but I really enjoyed not only the suspense and thought provoking aspects of the horrible actions but also the narrative quality. It was easy to find yourself drawn into this film. The first time I watched the film with no prior knowledge of the story line or plot, I found myself believing every second of it was reality and never thinking of questioning certain parts as fantasy until the final scene when Julie turns around and we see a different Julie than the rest of the film. Once the last scene took place I went through the rest of the film in my head comparing what may have been fantasy what was reality and it creates this dynamic discussion of this film. The over sexualization of Julie in every aspect of her character seems, to me, to be fantasy. I feel the entire movie essentially takes place inside of Sarah's head. I think Julie is a real person who was there, but that all of her actions and even the dynamics of the relationship between Julie and Sarah were completely fictional. This aspect will probably never be known and will always be viewed by everyone differently, but I feel due to the over done sexuality and the extreme actions that take place that it must be fantasy.
Swimming Pool is a bizarre film. The narrative is told through ambiguous and symbolic cinematography. Consequently, the narrative – more specifically the resolution – is open to manifold interpretation. Julie may just as easily be a real person, or Sarah’s imagination: She is either a fictional character of her book, or a byproduct of a split personality disorder. Any interpretation “works” because none is without inexplicable holes. Ergo, Swimming Pool is the quintessential cinematic realization of mystery literature. Ozon’s deliberate vagueness ensures that the film will be talked about for years to come.
The film relies heavily on subtlety. It is only after deep inspection that one realizes the significance of the color red. The red pool chair and the red robe symbolize (in my view) heightened sexuality. For example, Sarah wears the red robe prior to her graphic nude scene and subsequent coitus with Marcel. On another note, Julie’s existence is based predominantly on Sarah’s point of view, the lecherous lovers, and the dwarf woman. All of these characters may be Sarah’s creations. Furthermore, there is an obvious role reversal that is told entirely through cinematography. Eventually, Julie becomes the voyeur while Sarah becomes the one that takes action, especially through sex. In addition, our appraisal of the characters is influenced by clever costuming. Sarah dresses in loose and drab outfits that imply austerity. Julie is usually half naked, often exposing her breasts to emphasize her sexual promiscuity.
Sexual promiscuity brings me to my next point. While the film does a masterful job of telling an enigmatic story and developing believable characters, it was too salacious. Without the compelling story, the film amounts to nothing more than a soft-core pornographic film. Not to discredit Ozon, but it seems as if he first envisions some lustful sexual scenario to depict on film and then adds a great story to rationalize filming it. No amount of artistic value will ever justify full-frontal fellatio. Given cinema’s track record, future films will be justifying hard-core pornography as art. Overall, the film deserves merit, but it should not be excused for its raunchy style.
Swimming Pool is one of my favorite types of movies- a thriller with depth. The plot is creepy and interesting, but also includes a complex psychological conflict; which i found fascinating. The conflict was very similar to the one we studied in Black Swan- a sort of identity transfer compelled by desire and sexuality and presented through women watching women. In the case of Swimming Pool, this conflict arouse upon Julie's arrival in the home her father let Sarah stay in for the summer to work on her book. Sarah’s character is comparable to that of Natalie Portman’s, as another woman who they have love/hate feelings for is distracting them both from their work and progress. Thus, Mila Kunis’ character resembles that of Julie’s. I was most fascinated by the little details director Ozon included as hints to the abstract conflict as a way of presenting it to the viewer without being too blunt and taking away the more sly presentation of it all. Among his hints were ones in costuming, which is another similarity the movie has to Black Swan, as this was also prevalent in that film (the sweater we discussed in class). In Swimming Pool a costuming clue was in the scene where the blocking is the same as a previous scene of Julie, where the female is laying down horizontally and a male is watching over her vertically, Sarah wears the same one piece swimsuit style that Julia wore in her scene like that. I find it really cool that costume was used as a tool to represent identity transfer, and really enjoy movies that give you clues to pick up on like this.
Swimming Pool was different then most movies I have seen. Sometimes it was hard for me to figure out what Sarah Morton was imagining and what was real after meeting Julie, her publisher's daughter. We are able to witness her transformation through what she wears. Sarah is first seen in earthy tones which represents her uptightness but as she starts watching Julie, she starts losing her uptight attitude which is seen by her flowy dresses she begins wearing. Sarah is mesmerized by Julie and is yearning to be as sexual as her. As Sarah starts loosening up, the roles reverse and Julie begins watching Sarah. Many different camera movements are used throughout this film. The horizontal short combined with a vertical movement are repetitive in the film. Towards the end, when Frank is reported missing because Julie supposedly kills him, I felt like this was Sarah's imagination taking over. Frank's disappearance seemed real but I felt like the novel Sarah is writing, was taking over her mind. At the end when Sarah meets with her publisher, his daughter comes to visit and it is shown a different girl then what Julie looked like. The girl that is shown at the end has braces and seems immature. This brings in the question of if Julie was a real character or someone Sarah made up in her head. I felt as if Julie is real, it's just Sarah is using her imagination portraying Julie as a sexual figure. The real daughter looks young and innocent which is why I feel like Sarah creates a new version of the same girl in her head as more mature.
Going into watching the Swimming Pool, my expectations were not very high. I assumed this was to be another British film that was dry and out of date as most of them are, but I could not be more wrong. Sarah Morton's book writing banks are dry and lacking inspiration, she is struggling to enjoy life and write another book. Upon hearing this her publisher gives her the keys to his villa in the gorgeous Provence that most of us dream about going to, and it helps her write her book immensly; until Julie shows up and changes everything. Sarah becomes preoccupied watching Julie, her sexuality, freeness, and youth and all of her actions revolve around the "Swimming Pool". The pool becomes a symbol of not only Julie's youth and promiscuity, but also of Sarah's desire. Throughout the whole movie Sarah gradually changes from a pent up book writer, to an active older woman. We can see Sarah's change through her clothes and actions. She goes from dressing in a very unflattering way in the beginning, wearing overcoats, and not lively colors, to wearing revealing gowns, and even a bathing suit. Her actions change from being totally immersed in writing her book to becoming involved in strange men and even the most apparent clue, murder. However, did this murder actually happen? Is Julie and her male friend real? I believe that neither of these characters are real and only projections of Sarah's unconcious desires unleashed by the pool, and through the writing of her book. Needless to say, they add another twist to the movie which I found interesting and providing a Shia LeBouf "Disturbia" like essence to the film, that kept me interested.
Francois Ozon’s “Swimming Pool” was a film that I enjoyed very much. The reminded me very much of Hitchcock films. There was a certain mood that the characters in the film were almost emotionless. When Sarah Morton is first introduced to the viewer she seems like a temperamental woman who is too self-consumed. When Morton initially goes to the vacation house in France I thought the movie was going to be similar to “The Shining” and the viewer was going to see the mental deterioration of Morton. What I was surprised about with the film was that the film was less of a mental deterioration and more of a Morton compromising her morals. When Sarah and Julie meet one another it seems like the two will be at odds for the rest of Morton’s stay at the house, but Ozon goes against expectations and Morton develops this odd sort of fascination with Julie’s actions and the men she is with. What is equally as unexpected as Sarah’s fascination with Julie is the fact that that fascination is reciprocated. Julie goes out of her way at points to spend time with Sarah and this is exemplified when Julie asks Sarah to have drinks with her and the man from the diner that Julie will later try to have sex with. The film comes to a climax when the viewer learns that Julie killed the waiter from the diner. What surprises the viewer is when Julie tells Sarah her reason for killing the man was to make the book Sarah is writing more interesting. What is even more disturbing is how unaffected Sarah is by this news. She almost immediately decides to help cover up the murder with Julie and even goes as far as to seduce the housekeeper to keep the murder a secret. The viewer is left confused, but the confusion Ozon creates forces the viewer to constantly be in a state of suspense because of the unexpected nature of the film.
I did not know what to expect off of this film. And I have to admit, that this was one of those times were the trailer led me think the wrong way about the movie. I thought this was going to be a kind of scary movie (and I wasn’t in the mood to be scared). But for my surprise, this was a film that I really enjoyed. It is not common to see a movie with just two main characters. But I appreciated the fact that both characters (Sarah and Julie) were very strong, very well developed and most importantly very complex. As the movie went on and on, you could see some sort of “grow” in them, emotional growth most specifically. The interaction they had with each other was so strong and at the same time so almost inexistent. Through the whole movie, I never felt that Julie wasn’t real; but at the end I was convinced that Julie was a product of Sarah’s imagination. What made me think that way is the last scene were Sarah’s is leaving John’s office and sees Julia (John’s real daughter). Another thing that I really enjoyed about the movie was that we never actually saw or heard what Sarah’s book was about, but I felt so intrigued and in some way involved with it. I really enjoyed this film and is definitely one of my favorites of the semester.
When we were told about the movie “Swimming Pool,” I felt like it would be a very strange foreign film. However, the characters in the movie captivated me at almost every turn. When Sarah and Julie met each other, I expected a European odd couple storyline. An uptight Sarah, who is seen wearing nothing but boring clothing and always has a scowl, constantly fights with Julie, the young and sexually free rebel. The relationship between them becomes an exploration into human sexuality. The director is able to make the viewer uncomfortable but captivated at the same time when he uses a camera pan up from Julie masturbating by the pool as a man watches closely. As Sarah sees Julie have sex with so many different men, she begins to become more in tune with her sexuality. The switch in character roles starts when Sarah apologizes to Julie at dinner. Sarah expresses herself sexually by seduces Marcel in order to save Julie. I always had suspicions that Sarah had sexual feelings for Julie, and the movie would turn into a lesbian-sexual-thriller, but the murder mystery story matches the character development perfectly. As Julie becomes more self-conscious, Sarah becomes wilder. They meet in the middle when Sarah helps Julie cover up the possible murder of the waiter. The film hints that maybe Julie isn’t even real. I was hoping for a “Fight Club” style ending, but was just left with wanting more. What was Sarah’s book about? Was she living the book the whole time? The director does a great job of keeping the viewer guessing throughout the movie, and by the end I was won over by the movie.
After watching the trailer for “Swimming Pool” in class, I had the expectations heading into the movie that It was going to be a horror film. The movie is not at all a horror film however. The movie is about a women named Sarah Morton who is an author that takes a getaway vacation to a house in England so she can escape the stresses of her everyday living in France and write her book in solitude. The beautiful house, along with the gorgeous scenery makes for a perfect place to have a clear conscience and write a novel. Shortly after she gets to the house she has an unexpected visitor named Julie. Julie is not at all like many girls her age. She goes out drinking every night and bring back much older men and sleeps with them. Sarah and Julie get into many fights and do not get along because of how much of a disturbance Julie is. Over time however, Sarah observes Julie’s behavior and finds that she is a perfect influence for the plot of her book. Julie indirectly influences Sarah to ease up and start drinking, smoking, and having sex with men while she is on her stay. The stay in England ends up being one that Sarah will never forget. I really liked the movie because I could relate people I know to all the main characters in the movie. I really liked how the plot unfolded and how two polar opposites people came to attract. I believe the director did an awesome job with this film. The two get into a lot together and can only get closer from it. Events including covering up a murder bring the two closer.
Swimming Pool is such a strange, but fascinating film and is easily one of the best psychological films I have seen in a long time. The film is about a woman named Sarah Morton who is an author that takes a getaway vacation in France to write her book in solitude. She stays at a beautiful house with incredible scenery and a well manicured lawn. An unexpected visitor named Julie appears at the house and is the typical crazy twenty year old. She parties every night and has wild flings with older men. There is major conflict between Sarah and Julie, as Sarah is much more reserved and is more stereotypical of the older generation, while Julie is much more youthful and wild, representing the new generation. Sarah starts to realize that Julie’s behavior is perfect for the plot of her book and starts to loosen up. She starts drinking, smoking, and having one night stands with the men that come to the house. It was interesting seeing how these different people came together and actually bonded. The twist in this movie is the quandary of whether Julie is an actual character or whether Sarah made her up to help her overcome writer’s block. Furthermore, Julie seems to represent Sarah’s inner desires, those that she is too reserved or prudish to act out. The parallel scenes of Julie and Sarah at the pool help show that these two women are similar in surprising ways. The way the camera pans left over Julie and then pans right over Sarah further shows that while the two women share commonalities that may be somewhat obscure. Overall, I really enjoyed this film despite its clearly sexualized nature. I found the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing fascinating and a worthy effort.
The Swimming Pool was a very interesting movie that developed into a gripping mystery sort of movie. It completely blew away my expectations when I started the movie. Sarah started out as a dry, boring, and even mean character. She seems very stuck up and overly pretentious about her work. I really love the transition Sarah experiences while she's in France. I feel like the movie is all about discovering yourself and Sarah ends up finding her sexuality and expressing herself more freely. At the end of the movie the audience is left to wonder what actually happened at that pool house in France since Julie didn't truly exist. This type of mystery grips the audience and leaves them thinking about the circumstances in the film they just witnessed, was Julie real? Was she part of Sarah? Did those things really happen at the house? and of course who actually killed the man that Sarah seemed to be obsessing over? All of these questions deeply involve the audience in the movie. In addition, before the house in France Sarah was only concerned about money and writing books. While she's there it seems like she discovers more and more of her sexual urges. I personally felt that both Julie and Sarah might have had some sexual tension towards each other since Julie knew Sarah was watching her and kept going anyway. I very much enjoyed this movie because it was completely unique with many twists in the plot that always kept me guessing and wondering about what really happened, I would definitely recommend it to other people to watch. Alexandra Ball C07809270
The swimming pool is a thriller that tells the story of a British novelist who travels to France to write her new book. During her stay in her publisher’s summerhouse, she meets Julie, the publisher’s daughter, who inspires Sarah into writing her crime book allowing her a new perspective and with a crime scene to write about. I noticed that this film uses several camera movements. A scene which is repeated several times but with different characters is when Julie is lying besides the swimming pool and the camera moves horizontally from Julie’s feet to her head and then besides her is standing a man so the camera starts moving vertically to show the man. This type of camera movement is again seen with Sara and a man and again with Julie and Sara. Also, I noticed how interested is Sara in Julie’s sexuality that is always either drinking, having sex or in the pool. Sara is constantly trying to figure out Julie and I feel as if Sara by the end of the movie tries to be like her. I also noticed that there is not much dialogue in the movie, but every time there is key points are mentioned. For example, most of the dialogue starts when Sara decides to write the story on Julie, so here is were we learn about the crime scene that Sara wants to write in her book. I believe that this movie is extremely ambiguous and each viewer can have a different ending for it and a different interpretation. Maybe Julie did exist for some or did not exist for others. In my opinion, Julie never existed and this whole plot was a way for Sara to inspire herself in writing the novel of crime. I found the end of this movie extremely fascinating. All up until the last two minutes of the movie, we are presented with this character “Julie” who stays in the same house with Sara and we think that this is the real daughter of John, the publisher. Nevertheless, in this two or three last minutes, the audience is presented with “Julia” again the daughter of John, but this time, this girl has a different face and body and does not represents sexuality as Julie does. I was so confused since I started thinking if Julie was made up or if Julie was really Julia but Sara saw this girl in another way. By the end, I had to question the movie beginning to end and tie the knots. This movie happened in Sara’s mind, but I don’t know to whether there was a real crime or not.
I didn’t like the movie “Swimming Pool“. The film bored me as the narrative couldn’t decide what movie it wants to be. A thriller? A psychodrama? A horror movie? An erotic movie? Usually, I’m in favor of mixes of the narrative. But, for this movie, nothing quite fits. It was a mess. But, it was a mess nice to watch. I loved the camera work. The different angles and panning technique on Julie stressed her sexual attractiveness. The nearly uncensored sex scenes underlined this and let Julie stand out as a femme fatale who takes guys if she wants to. She is the complete opposite of the conservative, English writer Sarah, who is fascinated by Julie’s behavior. Only because of her, she is able to write another novel. This contrast between the protagonists awakens the interest to watch how the relationship intensifies. Till the middle of the film, I enjoyed it. But then, the murder of the waiter changed everything. Why did this actually happen? Was Julie evil? And why did Sarah try to behave like Julie (having sex with the gardener without feeling any attraction towards him)? I don’t understand this change. I don’t truly care if Julie was only in Sarah’s imagination; if the movie WAS Sarah’s book narrative – the change just made no sense at all. This scene pulled me out of the movie and then I was bored. I think that the movie wanted to show too many things and then lost itself as well as the audience. That’s unfortunate as I liked the beginning of the movie and especially the contrast between the protagonists.
I really enjoyed the swimming pool this movie was quite interested it had a sort of drama and horror in it. The sex scenes in this movie show a lot of more then any other movie I have ever watched it shows the sexuality between Julie and Sarah. Even though I did not quite understand the reasons for some things in the movie it had the most interesting scenes. It was like a back and forth comparison between Julie and Sarah. Julie is lying out by the pool and she goes for a swim then Sarah is lying out by the pool and she goes for a swim. And both have that really weird scene where the men stand over them and masturbate. I noticed how there were long shots of things that were important and needed to be noticed in the movie. What’s most confusing about the movie is I’m not sure if what is happening in the movie is real or is it all in Sarah’s mind? I don’t like how Sarah was trying to be more like Julie in a way or that is what it seemed to me but I kind of Figured that without Julie Sarah couldn’t have wrote her novel. The reason why I enjoyed this movie is because everyone can have their own out look or how the wanted to interpret the ending of this movie.
During the movie, the way how camera focus on was pretty interesting. At first time, camera follows the Sarah’s view to see Julie. I felt like I became mystery author like Sarah, wrote about Julie’s life and secretly stare her to see what she is doing at the pool. However, at the moment, the view is changed. Camera peeped through the window into Sarah swimming in a pool quietly. Right after that, camera comes back to Julie and it make me curious what Sarah wrote about. Such camera focusing leads me unconsciously to compare between Sarah and Julie. Especially, swimming pool acts as a connection for them. In movie, camera showed that they are at the pool side together. It was good chance for me to see both of them in same time. In other words, now I can see them through third person point of view. Maybe, that moment is most objective view shown in this movie. Most of scenes have view of either Sarah or Julie. Not just camera focusing, the way how to tell story was also remarkable. Actually, I watched this movie two times since some parts are really difficult for me define which is real and which is fake. I think now I almost understand. But still it is not completely clear for me.
I didn’t know what to expect going into the film “Swimming Pool,” but what I did know from the trailer is that it would be a movie where the protagonist, Sarah, would change. Initially, one may think that the film is a horror film because of the setting in which the focus of the movie takes place: Sarah is alone in an empty house, she does not know other people around her, etc. What I realized throughout the movie is that it is not intended to be a thriller or a horror movie, but a movie that makes the viewer think about at the end. My conclusion from this film is that Julie was a total imagination of Sarah, and the actions that Julie did were actually done by Sarah. Also, that Julie is the portrayed image of Sarah’s mind on how she would like to live her life. This movie reminded me a lot of the movie “Fight Club,” where an imaginary person was used to exemplify the desires of the main character. Lastly, the movie had a very hazy feel to it, and the style in which it was shot added to the mystery and quandary of the film.
I thought this was a very interesting movie, although I am not sure if I like the ambiguity of the ending. Sarah seeing Julia in John’s office certainly called the entire film into question; however, earlier in the movie, Julie mentioned her father having an English family. Therefore, Julie could have simply been John’s other daughter, with the similar names a result of either Julie’s mother’s obsession or John just being a jerk. Normally I enjoy ambiguous endings, but in this case I was simply confused because the implications of the two possibilities are never really explored. If Sarah was simply imagining Julie, she is probably having a serious psychotic break with reality; but the only possible reason the movie gives for a breakdown is that she has bad writer’s block. Alternatively, if Julie is real, Sarah assisted her in covering up a senseless killing, which just seems completely evil and, again, implies that Sarah has had a psychotic break without any real reason. What I wonder, and what would probably solve this issue, is whether or not the murder was included in Sarah’s “Swimming Pool” book.
In spite of this ambiguity, I thought the movie was very good overall. The setting was especially well done, conveying the relaxing surroundings and the general quaintness of the French village very well. The characters were interesting and the relationship between Julie and Sarah was especially well paced; it never felt like the developments were rushed, nor did the story ever stagnate. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but, if it was a psychological thriller, I wish there had been a little more indication that the events of the movie were unnatural or evil. As it stood, the death of Franck, a relatively important and sympathetic character, seemed very impersonal.
I like this movie because it left me confused. I thought I knew what was going on in the movie until the very end. When the John's real daughter showed up, it made me question everything that happened in the movie. It reminded me of a similar movie, called Deadline, starring Brittany Murphy where she was also a writer who went to large house to be alone while working on her novel. Brittany's character, named Alice, then began hearing things and seeing the spirit of a dead woman around the house. Throughout the movie, Alice began to investigate what happened to the woman and found out that she was murdered and her killer was coming back to the house to kill her (Alice). The ending revealed that none of the events actually happened, and that it all was in the story she had written.
Swimming Pool had a similar ending where the majority of the movie is actually the story that the author (Sarah) wrote. In class, people had mixed feelings on whether or not Julie existed. I think she did. When Julia showed up to visit John, my immediate reaction was that Sarah had been living with a complete stranger during her stay in France. I thought that Julie was very bold to take a chance and get in trouble for intruding in someone else's home. There's no doubt that I think she is real, but there are so many unanswered questions that I have. She could have been John's daughter that he abandoned. I wanted to know what happened to her mother. I think that maybe Julie had something to do with her death.
The movie had a very open ending that could be interpreted in many ways. Overall, it was a great movie. It had me at the edge of my seat because I thought that Julie and Sarah were going to get caught. It was interesting how Julie was able to help Sarah become less of a prude. I am glad that Sarah finally warmed up to Julie because she needed something to spice up her boring life. If Julie had not shown up to inspire Sarah, she would have probably kept her writer's block.
This murder, ignoring the often bloody diffuse the embarrassment, the rest is just dazzling stunts, the handsome appearance of the idols. Fall in love with a killer, was a very fashionable thing, even if the whole world is on the opposite side. I think in "swimming pool", Sarah has unrealistic expectation, the things happens in the subway we can easily find out she is cold and detached for her life as writer.And this is the begining of the story, and had pave the way for the story.Way to kill the dry humor and full of new elements look very sexy, uncontrolled exposure of the body than the to Lourdes temperature · Saini Ye, lightning kill the process and no one else finale staggering. The disappearance of a person, a pool of calm, is so well deserved. The female writer published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father reconciled, subtitles rising, but still feel less than the dead man how innocent and kind-hearted.
Marc Pollack C10553848 Out of all of the movies that I have seen this semester, to be honest, my thought going into the movie “Swimming Pool” was that it might turn out to be my least favorite. I understand why people liked it and wasn’t about to bash the movie, but iI thought that it would just simply not sink into me like some of the other have; but I was wrong. The movie plotline for me, was interesting but it was almost as if you could predict what is going to happen next. I relate this movie to the movie that we watched earlier, “The Salt of Life”. Both movies shared a similar tale of two ‘older’ individuals who wanted or shall I say, needed change. In the movie “Swimming Pool”, the main character Sarah Morton is in need of a place to stay and goes to her therapist’s house in France. There, we are not sure if she has a mental breakdown, or if there truly was another woman there, but someone eventually dies; thus prompting the question of who killed him, and why did he have to die the way he did. Overall, as I watched the movie, it quickly started to climb the movie ladder, at least for me and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who was willing to give it a chance.
Swimming pool a movie released in 2003. When I saw this movie for the first time, which was like 4 years ago I didn’t like too much because I didn’t understand the concept of the movie. Now that I have seeing it for a second time I understand the concept of the movie a little bit more. I think that while you see the movie you can get confused about the character of Julie, the way Sarah behaved sometimes make me doubt about the truth existence of Julie. But once I saw the end, I got to the conclusion that what really was happening was that Sarah was living with an estranger or maybe that she was living in an unrealistic world. I think that unrealistic world is the book Sarah is trying to write. I didn’t like too much the end, because of the uncertainty, it left me with too many question and that is why I got to my own conclusion of Sarah “living in a unrealistic world”. Although the movie is very interesting, I didn’t enjoy it too much. I thing sometimes is very disturbed for example the part where the man was standing in front of Julie and he starting masturbating, which made me realize that the author wanted to reflect Sarah’s loneliness. Also I think that the way the movie is filmed, makes you feel that is a mysterious movie or suspense, which I think is but in a different not clear style.
After finishing watching "Swimming Pool", the main thought that was running through my head was "What just happened."
Having said that, I thought that Swimming Pool was excellently done. I am completely split about two ideas as to what happened in the south of France, and both seem equally plausible and both seem to have evidence to support it.
The first theory is that Julie was real. She was a real person who pretended to be Bosload's daughter and the events transpired in a way very similar to how the movie portrays them the first time you watch it through.
The second theory is that Julie was never real. She was a figment of Sarah's imagination of what Sarah wishes she could be. This explains why the merging and switching of personalities of these two characters happen. It also explains why Julie's story does not line up as she told it, and why she believes Sarah to be her mother.
The fact that there seems to be a strange love triangle between them and Frank further questions the idea of the reality of Julie. If Julie is real, then Frank is real as well, and is torn between the youth and vitality of Julie and the relationship that he has been developing with Sarah. If Julie is not real, then I think that it is also likely that Frank is not real. In this scenario, Frank is the ideal lover that Sarah imagines herself being with, but has issues with herself and thinks that a man like him would not want her, but want someone more like who she wishes she was (Julie).
As you can see, this movie is complicated in a perfect way. It is completely understandable, but at the end, you sit there and question yourself and what you just saw. I think that this is a movie that will require at least one more viewing (probably more) for me to fully make a decision about what I have seen.
Sarah is a novel author and she does not have inspiration to write any more books in London. She moves to her publisher’s home in the South of France with the idea of finding a perfect setting for her next novel. She is at ease in this house, until the publisher’s daughter, Julie, steps in. Julie seems like an uncontrolled woman. There is a paralleled difference between Sarah, who is very rigid and serious in comparison to the publisher’s sexually aesthetic, happy daughter. Julie has a lot of sexual relationships with men, while Sarah is immersed into a competition between these two women. Throughout this envious and competing environment, one night there is an accident with Franck, the man that causes this competition, since he refused to be with Julie when he saw Sarah. He is soon dead, and it is because Sarah killed him. This movie can be perceived in two ways. First, there were these two women in the house and the course of events took place. On the other hand, it can be perceived that Sarah went to write a book, and everything was her figment of her imagination. It is interesting to see how a movie can provide different feelings and emotions at the same time.
When author Sarah realizes that she has no inspiration to write any more in London, she moves to the South of France. While living in the house of her publisher, she has unusual interactions with Julie, the publisher's daughter. While Sarah is a calm and reserved, Julie is reckless and highly sexual - a foil for Sarah. Julie acts as a catalyst for a series of unnerving events that end up fueling Sarah's inspiration by blending fiction with reality.
When we first watched the trailer in class, I was definitely intrigued. The trailer didn't reveal much of the plot line, but showed enough to capture my attention. Having now watched the first, I found the pacing to be slow but fitting for the story. The slow paced allowed for the build up of tension between the two main characters and added to the intensity of the film. The acting was spot on and the choice of a landscape reflected the director's attention to detail. I really liked this film and it held my attention throughout.
This movie started out very slow and disinteresting. It was so meek and dull. The rather bland habits of Rampling’s character going hoping for some inspiration almost put me to sleep. It wasn’t until Julie’s character came in to upset Sarah’s order that the film got interesting, so looking back the film was well made to depict the sort of boringness of Sarah’s life being upended by the loose lifestyle of Julie. The dynamic between the two becomes engaging, and then the film really starts to build. Julie comes an as a young seductive figure that brings home a guy every night, and quality of each guy is very interesting. They all seem to be out-of-shape or elder men; the sort of men who you wouldn’t think would have a chance with someone as attractive as Julie. She exudes that euro-trash style and perfectly accepts her form. She doesn’t seem to have a care in the world, but she seeks attention in the company of men. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of Sarah and Julie. One is staunchly conservative in almost every facet. She is a stiff Englishwoman, and Julie is a free-spirited French country-girl. There were points where I thought certain scenes were dream sequences and there were many inconsistencies that confused me. It became clear that the character Julie was not someone that the audience could fully trust. As the roles sort of switched between Julie and Sarah, it also became clear that the full truth didn’t exist in Sarah’s perspective either. In the end, you realize that there were fabrications in this story. It’s not clear what’s real or true and what isn’t. Overall, I found this movie intriguing at best, but it wasn’t compelling. In all honestly if I didn’t have to watch this I probably would change the channel about fifteen minutes into it because of the incredibly slow pace. However, there are points that are very interesting, especially leading up to the climax. The character, Julie, as well draws you in. She and her mystique anchor the film, and I know Rampling is considered a great classic actress. I quite liked her role in Meloncholia, but here I don’t think her was the focus of the film, so I really don’t have much to say as to her portrayal in this film. There’s many, I think who could a good job as the stiff writer, but Julie’s character seems to have been the greater challenge. I don’t think even some of the best thought of seductresses in film could do as good a job as the actress. I personally don’t think someone like Megan Fox could face the challenge of this role with as much success.
Swimming Pool is the story of uninspired author, Sarah Morton, and her novel-writing process. We meet her in London and her publisher sends her to his vacation home in France, where he hopes she'll be able to write in peace. It seems to work until a young woman named Julie shows up. Julie's presence and the conflicts she creates for Sarah show the first shifts in the film. Julie's promiscuos nature clashes with Sarah's conservatism, but the former eventually influences the latter to be more open to sexual freedom. Julie goes on to kill a man and Sarah helps her hide the evidence, bringing them even closer. The film's open ending implies that Julie's character never really exists and only comes to life as part of Sarah's novel. I still feel a bit indifferent about Swimming Pool. I enjoyed it while I watched, but Sarah's stick-in-the-mud nature just felt a little overbearing to me. Julie's extreme behavior didn't impress me either, but she tried to be polite when she wasn't busy doing it with unattractive older men. I understand the importance of contrast between the two characters, but something felt too forced for me to enjoy. I liked the ending, though, because it removed the film from its previous predictability. Around the part where Julie kills the guy, I ably figured out the events that followed. The ending surprised me and left me thinking, wanting to know more -- definitely a highly unexpected twist.
The movie was slow paced for me especially in the beginning and if i hadn't had to watch it i probably would of left. although later in the movie their were points in it that made me glad i stayed for a moment. that being said the predictability of the movie and its moments of inconstant happenings became all very well done and thought out when you find out the ending which was not in any way expected but at the same time explained why the movie was made the way it was and really took a boring movie to another level. If i was a person who liked to analyze films that i watched i could tell you it would make this film much more interesting. That being said I am sadly not one of those so the movie with its ending was only so-so.
The movie Swimming Pool shows a story of 2 entirely different women - Sarah (Charlotte Rampling) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). The movie unveils dark sides of human beings such as bloodiness, sex, and money, which are the 3 main ideas of Sarah's novel. In the movie, Sarah is a conservative novel writer who suppress her desire to sex, where as Julie, the daughter of the publisher, has sex with almost every men she encounters. The swimming pool in the movie can be seen as the concept of sexual desire, which reflect Sarah and Julie's perspective to sex. When Sarah first saw the swimming pool she walks away, while Julie enjoys it a lot as she can show off her body every time when she goes to the pool, where she met lots of her sexual partners. The end of the movie was rather surprising to me, firstly Julie and Sarah became friends, as they smile to each other. Secondly, the way Julie and Sarah wave good-bye as they rarely know each other, which doesn't make sense. Perhaps the whole movie can be viewed as an unreal story where Julie was the heroine of Sarah's novel, and Sarah as the writer observes everything happened in her own story. And I found this conception very talented.
This movie, directed by Francois Orzon, explains the relationships and life of the British crime novelist Sarah Morton and the daughter of the publisher, named Julie. It is interesting to see a play of linguistics, where the two main characters are British, yet they are placed in a French Setting. There is a good sense of differences in characters, where Sarah appreciates the solicitude and peace, and Julie quickly disrupts this. Julie has an eccentric and extroverted personality, who represents sexual freedom. After the tragic incident with Franck, Sarah has an identity crisis, where she believes Sarah is her mother. Sarah then helps Julie cover up the death of Franck, and she even changes her personality and becomes a bit like Julie. She does this by luring the gardener, who becomes a bit suspicious about the shed, in a sexual and attractive way. These two conflicting characters after all become accomplices, and end up liking each other. In the end, the outcome of the story was a bit unclear, which leaves the audience questioning about really occurred that night and after Sarah goes back to Britain. It is difficult to understand who the real daughter of the publisher is, leaving many questions unanswered.
I'm not too sure how I felt about this movie. It was entertaining and it made me think, but I'm not sure how much I liked it as a whole. I personally thought it was kind of slow. The slowness did help play towards what the film was trying to achieve, but it didn't work so well for me. The acting was great. The actors were able to portray every emotion so well that it left the audience feeling the same as the characters in the film. There was a great attention to detail in the film which helped to explain little things that the audience needed to consider while watching. During the film I had to decide whether Julie was real or not, and to be honest I am still unsure of what I think, especially after seeing the ending. Overall the film was very mysterious and suspenseful, and I believe that the style of filming really helped to achieve that.The film also had an open ending which I tend to dislike. I like where everything gets tied up in the end, I'd rather not be left to decide what happens for myself. Overall the movie was okay and maybe seeing it again would change my mind one way or the other.
This movie was brilliant! The acting was superb. These two women and their interaction with one another is very interesting, for one of them is a free and very sexual being, while the other is very conservative. The Movie's best quality is its the way it evokes curiosity in the audience through its inconsistencies and the manner in which the dream sequences (or what may be perceived as dream sequences) are shot with the same style as the parts in the movie which we may denote as real. This leads me to believe that the film in its entirety is sort of a dream sequence. The way in which the main character is portrayed as a very conservative and boring writer (as reflected through the shot's motions and durations in the beginning of the film up until their role reversal) hints that this movie is actually an account of the story that Sarah is writing while she is there. It reminds me very much of the movie Muse. I believe Julie's character is the portrayal of a side in Sarah which she is repressing, and so she writes it into her story. Another interpretation I have is that perhaps Julie is an alternate personality of Sarah's. Still, I think both interpretations may go hand in hand, for in the end it is, Swimming Pool, the creative work of a writer. So from this one may deduce that the writer is attempting to express the many facets of a mind and the impossibility of being defined by one persona. I heard many people complaining about the slowness of the movie, but I think it was done for a purpose and that if one simply pays attention to the shots, camera angles, symbolism, and overall stylistic approach to the film, they may easily overlook (or better yet: understand) the pacing, and appreciate the artistic value of the film.
At first, I did not know what to make of "Swimming Pool," especially through the first 3/4 of the movie. It seemed like a wandering, confused mess. We had only a handful of characters. Sarah, a middle-aged English mystery author, and Julie, a carefree and hyper-sexual Frenchwoman. Both provide a great juxtaposition with one another. We have the prudish and restrained Englishwoman and also an outgoing and lively Frenchwoman. However, as we see over the course of the film, both share more commonalities than their surface may reveal. Sarah, in particular, is interesting because she is very prudish and averse to Julie's deviance. However, we find that she secretly takes pleasure in the other's lifestyle and has been repressing herself. Although we begin to see how tortured a girl Julie is, I believe that the film really is a meditation on Sarah. She constantly mixes fantasy with reality, as even the ending seems to suggest. In a way, her life is no different from the fiction that she writes. She herself unconsciously mixes fantasy and reality, showing a disenchantment with her own life that she seems to try get ridding of through her constant meddling with fantasy. Think about it. Many fiction writers base their works on occurrences in their lives and the real world. At some point, perhaps they, like many of us, really begin to lose their grasp of reality. The film does not hint at any moral assessment of this (e.g. The author herself is not a schizophrenic killer). It seems to accept this norm and not put up pretenses about whether it makes us good or bad individuals. In terms of the cinematography, the whole of the film has a somewhat dreary, seedy, and decaying look to it. The lighting and music cater to this approach. More interestingly, the only idyllic part of the movie is the glamorously blue pool. The pool looks like something out of a magazine or even a dream, both of which are not "real." Mixing this with the rest of the film makes the movie seem like one big dream, with its habit of shifting between different environments and ambiences, from dark and seedy to bright and relaxing. The film itself is like a dream in which a person dreams of running through both a dark and evil forest and then easily transitioning to a forest that seems straight out of a Disney film. Finally, shot selection is something that really jumped out at me. Most shots seemed to be medium or close-up shots, making the world in the movie much smaller and more appreciable. We were spared from overly sweeping longshots that would glorify the brilliant locales and perhaps make the film less character-driven. Emotions, body language, dialogue, and all-around acting are the most vital.
Swimming Pool is a really cool movie that could be interpreted in different ways. I think that Sarah was completely alone during her time at the house. I think her new discovery that John had a daughter, and Sarah’s curiosity about her, became her inspiration for her new book. However it is unclear whether or not Frank’s death or Sarah’s sexual encounter with Marcel really happened. I think it was probably all Sarah’s imagination mixed with things she was writing about in her book. I don’t think that the movie was trying to portray Sarah as insane. When she sees John’s real daughter at the end of the movie, I think she just looks at her and smiles because it was interesting for her to see the person that was the inspiration for her book in person and see how her imagination of what she would be like compared to how she actually was. Julie seemed to be everything that Sarah wasn’t but wanted to be. Julie was free spirited and effortlessly attractive. Sarah was really uptight and not very “go with the flow” but I think that she respected and admired Julie’s carefree, live life perspective. This was probably part of her inspiration to write a book that wasn’t her usual style.
I thought Swimming Pool was a very interesting movie. It wasn’t one of my favorites we’ve watched this semester, but I did enjoy watching it. The movie is about an author, Sarah Morton played by Charlotte Rampling, who travels to her publishers house to work on her next novel. However, when the publisher’s daughter Julie shows up it disrupts the solitude. Throughout the movie we learn that although Sarah is old, she is still a very sexual being. Julie is always very sexual and not very classy. When Julie shows up at the house that is when the complications start to occur. The major climax of the film is the murders. This film actually has some similar qualities to the movie Black Swan we watched in the beginning of the semester.
Symbolism and themes are a major part of this movie. The themes consist of Identity and Transfer that lead to desire and sexuality. The woods are symbolic in this movie standing for nature and the wild. The scene I thought was the most interesting and awkward was when Julie and the guy were having sex on the couch and Sarah was watching through the glass door. During it Julie actually looks directly at Sarah and continues having sex. The major question that arises is whether or not Julie is real or made up. There are two ways to look at it with reasons for both sides. In my opinion, Julie isn’t but I don’t know for sure. I would definitely recommend this movie but I don’t believe it’s for everyone.
Don’t fail me for saying this, but to be frank, I hate films like this. I found it had an exorbitant and awfully gratuitous amount of sex, sexual content, and nudity. And in general, I am not a fan of most female characters, and could probably name the few that don’t bug me on one hand, maybe using a few fingers on the second (it’s not like I have a list - I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty just how many there are, but trust me, it’s not a lot). So to ask my opinion about a film with the kinds of scenes and content this one had centered around female leads? Well that’s just a scenario in which I am going to have to elect to predominantly bite my tongue in the hopes of not hurting my grade.
It wasn’t just the sex stuff that bothered me though. The ideas of a fractured reality and what might be real or not (like Julie) didn’t work for me in this film either.
Regardless of my initial bias in terms of these kinds of films, this is one case where they were validated – I’m not saying there weren’t ANY possible concepts of value in the film – shots, lighting, sound, set up, and the like – just that what I don’t like about the film makes it hard to focus solely on those individual concepts and not my negative feelings towards the film as a whole. I really am sorry – again, if I may plead my case for this not hurting my grade… :D
Imagine one of Eric Rohmer's elegant Moral Tales fused with "Les Diaboliques" and you'll have some idea what to expect from this beguiling mystery, which treads a thin line between fiction and reality against a sensual, sun-drenched backdrop. Rampling and Sagnier are well-matched as social opposites turned wary allies, while Charles Dance makes the most of his few scenes as Sarah's well-meaning publisher. But this is Ozon's movie. His subtle and atmospheric direction once again confirms his status as one of France's most talented and provocative auteurs. So I just got done watching the movie The Swimming Pool and I thought it was an alright movie until the end.... I got soo confused when Sarah went into Johns office and when she was walking out. Was that Johns other daughter "Julia" or was that supposed to be the same girl from South France- Julie? omg im so confused, the ending was soo twisted. So does that mean the girl Julie will never get her signed book? Am I talking to myself here cuz I feel like I'm the only one who's seen this movie and nobodys going to answer this because everybodys sleeping......
The movie was started with the female novelist and the young girl who are addicted to the bloody erotic daily activities night after night. Swimming Pool must be wrapped around the topic with the erotic feelings. It is interesting to study the delicate facial expressions of Rampling Charlotte, when she witnessed the girl conducted debauchery for the first time. It is hard to say that the expression of her disdain held in contempt that Julie is the ambiguous inspiration while is contains a humble sense of identity. Sarah created a folder belonging to the girl on the screen, the place where she treasured out of the bottleneck. Afterwards when the girl said: I killed him. I think it's for your book; she is no longer the sole perpetrators of the story. For the belief of illusion, I have my own opinion about it. The story is not fully described in Sarah's point of view that I think the suspense manufactured by Ozon is not enough to overthrow all ambiguous inclusions. The changes of tension between the two women are where he put his energy to cut and to polish. If it was Sarah who looked at her for a long time with a strange smile in the last scene when the girl passed by, even if she has never met Julie and even if everything does not exist, it is just no longer important.
Swimming Pool was a great film. I enjoyed the performance by both Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. The film took an interesting twist when Sarah Morton began to loosen up and let go and enjoy her surroundings. Watching it the first time I guess we should have realized that some scenes just did not make sense, however your mind just goes with it and figures this is just the way the director wanted to make his film. After you watch the movie, you can actually look back and think that certain scenes were highly unlikely. Also, it was highly unlikely that Sarah would help commit a crime by burying a man.
After watching the film, I doubt that any of the drama even took place in France. And doubt that Sarah ever really met Julie. I think Sarah of course did go to France to relax, and while there she got glimpses into the fact that her publisher did have a daughter, and she got carried away with the idea. Since he had never really talked about her, Sarah was free to let her imagination go wild, which is exactly what a crime mystery writer would do. In the end, the real Julie did not even acknowledge Sarah, which means they never even met. I think the film was made to leave you guessing, and that is exactly what it did.
Swimming Pool is definitely one of my favorite films from this semester. The beautiful Charlotte Rampling’s Sarah is prudish and fearful of what is unsafe. She is discouraged by her editor to try new things, and is told to keep writing the usual detective novels, which are her specialty. It isn’t until she meets the daring Julie (a character completely unlike herself) that she realizes her life is about to flip upside down. Julie is a complete mess, going from man to man because of her ‘daddy issues’, but is not perceived as a whore by Sarah, but a misunderstood and broken young woman. What is highly regarded as a confusing film due to the ending, I think it’s very clear that Sarah indeed met Julie, but the real Julie, not the character she envisioned and wrote about. The film depicts the French Julie as her character, wild and out of control, and when Sarah meets her editor’s daughter, the other Julie, she realizes that it was all apart of her head, that is who she met, she merely envisioned her character while she wrote about it, while staying with the other Julie. While most people might believe the nudity was excessive and unnecessary, I feel it was actually very necessary in order to depict how sexually free Julie was when compared to Sarah’s character. Julie didn’t care who saw her naked and when, while Sarah was very shy when it came to her body, until the end, when she has shed her clothes as a result of learning her lesson, and learning from Julie it’s okay to be free, when she seduces the gardener. The film encourages her to break out of her shell not only sexually, but as a writer, when she writes her best work yet.
My understanding of the story is this: In fact, the villa is Julie own phantom out, becauseJulie is a successful career, but life is very empty and boring woman, fifty years old, sheandmother both live together and help her successful writing mainly detective type-based, although the reader is very keen, but in her opinion are not satisfied with ownsingle creation of such a cycle, she wantsinnovation, want new inspiration, you need thepassion of life. Matthew and Julie may be real characters, just do no murder in the villa, everything that happened and are inspired Julie coined, breakthroughs in the past. So after the publication of the works, John also said that the style and very different, but Julie is verysatisfied with their new works. Perhaps it is just an old woman's mental and physical release, and no such thing asmurder.
I thoroughly enjoyed “Swimming Pool” until the last three minutes. Then I hated it. I had been enjoying the film so much, the atmosphere, the plot, the characters, that the twist ending was an unwelcome slap that brought me back to earth. I could handle the film being fiction, but having it be doubly fictitious as the ending seemed to suggest was too much. However, minus the last three minutes, I thought “Swimming Pool” was fantastic. The acting was phenomenal. I usually judge acting as a film progresses but in “Swimming Pool” the acting was so seamless that I nearly forgot to. The story itself was also strong. I had never seen the jealous older woman theme depicted so well. The film did not resort to stereotypes. The characters were odd, fairly unlikeable, and completely believable. Although I normally do not re-watch films, I will likely re-watch “Swimming Pool” at some point. Knowing the twist, I will view the whole film in a different way and perhaps learn to live with the disappointing ending.
I thought the movie Swimming pool very well made. I also thought it was a well ensembled drama/thriller film that expressed hardly any emotions through it characters, but still was able to provoke emotion from its audience based on the film’s monologues and twists within its plot. I think the atmosphere of the film is very depressing, gloomy, and somewhat daunting which gives it a good sense of direction towards what actually occurs in the film. The music also has a similar tendency to follow this approach where it provokes the audience to feel nervous and more importantly always attentive. Based on how it was filmed, it seemed to incorporate many different variations of close up shots to make for a feel of close proximity to the movie. There were also many themes including erotism between the two women characters, and the pool that symbolized desire and a fantasy world. Another great addition to the film was the cast that performed as the two characters Julie and Sarah. The characters best appeal to me was their differences in how they held themselves and acted. For Sarah the author, she seemed like a depressed and normally very serious English woman. While on the hand, Julie was definitely the more adventurous type and more keen to live life to the fullest. In terms of whether or not some parts were reality and others were dreams, I believe she exaggerated the stories about what actually happened at the house in France. I don’t believe that Julie actually killed Frank, or that Julie had over dramatic sexual appeal. Instead, I think Julie was going through some serious depression and stress due to the fact that her publishing company wanted to replace her and she essentially just lost her mind for a while. I definitely think that reality is sometimes falsified into a fantasy of hers. The best evidence for this claim is partially due to Julie telling Sarah that she killed Frank to make her book better. This is my theory of the movie but the movie does leave a sense of purposeful confusion to keep its audience puzzled but also intrigued at the same time.
I thought the film, "Swimming Pool" was very interesting. It started off a little slow, but overall I enjoyed the film. The movie's main character is Sarah Morton, who is a successful crime fiction writer who is experiencing a bout of writer's block. She heads off to her editor's country house in France to get some inspiration. Everything is going good and relaxing for her until John's daughter, Julie shows up. Julie and Sarah are complete opposites, which I found interesting. Sarah has a lot of repressed sexuality, which leads her to develop a bit of an infatuation with the promiscuous Julie.
I found the differences between the characters to be the most fascinating part of the film. It was creepy how Sarah sort of started to live vicariously through Julie by watching her. I also found Sarah's relationship with food to be very strange. In the beginning she only eats large bowls of plain yogurt, which I found to be a bit gross. The climax of the film was the murder of Frank, who was an acquaintance of both women. Julie ends up killing him because of her jealousy. I thought it was interesting that on the surface Julie seems very free and secure, but in reality she is very jealous and insecure. In the end it is Sarah who has a transformation and comes into her own self in a positive way. She stands up to her editor in the end and goes with a different publisher because he didn't like her book.
I am still not quite sure if I believe that Julie was a real person or just a figment of Sarah's imagination. Ozon did a terrific job at meshing the dream and reality sequences together, so the audience cannot really tell the difference. In a lot of ways it seems that Sarah imagined the whole thing. The fact that in the end she sees John's real daughter and it is not Julie was the scene that most showed that. Also the fact that the murder and coverup seem like the basis for a crime novel also prove the theory. The murder of Frank did seem pretty far fetched to me. I enjoyed the fact that the ending is kind of ambiguous and it is left up to each individual to interpret their own meaning. I also thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography, especially the scenes showing the swimming pool.
Though the acting in Swimming Pool was fantastic and the film was somewhat entertaining, the plot seemed to be very drawn out and developed slowly. The pace of the film made it difficult for me to stay engaged but the performances by the actors were still notable. The actresses' portrayals of the characters were realistic and relatable. However, certain parts of the movie were a bit unnecessary and distracting. For example, I found the sexual scenes to be drawn out, over the top, and a bit disturbing. Personally, I find these kinds of scenes to be unnecessary in certain films and I felt like this was one of those cases. Also, much like the reviews above me, I did not enjoy the ending of the film at all. Overall, there were some great performances but definitely a disappointing film.
I’m really glad I got to see the movie Swimming Pool. It isn’t just that I enjoyed the movie, but also that it was so well-made. It was completely impossible to tell reality from fantasy in this movie. In fact after watching the ending, it is easy to say that the entire movie was a fantasy. The director left the entire story up to the viewer’s opinion of what happened in it. This was a great technique because it leaves everyone with their own version of the story and leaves them talking about it long after they watched it. Another notable point of this movie is the cinematography. This really lets you see how the movie wants you to view these characters. The constant long panning views of Juile show her good looks and in one scene where it pans up after panning her body, it shows how other character’s long to have her. This view is also used to imply future events. Each time the camera pans past a girl and up to a guy it foreshadows later scenes. And finally this pan effect is used to make a connection between Julie and Sarah. It does this by first using the effect to express Julie’s sexuality and then later to show how Sarah is becoming more like Julie.
I really think this was a good and definitely entertaining film. I felt the movie was vey silent too. What I did not really get was the end; I am confused as to who is the real Julie. Maybe the Julie that appears the most s the one that is in Sarah’s book, but the real one is the one that appears at the end. I am not sure. The movie was going great and fluid and all for me, but then at the end it got weird. I did not understand what the reality was. I had a lot of doubts at the end. I found interesting that Julie drinks her coffee, in a bowl. I also liked how Sarah distracted Marcel when he was noticing the uneven soil, that was funny; plus, it worked perfectly. I never thought we were going to see Sarah like that, she looked too decent and shy perhaps to expose herself like that. Throughout the film and Sarah’s stay in the house in France, we see how she changes. She starts to become or at least show some characteristics from Julie. She starts being all angry and inpatient, reserved too. But then, she changes her attitude. She drinks and smokes with Julie, she gets in the pool, and ends up undressing herself for Marcel. I wonder if the book she wrote was supposedly about her stay in the house, or that was only just a part of it. Despite the end being so unclear and confusing, I like that effect. I like how the movie leaves the viewer wondering about all sorts of things, it adds something special I believe. As for me, I do not really know what to think about it or how to interpret it, but I like that I can just look at it in my own way.
“The swimming pool”, written and directed by Francois Ozon, is a mystery movie where everything is in a constant suspense. I liked this movie, nonetheless I thought there was some parts of it where it was hard to understand. It is a story that manages a lot with what is reality and fantasy. I was constantly aware of how the director manages to work on a very silent base. I would say the reason for this was to create a sense of mystery and suspense. I also notice, and didn’t quite like, how the movie falls in a very slow pase, sometime I would say it’s a little to slow so it makes the audience lose track of what’s really happening.
In some occasions I felt a little confuse and wasn’t able to perceive whether Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling), the movie’s main character, was dealing with an imaginary person. The audience ends up with a dilemma, trying to figure out if Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) was actually a creation of Sarah’s imagination or if she really existed. I think Ozon did an awesome job trying to create that doubt on the audience and this wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the actor, which I think did an impeccable performance.
This movie left me speechless, I thought it was amazing but definitely need to watch it a few more time in order to really understand what happened, since many parts confused me from beginning to the end. This film really makes us think and question everything, its keeps us intrigued the whole time just longing to know more and more. I do feel though as if many questions were left unanswered and that great because it leaves people to have their own interpretations of the movie yet at the same time it feels unfinished, which is what made it work so well, because it removed the film from its predictability. Around the part where Julie kills the guy. Overall ithought it was grweat and am really glad i watched it !
This was by far one of my favorite films of the entire semester. It closely reminded me of the film "Disturbia" with Shia Labeouf. Being inside the head of Charlotte Rampling's character takes the audience into her world of action/mystery. What I thought was a missing link and could have been added was narration of the story she is writing, while typing. I felt I could relate to the characters tremendously. The coming of age in Julie to Sarah Morton's feeling of being stuck. I enjoyed the film very much so and would definitely watch it again to pick up on clues throughout and gain a better/ more clear interpretation of the film.
Initially I thought that the film got off to a very slow start and I found myself waiting to figure out the direction the film was going to go. After watching the movie all the way through it became clear Ozon intentionally made the movie appear to start so slow because it adds to the shock value when the ending takes a drastic twist. Ozon’s use of sound, although subtle, really impressed me. I loved the echo of Sarah’s footsteps on the old hardwood floors in the otherwise silent house and it gave the house an eerie aura. The fact that film is set in a beautiful summerhouse in the French countryside helps contrast with the violent crime that occurs. There is also a large contrast between the two main characters Sarah and the fictitious Julie. Sarah represents society’s conservative vision of what a proper woman should be whereas Julie is represents youth and has a more libertarian and free spirited approach to life. Sarah tries to disprove Julie’s accusations that she is boring or old by smoking the joint and tapping back into days when perhaps she was a little more rough around the edges. The camera work was very smooth and had a lot of slow panning shots of Julie’s nearly flawless body. There were also a lot of close up shots on Sarah’s face which allowed the viewer to imagine what Sarah is thinking/feeling. Overall I like the ambiguous ending because it allows the viewer to interpret the movie in a very individual way.
This movie is based around two completely different women. Sarah is an author looking for inspiration for her new novel. Julie is a sex obsessed French teenager. While attempting to write her newest novel, Sarah begins to notice Julie more and more and Julie begins to affect Sarah’s writing. After Sarah spends the night with a man that Julie liked, he disappeared and the suspense begins. The other thing that is impossible to ignore in this film is the costumes chosen for Julie. She is a beautiful French teenager and the director decided to help show that through the costume choices, or lack thereof. I thought this movie was great until it got to the end. It's well performed and everything looks terrific, but the movie is a huge let down because of the ending. It simply leaves the audience with the uncomfortable feeling that their attention has been messed with for the last hour and a half.
Swimming Pool is a difficult movie for me to write a response on because I’m still not exactly sure how I feel about it. The first time I watched it I thought the story was very intriguing, but looking back on it now I’m not so sure. The film’s main character Sarah is an uptight fiction writer while Julie is much more of a free spirit. The actresses do a fantastic job of playing the characters and are able to play off of each other very well. Both characters were very strong and very well developed. However, I wish the last scene wasn’t as open ended as it was. I would have liked to see more closure in the story and overall it left me a bit disappointed. However; I do have a theory as to what happened. I believe that Sarah made up Julie as an imaginary way of getting back at her publisher. I think she was so mad at her publisher for not being romantically interested in her after all the years she wrote for him, that she wanted to give him a daughter that no parent could be proud of. She is not the kind of person that would get back at somebody in real life because she is far too reserved. However; she writes about payback and revenge in her crime stories, so what could she do? Get payback against him in her stories. She imagined a daughter that not only sleeps around, but kills somebody as well. At the end, who helps the Julie out? Not her father, it’s Sarah. Sarah has to fix the mistake that her publisher made, this fictional version of his daughter. There is a scene early on in the film where she calls him up on the phone and says he didn’t tell her his daughter was coming. When she meets up with him again, he does not bring this up. If my daughter went to my house in France for a couple of days, I would certainly want to know about it, and call back to make sure she is okay. This signifies to me that Sarah’s version of Julie didn’t actually exist.
The murder scene is unexpected in this film, like all keen joys and sorrows of the pursuit of dramatic woman, put down the knot drink and a laugh at the same time, jealousy or quietly sneak vigilant. In building villas, a dissolute life of Julie and act weird Sarah alternating day and night, a symbol of lust overflow swimming pool and finally as a coffee shop called Funk waiters, violent shaking, the first abnormal the calm surface of the water, the suspected drop of blood, and finally a naked body of a man. Fantasy suspense crime novels kill or be killed woman writer, Sarah, to see the genuineness of the scene living the crime scene, after a nervous fear of the instinct, in my more wonderful inspiration to the creation golden . She is almost volunteered to whole-heartedly that the deceptively simple murder case, the use of her creative wisdom to successfully clean up the scene to destroy evidence, did not hesitate to open to a poor lawn repairman Matthew is not how beautiful body.
I have rarely seen such a deliberate process of murder, no guilt, writing paper and crumpled like a writing will be abandoned, readily thrown into the corner of an unmanned sweep. Since then things have changed, no longer mentioned. Must admit that the way to kill the dry humor and full of new elements look very sexy, uncontrolled exposure to body temperature and compared to Lourdes · Saini Ye, lightning kill the process and no one else finale staggering. The disappearance of a person, a pool of calm, is so well deserved. The female writer published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father reconciled, subtitles rising, but still feel less than the dead man how innocent and kind-hearted.
Swimming Pool is a very strange film. I did not know exactly what to expect from this film before watching it. To be completely honest, I was not particularly excited to watch this film because it falls in the genre of erotic thriller. I am not a fan of this very unique genre, and I find it difficult to take these kinds of films seriously. All that aside, this movie did do a lot of things well. The film features two female leads, one who is young and promiscuous and the other is middle-aged and is the opposite of promiscuous. While this is a movie of subtleties, there is no subtleness about how polar opposite these two women are. They lead two very different lifestyles, and as a result get on each other's nerves. Julie, the younger woman, is the daughter of Sarah's publisher, the owner of the house Sarah is staying in for a short time. Trying to write her new novel, Sarah becomes continuously frustrated with Julie's partying lifestyle. It is worth noting that Julie's appearance makes her come off as European trash. Every night she comes home with a different man. The lifestyle she leads is almost unrealistic. Her sexual element puts this movie on the edge of borderline pornography. However, this is one of the key elements of the film as it creates a sort of envy in Sarah. She is very different from Julie, living most of her life plainly with the most interesting part being her writings. All of these elements come together for the shock ending of the movie when a daughter claiming to be the publisher's daughter shows up at the home. This ending raises many questions that will probably never be answered. Was Julie real or not? As long as this movie is discussed, that is a question that will always dominate the conversation.
The Swimming Pool I thought The Swimming Pool was going to be a good entertaining movie and more what I would consider a “normal” movie, and even watching it I still felt that way. Sara was obviously a little creepy. But there was a lot with the camera angles and things that I did not notice while watching it that made everything more peculiar. This was a even more sexual movie than I originally realized. I always like movies that have symbolism and that sense at the end that you don’t know whats real or not, like Shutter Island, Black Swan, and this, and this one was no different. I didn’t think that this was on par with those two, just because the plot wasn’t quite as good and deep. I still am not sure if I believe Julie was real or not and I would definitely have to watch it to decide what I think happened, and even then I will never be 100% sure what I think.
The Swimming Pool I really did not know what to expect before watching the movie The Swimming Pool. I knew that it was a thriller so I was excited to see if it would scare/intrigue me. I had very mixed emotions about the film though. First off it is pretty confusing. The ending complicates the whole rest of the story and really makes you question the meaning of the film in general. Was Julie, the girl who she lived with in the house her real daughter or just someone put in there to contrast Sarah. I ask if Julie was there to contrast Sarah because these two characters could be no different. Sarah is an accomplished crime novel writer where as Julie (Sarah’s publishers daughter) is very promiscuous and has no accomplishments. If Julie was not Sarah’s real daughter though I am curious as to why she helped her cover up the murder. They at first hated each other and although they did grow closer throughout the movie no one would cover up a murder of someone they have not known for very long unless there was a special relationship. This movie opened up so many questions and had almost no answers. I guess that was the point of the film, to make the viewer question and think about what really happened. The films extremely open ending made me have bitter feelings overall. Erik Rueckle-c10166645
Swimming Pool was a movie that I had seen the second half of in the past flipping through TV, yet had never actually seen the entire movie, so I was grateful for a reason to watch the entire thing. First of all, the film makes way more sense when watching from the beginning, as it is much clearer that there are some scenes which are dreams/not reality, such as the scene when the man stands over Julie at the pool, or later when she kills him. What is very interesting about the scenes is pretty much all of them take place at the swimming pool at the house, so it makes it more difficult to easily decipher what is real and what is imagined. I also found the relationship between Sarah and Julie to be very interesting, as they were polar opposites from the start, but grew more and more alike as their relationship grew. By the end, Sarah even began to have some of the same free-spirited sexuality that Julie has, as she has sex with the gardener (unless that scene wasn’t real). Overall, I enjoyed the movie much more the second time around as not only was it easier to understand, but it was much more interesting to see the development of Julie and Sarah’s characters over the course of the film.
Again another movie where I appreciate the set work and the culture that is portrayed in the movie. I would only rate it an ok movie only because it is often very unclear whether she is dreaming or not. Her fascination with the swimming pool is evident but still sometimes unclear as to its symbolization. I was confused for too much of the movie to be very critical but Franks relationship between Julie and Sarah still makes little sense to me. For some reason I was under the impression that it was going to be a little scarier. I am sure that if I saw this movie again I would enjoy it a lot more and understand Julie's role a little clearer and figure out what actually was real.
Swimming Pool was an interesting movie to me. I enjoyed the very expansive nature of a simple subject. In basic terms, the movie is about a writer sent to her publisher's get-a-way house which is quite peaceful, a great place to write. Then the publisher's daughter comes to stay at the house as well and creates an uncomfortable and non-peaceful environment for the writer; this is the basic issue. However, the movie gets much deeper psychologically than this. The movie can be a bit confusing when you are unsure whether a dream or real life has occurred. I found that this makes the movie much more interesting. I thought the movie was well executed and keeps you wanting to know more as it progresses. Overall, I did enjoy this movie a substantial amount.
Swimming Pool Before watching this movie I thought it was going to be a horror film, but after watching the movie I discovered that it was not a horror film at all. This movie is basically about a woman named Sarah Morton who takes a vacation in a house in France. She is an author and she takes this vacation to escape her everyday life and write her book alone in France. A girl named Julie arrives shortly after. However, Julie is a very annoying girl in my opinion. She is very distracting. She enjoys drinking and sleeping around and I do not enjoy her character at all. She always gets into fights with Sarah because she is such a distraction to her work. Sarah then begins to use Julie as the center of her book because she is perfect for the plot of the book. This does lead to Sarah relaxing which leads to her drinking and sleeping with lots of older men. This was an interesting movie and I especially liked how the two girls become closer as the movie goes along. The way they cover up the murder is extremely unique as well. I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to watch a good movie.
Swimming Pool was an interesting film, to say the least. The setting in South France was stunningly beautiful and the leading actress, who plays the character, Sarah Morton, does a fantastic job in her role. Indeed, it is a beautifully made film, with many stunning shots of the gorgeous publisher’s daughter, Julie, by the pool. However, just as I thought with I’m Not There, Swimming Pool moves at too slow of a pace. At certain points in the movie, it was moving so slow that I wish I had a fast forward button. Additionally, as the plot began to really develop, the film started to get quite confusing. I was having a lot of difficulty deciphering whether what was going on was reality or the fantasy of Sarah’s novel. Was Sarah imagining everything or was she creating it for her book? The ambiguity made it hard to like sometimes. The conclusion of the film was frustrating. It made me re-think everything that had previously occurred and there was no clear resolution. I enjoy movies that make me think and keep me on the edge, but Swimming Pool simply feels like a big tease that keeps the audience hanging by a thread leaving the theater.
I really enjoyed the movie Swimming Pool. When you leave the cinema asking yourself why did certain things happen and what was the movie really about, that’s when you know the movie is good—it left you with a hook even after it was over. When a movie is based on a writer, trying to write a book, we already know that the story happening, viewed by the audience, relates to the book being written. Other movies like this include The Ghost Writer and The Number 23. Even though during the movie I did not suspect the entire murder to be part of the murder/mystery novel Sarah Morton was writing, as soon as the real Julie was revealed, the mystery of why everything that happened did was solved. When I walked into this movie, I was quite excited because usually a movie about book writing is very suspenseful and includes one of my favorites, The Shinning. The movie did live up to my expectations mostly because of Charlotte Rampling’s acting and the interesting character of Julie (played by Ludivine Sagnier, a French actress). Rampling is illustrated as an unpleasant character, a British irritated snob. Despite her unlikable character, she still somehow keeps us captivated with her story and what she is trying to do throughout the movie. This movie is very slow paced, about a middle-aged woman who is boring on her own. Still, the ending reveals that everything though about Rampling’s character was false and misleading.
The movie Swimming Pool is a narrative told visually. The story is communicated through camera movement and camera language. Some of the camera movements used are dolly, tilt, and tracking. This film shows women watching women and focuses on the female body. At first, Sarah is watching Julie, usually from above. The low angle shots of Julie portray her as powerless. As the movie progresses there is an identity transfer. It switches to Julie watching Sarah. At first Julie is associated with desire and sexuality and after, those traits are given to Sarah. Also, first there is a shot tracking Julie’s body and later in the film there is one of Sarah. In addition, the movie has a mystery aspect; we don’t know exactly what is going on. For example, the ending of the film implies whether Julie was a made up character by Sarah or if she really existed. It explains why the movie was ambiguous at times. Maybe everything that happened was real, but maybe Sarah made it all up. It is left open to interpretation because it is not revealed in the film. Overall, I didn’t like the plot very much but I thought the cinematography was great.
Swimming Pool Matthew Head I enjoyed Swimming Pool, the themes in this movie were simple, It reminded me of the fem fatal movie theme. It was certainly not the most fast paced movie I have ever seen, however I think it worked. I would not have watched this movie by myself, however I am glad that I saw it. I was not a fan of the ending however, I think unlike Black Swan which was very vague about what actually happend, I do not think that that style worked for this movie. I think that when you use such an open ended style of ending you have to make sure it is a fast paced movie. I almost feel as if I may have wasted some of my time watching this.
Initially, when I saw the trailer for the film shown in class, I perceived the film as being a intense thriller due to the eerie music being played. However, after the class screening, I thought of the movie as more of a mystery. Regardless, I enjoyed the film as it kept me engaged and constantly thinking throughout the movie.
Sarah, a well-known crime fiction writer, while staying at a house with who she assumes to be her boss’s daughter, Julie, struggles to write the next novel in her collection. The film deals with the audience’s perception of what is reality and what happens in Sarah’s mind. The twist at the end of the movie, where Sarah’s boss greets his daughter who is not the Julie that Sarah knows, rather a similar looking girl name Julia, causes the audience to question all of the previous events that occurred. I believe that this creates a parallelism between the next mystery Sarah is trying to write and what is currently happening in her life while at the house. Thus, I believe that Sarah, in her mind, created this perception of reality, which includes Julie and everything that happened while at the house, in order to fulfill the void of not being able to come up with a story to write about for her novel.
I think the final scene of some deliberate excess, speculation and hinted before they have enough to put an end to. Turn a blind eye pose drunk Honey girl is just an illusion, the pool is not too very sorry? The suspense is layers, but the process was to enjoy the calm. One belonging to the film of two women calm flow state, such as water at the top of the curtain was rolled up in the secretive process. About two women and a murder. Period of 52 minutes of video is really straightforward and blunt, can not say no aftertaste, and I am just a kill to bring shivers. Addicted to the bloody erotic female novelist, night after night the young girls of the tiles. [Swimming Pool] must be wrapped around the topic is not open passion. Rampling Charlotte, the expression really make people hesitant, hard to say that the expression of disdain held in contempt for the first time she witnessed the girl debauchery is contains a humble sense of identity. Julie is ambiguous inspiration. Sarah on the screen, a folder belonging to the girl, her treasure out of the bottleneck. Conscious girl said: I killed him.I think it's for your the book, she is no longer the sole perpetrators of the story. For the illusion of a say, I do not fully believe. Story is not fully described in Sarah's point of view. Ozon manufactured suspense, and not enough to overthrow all ambiguous inclusion of two women students from the hostile oil is his energy to cut and polish. If the last with a strange girl pass by, but smiled and looked at her a long time Sarah, even if it is never met, Julie, even if everything does not exist, are no longer important to us.
Francois Ozon directs the psychological thriller. The movies stars Charlotte Rampling as a mysterious writer. Sarah (Rampling) accepts the offer of using her publisher’s vacation home. Sarah seems to be conservative and repressed. She clashes with the other inhabitant of the house Julie. She is the inhibited daughter of the publisher. The emotional deep freeze starts to thaw between the two because of Julie’s promiscuous sex life. Their lives are more complicated on the death of one of Julie’s nightly assignations. This movie was screened in the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
When I first looked up Swimming Pool before watching it in class, I was rather skeptical because I have never really been fond of thriller or horror movies. So I went into the screening with a doubtful attitude that I would enjoy the film, but as the movie progressed, I found myself enjoying it more and more, eager to see what came next.
The ending of the film left me perplexed yet intrigued. It left me wondering if what I had just seen was really true, or just a part of Sarah Morton’s imagination. Or maybe if parts of it were true and others imagination. Obviously, I am still trying to conceptualize the differences.
What I enjoyed most about the film is, if it all was Sarah’s imagination, is that a place or thinking, and trying to immerse yourself completely in it, can lead you become an entirely different person. In the beginning, Sarah had a very tight, strict and dull personality. As she meets Julie and starts to like her and eventually become more like her, Sarah lets go of who she was and is able to relax. No one should be themselves all the time – life would get boring. It is good to mix it up every once in a while.
Swimming Pool is a thriller directed by Francois Ozon. One of the things I liked most about Swimming Pool was the constant switching from reality to fantasy. Having watched and studied Black Swan earlier this semester I was much better at picking up signs of when we were in reality or not. One of the biggest factors I used to work out what was real was the costume. For example in the pool seen when Franck is looking over Sarah she is wearing the same one-piece swimsuit that Julie had on before. This hinted to the fact that the scene was imaginary as Sarah was trying to see herself as Julie. This was very similar to a scene in Black Swan when Nina and Lily are wearing the same grey sweater.
I really enjoyed seeing the transformation of Julie and Sarah. When Sarah first meets Julie she just looks at her as a young and immature girl. However as the film develops she becomes obsessed with Julie and longs to be as sexually active as her. I feel Julie represents the younger years of Sarah life that she never got to enjoy. Although I sometimes do not like it when a director leaves you with an ambiguous ending I felt it was appropriate in Swimming Pool. We are not sure whether the murder of Julie actually happened or if Julie was just a fantasized character. I feel if we knew the whole story and it turned out that Julie was fictional it would take away from the entire film. In my opinion I feel that both Julie characters did not ever exist but were creations by Sarah’s mind.
Swimming Pool was a rather odd movie. The movie starts off very slowly, with Sarah traveling to France to work on her book. The slow pace of the movie changes when Julie, her editor's daughter, arrives. Almost immediately, the film becomes much more fast-paced and much more sexualized. Julie is essentially the anti-Sarah; outgoing, loud, sexual; and this contrast takes up a major part of the film. Towards the end of the movie, however, when things start to become stranger, it becomes less clear whether Julie is a real person or simply a figment of Sarah's imagination. The fact that Julie so perfectly counterbalances Sarah, along with a couple of dream sequences, indicates that Julie may not be a real person at all. This is further emphasized when Sarah meets Julia, her editor's real daughter. Swimming Pool, while initially rather slow, quickly develops into a psychological thriller that leaves the audience very interested in the events that unfolded before them.
Swimming Pool kept me captivated and interested throughout the entire movie. The basic premise of the move is that Sarah, a popular yet conservative British writer, is having writers block and is invited to her publishers house to help her get over it. One weekend, the publishers daughter, Julie, a sex-crazed partier, shows up at the house claiming to be on vacation. Julie and Sarah are polar oppoisties in personality and Sarah spites Julie at first but eventually becomes interested and envious of Julies lifestyle. I really enjoyed watching this movie as it kept me on edge the entire time. However,I do wish it was more clear as to when Sarah was having a dream or not. I would also liked to have seen a more clear resolution to the movie. I don't think i would reccomend this movie to others.
The title ‘Swimming pool’ symbolizes many things. The story of film actually starts when Sarah and Julie met in the swimming pool and I think this place is the center of conflicts and desires. An d It was very impressing that Sarah follow Julie as swimming like Julie in the pool and stealing her food. I think the most important thing we should focus on is the relationship between two women, Julie and Sarah. At first, Sarah didn’t like her and felt angry about julie’s self-indulgence. However as time goes by, Sarah is attracted by Julie and wrote about Julie. It is the interesting that Sarah is the writer who can depict things specifically and full of emotions. The two woman’s relationship is very complicated. Sarah discovered her inner desire which seeks her own sensuality because of Julie. Due to Julie, Sarah attracted men to absorb her attractions. In addition, the ending of the film was very shocking because the whole things happened in Julie’s house were in Sarah’s novel. She created Julie who is very gorgeous character. I think in the scene when Julie called Sarah as Mom, I had to figure out that Sarah is the actuall mother of Julie because Sarah made Julie in her novel.
What is interesting about this movie is not knowing what is real and what is imagined. What is real or what is in the book or what is in the imagination of the writer.Also at the end we are confronted with the publisher other "daughter".
In the main part of the film we see the difference in the two main characters lives. One is out going and sexual, and the other is a recluse, keeping to her self. As time goes on, we see Sarah start to envy julie, then she starts to dream about stuff.
Finally the murder happens, and sarah helps julie with covering it up.
But at the end we start to question reality, and weather or to julie was real, if the murder was real, or if it was all in Sarahs head.
The movie was fairly easy to follow and was obviously about a frustrated writer of serial novels, called Sarah Morton, who took the advice of her publisher, John Bosload, to come up with a fresh idea for a new book while vacationing at the publishers villa in France. Little did Bosload know that the idea for this new book would be hatched from Sarah Morton's imaginative use of the publishers daughter as the main character and involve the publishers own vacation hideaway. Sarah played by the elegant and stunning Charlotte Rampling is a somewhat withdrawn, cold and uptight woman while Julie played by Ludivine Sagnier is stunning, seductive, adventurous, and mysterious, but the two don't like each other. Sarah is more quiet and Julie is loud, the two present polar opposite qualities to the full extent and have opposite habits.
The twists and turns that take place in the film are expressive of Sarah Morton's desperation to end a serious creative block. This was an interesting and entertaining movie. Good acting and a decent plot. I enjoyed watching it.
Swimming Pool kept me interested throughout the entire movie simply because it gives the audience the opportunity to begin to draw their own conclusions based on what happens between Sarah and Julie. I was able to make guesses on what I believed to be reasoning, and that is always fun while watching a film; that is how films stay interesting and make you want more. What is happening in Sarah's mind and what is reality becomes somewhat blurred and this allows the audience to guess between what's real and what's illusion. There was a sexual energy present throughout this movie which also made it quite intriguing. Overall, I enjoyed this movie, and I wasn't sure if I would have, based on the plot and the initial scenes.
Swimming Pool is about a writer who had writers block and her publisher let her spend the summer at his summer house to write the novel. This movie played mind games with the audience because You would think that her publisher daughter was at the summer house but at the end his daughter showed up at his office and she looked younger with braces. I believe Sarah had a fantasy and the novel she wrote was all in her head. I enjoyed watching the film because it got you thinking about if the plot was real or if it was an imagination the author had in order to write a wonderful novel for her publisher.
Julie's full of sexy and unruly lifestyle had a huge impact on the traditional life of Sarah. She made Sarah jealous. In fact, we eventually came to understand that Julie does not exist, it's all Sarah's imagination. All of this can come from the most primitive desire in the heart of Sarah that was suppressed, all this is a true reflection of the human subconscious.
Swimming pool is like a symbol of the desire, all the stories revolve around expanding it. When Sarah final jump into this pool, the desire starts reveal. When the film story slowly began to develop into a murder case, in fact, everything is just a gimmick. According to the end of the movie, we can even understand that it is non-existent event. The whole movie is like a scam, the reality of space and imagination is blurred, and it's difficult to clear and attainable region to separate those are true and those are virtual. But according to my personal understanding, the film gradually mixed Sarah's imagination of desire and the mystery she is writing, gave the audiences a absurd impression.
Swimming pool I can’ t imagine some murder screen in this film, , like all keen laughter, anger, sorrow and happiness pursuit of dramatic woman, put down "drink and laugh at the same time, snuck envy or alert. In the construction of the villa, a dissolute life of Julie and behavior of weird Sarah alternate day and night, a symbol of desire overflow swimming pool, finally as a coffee shop called the horror of the waiter, violent shaking, the first abnormal calm waters, doubt drop of blood, and finally a naked man. Crime fiction, fantasy suspense kill or be killed women writers, Sarah, see the real life scenes of the crime scene, the tension of the fear of instinct, in my wonderful inspiration creation of gold. She is almost voluntarily for murder, look be like simple, use her creative wisdom clear success site, destroy evidence, not hesitate to open a poor lawn mechanic Matthew not beautiful body. seldom see this kind of attempted murder process, no guilt, letter, crumpled like a writing will come to see him at any time lost in the corner of a no one to clean. Since then things have changed, not to mention. Must admit, the way to kill dry humor, full of new element looks very sexy, not exposed to temperature and Luther • Saini than you, and end the process of lightning killed no one gaping. The missing a person, a swimming pool, calm, so deserve. Women writers published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father and good, subtitles rise, but still can't feel the kind of innocent
This movie is another good example of the fight between good and evil. Sarah is a successful writer who avoids the vices of the modern era. Then her character is introduced to the fiendish Julie, who's risky (evil) lifestyle begins to rub off on Sarah.
By the end of the movie, Sarah has done things that the viewer would not have expected earlier on. Such has helping Julie bury her murder victim and seducing the gardener for ulterior motives.
However, from a cinematic standpoint, this film is interesting because you can't necessarily tell what is true to the story apart from what Sarah is imagining. Everything about the story could just be a display of what Sarah is writing. Julie may not even exist.
Swimming Pool is an interesting thriller that focuses on the life of Sarah Morton and her attempt to write another novel, when it seems she has some form of burnout or writers block. Her publisher offers his vacation home for her to go to relax and attempt to get away from everything so that she can focus on her new novel. It turns out to be a perfect situation until one night a young woman in her 20’s appears; it is her publisher’s daughter.
This unexpected visit throws Sarah for a loop and becomes the main focus of the film. Julie, the daughter, is very laid back. Her hobbies seem to be tanning by the pool, swimming in the pool and bringing men back to the house. It is hard to state what exactly Sarah thinks about her but she is most definitely curious, intrigued and disgusted by Julie’s lifestyle. She becomes a kind a voyeur and is unable to take her eyes off of Julie.
I believe this was a film that suffered from style over substance, and was left wanting a bit more from it. I don’t think the characters were developed enough and were two one dimensional, within the first 2 minutes of seeing each character you knew what they were going to be like throughout the rest of the film.
Swimming pool is one of those films that leave the audience split at its conclusion. Some believe it went one way, some believe it went another way. What is more interesting to me than the plot of this movie is how it was shot and some sort of the underlying thematic points that are made behind it. Whether you believe Julie to be real or not, one thing I do believe is certain is that not all of the events that Sarah perceived to have gone on happened exactly as she envisioned them in her own mind. There was some interweaving that did take place and this showed even if the events did take place, Sarah was at the time, at a rough point in life and she wanted to reflect her own self doubts onto another person, who was everything she wanted to be. Some examples of this is all the sexual scenes that happened in the movie, all seem to be a little bit too unreal or unbelievable either in their circumstance or how the situation took place. They all seem more of viewpoint of a biased character, than an unbiased representation of what actually happened.
Swimming Pool C04997305 Swimming pool tells the story of novelist Sarah Morton. Sarah has become well known for her crime novels The Dorwell series. When her publisher John offers her his house in France to use as inspiration for her upcoming novel she willingly accepts. Sarah travels to the French countryside and finds herself comfortable in the setting until Julie, John's daughter, appears. Julie is a sexual being, free spirited and far from the reserved role Sarah takes on. Sarah is at odds with Julie and her behavior but at the same time fascinated by her. Sarah seems influenced by Julie’s presence and we witness a character transfer between the two women. At the end of the film we realize that Julie was a creation of Sarah’s mind. Swimming Pool gives a glimpse into the mind of a crime novelist via Sarah Morton. Sarah creates the idea of Julie and the events that unfold surrounding her. This creative approach leaves the audience believing in the events that take place while in France up until the end where they are lead to question the film. Swimming Pool is a clever psychological thriller that makes use of long shots that can be witnessed throughout the entirety of the film.
This movie is interesting mainly because at the end of the movie people may still try to figure out what happened actually in the movie. "Did the murder really happened"? The actor setting is very interesting. Sarah is that kind of successful crime fiction writer who is treated already been suspecious of weird in the personality. The view setting is also attractive, a big house in the rural area far away from people. The quite blue swimming pool back yard. Sounds like some event is already being set up.
It is easy to understand the personality difference and behavior difference. Julie is dressing kind of trashy and easy-going on having sex. This somehow affects Sarah letting her try to go back to her old time. One of the scene that Sarah was sneaking out Julie having sex with different man. The nude body of Julie and the image of Sarah on the window showing her face kind of shows Sarah's desire of sex. This also increased the intention of the movie.
Jason Koreen
ReplyDeleteI went into Swimming Pool without too many expectations based on what I saw in the trailer, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. For a film without too many different sets or too much dialogue, I must say that I was intrigued about where the movie would take us next. The beginning was a bit slow, but it had to be known that something between Sarah and Julie would eventually happen. This is where the suspense came from, as it was impossible to know when and how it would happen. Their relationship took a while to build into something, but I feel, that this relationship was the whole premise of the film. At first, I was a little skeptical on why Ozon decided to have Franck killed, as I felt it was out of place, but then I realized that it would end up being another mystery written by Sarah. One thing I noticed about the camera movement throughout was the slow, yet steady zoom on the characters faces. I believe that this was done as a way to feel closer to their thoughts. I did also notice that the color of the bedroom Sarah stayed in was the same blue color as the pool, which I’m sure was done purposely.
Swimming Pool was definitely one of those movies that played tricks with my mind and it is only at the very end where I questioned the ambiguity between what is real and what is not. However, I don’t think that anyone can conclude with any real answer to this which is what makes this movie so good. After requisitioning everything that I saw previously in the movie, I feel that the only true reality that took place was at the beginning and the end of the movie and everything else was made up in Sarah’s mind for the purpose of writing her book. In a way, the movie in itself can be seen as the book even though much of it was visual and told without dialogue.
ReplyDeleteWhile watching I did take notice of some of the camera angles but I didn’t really apply their importance to the film. However now that I look back, I realized how many subtle changes the camera makes to show the merging between the two identities of Sarah and Julie. I think the role reversal and switch of identity becomes apparent after Sarah enters the pool that she previously referred to as “full of bacteria.” The fact that Sarah is always seen as looking or gazing at Julie and what she is doing could be Sarah envisioning Julie’s character in her head. Usually immediately after observing Julie, Sarah begins typing the story up on her computer or sleeps on it. I thought it was weird how she kept Julie’s underwear though. That is probably one of many scenes that confused my perception of reality and imagination. Also the scene when Julie went upstairs and read the first couple of pages within the book I found to be confusing when questioning her imaginary character. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and how it was very different from any of the others that I have seen.
Swimming Pool is not so much of a thriller as it is a psychological drama. The two main characters, Sarah and Julie, are complete opposites. Sarah is an uptight English woman whereas Julie is a loose, troubled “free-spirit” French girl. Julie’s father problems become apparent almost as soon as she is introduced. She sleeps around, smokes, drinks, parties and is very free (according to Sarah), yet very restrained by her demons (father issues, abandonment issues). Only after Sarah decides to write her next book about Julie, does Sarah even attempt to be civil to Julie. It struck me as odd—how mean Sarah was to someone she didn’t even know, who was younger than her, and did nothing to evoke such feelings of hostility. Gradually as the film goes on, Sarah becomes fascinated with Julie, always watching her, going through her items, and even partying with her a bit.
ReplyDeleteThere are multiple times throughout the movie where the audience can’t tell fiction from reality, like when Franck is murdered. This leads me to believe Julie was completely imagined and it was Sarah the entire time, similar to the movie: Secret Window. The writer has snapped, for one reason or another, in this case, I believe it is because of stress. Sarah is being replaced by Terry Long, the other writer, at her publishing company and this causes her to have a meltdown since she was always top dog, her publisher’s favorite. Toward the end of the film when Sarah hands John her new book, and he tells her it has no plot, no twists, it’s very strange. It made me very curious as to what she could’ve written in there. Perhaps it is a mixture of her story about Julie and Julie’s mother’s story, but maybe it’s just a detailed description of her experience at the summer house in France.
Although the movie was filmed in 2003, the film style, is reminiscent of something much older, like late 70s or early 80s. The colors, music and the camera’s movements are very much like those in The Shining.
“Swimming Pool” definitely utilizes cinematography and camera angles effectively. The panning shots of Julie’s body convey more about her unrestrained sexuality than any action or piece of dialog can. The various angles used to show Sarah’s constant observance of Julie also create an eerie atmosphere of building tension throughout the film. The pool itself also functioned as a powerful symbol of sexuality and exchange of identity. However, while the plot had its interesting moments, it also had periods of long, drawn out sequences of nothing but Sarah just…doing things. The entire beginning was an endless boring montage of her at her laptop, or her at the store, or her eating boring foods. The film then proceeds into an endless montage of Julie barely wearing any clothes. It overdid the contrasting cultural aspects of English/French for me by the time the film completed. Also, I personally think Julie had to be real, because otherwise the viewer wasted his or her time watching a movie about the crazed, random imaginations of a washed up English author. Julie’s reference to her father not wanting to leave his family in England for her and her mother confirms in my mind that she was really at the house with Sarah. However, some of her actions, including the murder of Franck, may have been a part of Sarah’s creative process rather than actual events.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool:
ReplyDeleteI am so confused about the ending; the question is, which Julie is the real daughter of John? Is the sexy Julie the imagination in Sarah’s fiction? As classmates discuss in class, we didn’t see the exact car when the sexy Julie came home. There were many scenes very wired, such as the waiter watched Julie’s body and did some sexual behavior near the swimming pool. As well as the old gardener watched Sarah’s body and had sort of sexual behavior near the swimming pool. These were too weird and unconnected to happen in the real life. When this film went to climax, the gardener was looking at an area of sand very closely; Sarah just induced the gardener and had sex with him. I was questioning all the time, why Sarah had to help Julie? If she created the sexy Julie, what’s the point and idea of this imagination? Is this fiction the expression of Sarah’s ego self? All Julie did was what Sarah wanted to do. It’s very liked a mirror effect, the authors always put themselves in their work of writing, painting and even the film. All in all, I still feel confused what the author wants us to know from the film, what is the main idea of this film. I don’t like the story, but I like the way it shot, and the colors of the film, which is warm, soft rather than using the sharp and dark colors to express mystery.
Swimming pool:
ReplyDeleteIf regarded as a horror movie, Swimming Pool seems has few scenes that will horrify the audiences and the violent scenes are far less than the pornographic and naked scenes. On the other hand, the suspenseful plots have just shown some clues in the second half of the movie and misled the audiences. Julie, who appears at last, has completely overturned the original story and only left some details for us to recall.
The swimming pool is like a symbol of desire. The whole story unfolds around it. However, when the woman writer Sarah Morton finally has finally jumped into the pool, all the desire begins to release. The movie story gradually develops into a murder case, but in fact it is just a stunt. We can even believe that this is an inexistent event according to the ending. The entire movie is like a fraud. With indistinct dividing line, the real space and the imagine space are difficult to distinguish whether truth or illusion. But in my own opinion, without any hints, this movie has combined Sarah Morton’s imagination and her on-going detective novel, thus creates abstract and fantastical effects.
This movie directed by Ozon seems has played a joke on the audiences, leaving a huge fantasy behind the bewildering story. The fist half is full of enjoyment, sunshine, green leaves, country villa, a writer without inspiration. The villa has unique condition, and being more attractive especially when the swimming pool fist comes out. The director uses various shooting styles to arrange all the pictures and rhythm in order, and draw the audiences’ attention by the leading roles, sexy Julie and smart Sarah through such shooting styles and scenes from different angles.
Swimming Pool was one of the most interesting "thriller" films I have seen due to its narrative quality. When I think of films like Swimming Pool I assume I am going to be annoyed with the shotty narrative work and over acting, but I really enjoyed not only the suspense and thought provoking aspects of the horrible actions but also the narrative quality. It was easy to find yourself drawn into this film. The first time I watched the film with no prior knowledge of the story line or plot, I found myself believing every second of it was reality and never thinking of questioning certain parts as fantasy until the final scene when Julie turns around and we see a different Julie than the rest of the film. Once the last scene took place I went through the rest of the film in my head comparing what may have been fantasy what was reality and it creates this dynamic discussion of this film. The over sexualization of Julie in every aspect of her character seems, to me, to be fantasy. I feel the entire movie essentially takes place inside of Sarah's head. I think Julie is a real person who was there, but that all of her actions and even the dynamics of the relationship between Julie and Sarah were completely fictional. This aspect will probably never be known and will always be viewed by everyone differently, but I feel due to the over done sexuality and the extreme actions that take place that it must be fantasy.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool is a bizarre film. The narrative is told through ambiguous and symbolic cinematography. Consequently, the narrative – more specifically the resolution – is open to manifold interpretation. Julie may just as easily be a real person, or Sarah’s imagination: She is either a fictional character of her book, or a byproduct of a split personality disorder. Any interpretation “works” because none is without inexplicable holes. Ergo, Swimming Pool is the quintessential cinematic realization of mystery literature. Ozon’s deliberate vagueness ensures that the film will be talked about for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThe film relies heavily on subtlety. It is only after deep inspection that one realizes the significance of the color red. The red pool chair and the red robe symbolize (in my view) heightened sexuality. For example, Sarah wears the red robe prior to her graphic nude scene and subsequent coitus with Marcel. On another note, Julie’s existence is based predominantly on Sarah’s point of view, the lecherous lovers, and the dwarf woman. All of these characters may be Sarah’s creations. Furthermore, there is an obvious role reversal that is told entirely through cinematography. Eventually, Julie becomes the voyeur while Sarah becomes the one that takes action, especially through sex. In addition, our appraisal of the characters is influenced by clever costuming. Sarah dresses in loose and drab outfits that imply austerity. Julie is usually half naked, often exposing her breasts to emphasize her sexual promiscuity.
Sexual promiscuity brings me to my next point. While the film does a masterful job of telling an enigmatic story and developing believable characters, it was too salacious. Without the compelling story, the film amounts to nothing more than a soft-core pornographic film. Not to discredit Ozon, but it seems as if he first envisions some lustful sexual scenario to depict on film and then adds a great story to rationalize filming it. No amount of artistic value will ever justify full-frontal fellatio. Given cinema’s track record, future films will be justifying hard-core pornography as art. Overall, the film deserves merit, but it should not be excused for its raunchy style.
Swimming Pool is one of my favorite types of movies- a thriller with depth. The plot is creepy and interesting, but also includes a complex psychological conflict; which i found fascinating. The conflict was very similar to the one we studied in Black Swan- a sort of identity transfer compelled by desire and sexuality and presented through women watching women. In the case of Swimming Pool, this conflict arouse upon Julie's arrival in the home her father let Sarah stay in for the summer to work on her book. Sarah’s character is comparable to that of Natalie Portman’s, as another woman who they have love/hate feelings for is distracting them both from their work and progress. Thus, Mila Kunis’ character resembles that of Julie’s. I was most fascinated by the little details director Ozon included as hints to the abstract conflict as a way of presenting it to the viewer without being too blunt and taking away the more sly presentation of it all. Among his hints were ones in costuming, which is another similarity the movie has to Black Swan, as this was also prevalent in that film (the sweater we discussed in class). In Swimming Pool a costuming clue was in the scene where the blocking is the same as a previous scene of Julie, where the female is laying down horizontally and a male is watching over her vertically, Sarah wears the same one piece swimsuit style that Julia wore in her scene like that. I find it really cool that costume was used as a tool to represent identity transfer, and really enjoy movies that give you clues to pick up on like this.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool was different then most movies I have seen. Sometimes it was hard for me to figure out what Sarah Morton was imagining and what was real after meeting Julie, her publisher's daughter. We are able to witness her transformation through what she wears. Sarah is first seen in earthy tones which represents her uptightness but as she starts watching Julie, she starts losing her uptight attitude which is seen by her flowy dresses she begins wearing. Sarah is mesmerized by Julie and is yearning to be as sexual as her. As Sarah starts loosening up, the roles reverse and Julie begins watching Sarah. Many different camera movements are used throughout this film. The horizontal short combined with a vertical movement are repetitive in the film. Towards the end, when Frank is reported missing because Julie supposedly kills him, I felt like this was Sarah's imagination taking over. Frank's disappearance seemed real but I felt like the novel Sarah is writing, was taking over her mind. At the end when Sarah meets with her publisher, his daughter comes to visit and it is shown a different girl then what Julie looked like. The girl that is shown at the end has braces and seems immature. This brings in the question of if Julie was a real character or someone Sarah made up in her head. I felt as if Julie is real, it's just Sarah is using her imagination portraying Julie as a sexual figure. The real daughter looks young and innocent which is why I feel like Sarah creates a new version of the same girl in her head as more mature.
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ReplyDeleteGoing into watching the Swimming Pool, my expectations were not very high. I assumed this was to be another British film that was dry and out of date as most of them are, but I could not be more wrong. Sarah Morton's book writing banks are dry and lacking inspiration, she is struggling to enjoy life and write another book. Upon hearing this her publisher gives her the keys to his villa in the gorgeous Provence that most of us dream about going to, and it helps her write her book immensly; until Julie shows up and changes everything. Sarah becomes preoccupied watching Julie, her sexuality, freeness, and youth and all of her actions revolve around the "Swimming Pool". The pool becomes a symbol of not only Julie's youth and promiscuity, but also of Sarah's desire. Throughout the whole movie Sarah gradually changes from a pent up book writer, to an active older woman. We can see Sarah's change through her clothes and actions. She goes from dressing in a very unflattering way in the beginning, wearing overcoats, and not lively colors, to wearing revealing gowns, and even a bathing suit. Her actions change from being totally immersed in writing her book to becoming involved in strange men and even the most apparent clue, murder. However, did this murder actually happen? Is Julie and her male friend real? I believe that neither of these characters are real and only projections of Sarah's unconcious desires unleashed by the pool, and through the writing of her book. Needless to say, they add another twist to the movie which I found interesting and providing a Shia LeBouf "Disturbia" like essence to the film, that kept me interested.
ReplyDeleteFrancois Ozon’s “Swimming Pool” was a film that I enjoyed very much. The reminded me very much of Hitchcock films. There was a certain mood that the characters in the film were almost emotionless. When Sarah Morton is first introduced to the viewer she seems like a temperamental woman who is too self-consumed. When Morton initially goes to the vacation house in France I thought the movie was going to be similar to “The Shining” and the viewer was going to see the mental deterioration of Morton. What I was surprised about with the film was that the film was less of a mental deterioration and more of a Morton compromising her morals. When Sarah and Julie meet one another it seems like the two will be at odds for the rest of Morton’s stay at the house, but Ozon goes against expectations and Morton develops this odd sort of fascination with Julie’s actions and the men she is with. What is equally as unexpected as Sarah’s fascination with Julie is the fact that that fascination is reciprocated. Julie goes out of her way at points to spend time with Sarah and this is exemplified when Julie asks Sarah to have drinks with her and the man from the diner that Julie will later try to have sex with. The film comes to a climax when the viewer learns that Julie killed the waiter from the diner. What surprises the viewer is when Julie tells Sarah her reason for killing the man was to make the book Sarah is writing more interesting. What is even more disturbing is how unaffected Sarah is by this news. She almost immediately decides to help cover up the murder with Julie and even goes as far as to seduce the housekeeper to keep the murder a secret. The viewer is left confused, but the confusion Ozon creates forces the viewer to constantly be in a state of suspense because of the unexpected nature of the film.
ReplyDeleteI did not know what to expect off of this film. And I have to admit, that this was one of those times were the trailer led me think the wrong way about the movie. I thought this was going to be a kind of scary movie (and I wasn’t in the mood to be scared). But for my surprise, this was a film that I really enjoyed. It is not common to see a movie with just two main characters. But I appreciated the fact that both characters (Sarah and Julie) were very strong, very well developed and most importantly very complex. As the movie went on and on, you could see some sort of “grow” in them, emotional growth most specifically. The interaction they had with each other was so strong and at the same time so almost inexistent. Through the whole movie, I never felt that Julie wasn’t real; but at the end I was convinced that Julie was a product of Sarah’s imagination. What made me think that way is the last scene were Sarah’s is leaving John’s office and sees Julia (John’s real daughter). Another thing that I really enjoyed about the movie was that we never actually saw or heard what Sarah’s book was about, but I felt so intrigued and in some way involved with it. I really enjoyed this film and is definitely one of my favorites of the semester.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were told about the movie “Swimming Pool,” I felt like it would be a very strange foreign film. However, the characters in the movie captivated me at almost every turn. When Sarah and Julie met each other, I expected a European odd couple storyline. An uptight Sarah, who is seen wearing nothing but boring clothing and always has a scowl, constantly fights with Julie, the young and sexually free rebel. The relationship between them becomes an exploration into human sexuality. The director is able to make the viewer uncomfortable but captivated at the same time when he uses a camera pan up from Julie masturbating by the pool as a man watches closely. As Sarah sees Julie have sex with so many different men, she begins to become more in tune with her sexuality. The switch in character roles starts when Sarah apologizes to Julie at dinner. Sarah expresses herself sexually by seduces Marcel in order to save Julie. I always had suspicions that Sarah had sexual feelings for Julie, and the movie would turn into a lesbian-sexual-thriller, but the murder mystery story matches the character development perfectly. As Julie becomes more self-conscious, Sarah becomes wilder. They meet in the middle when Sarah helps Julie cover up the possible murder of the waiter. The film hints that maybe Julie isn’t even real. I was hoping for a “Fight Club” style ending, but was just left with wanting more. What was Sarah’s book about? Was she living the book the whole time? The director does a great job of keeping the viewer guessing throughout the movie, and by the end I was won over by the movie.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the trailer for “Swimming Pool” in class, I had the expectations heading into the movie that It was going to be a horror film. The movie is not at all a horror film however. The movie is about a women named Sarah Morton who is an author that takes a getaway vacation to a house in England so she can escape the stresses of her everyday living in France and write her book in solitude. The beautiful house, along with the gorgeous scenery makes for a perfect place to have a clear conscience and write a novel. Shortly after she gets to the house she has an unexpected visitor named Julie. Julie is not at all like many girls her age. She goes out drinking every night and bring back much older men and sleeps with them. Sarah and Julie get into many fights and do not get along because of how much of a disturbance Julie is. Over time however, Sarah observes Julie’s behavior and finds that she is a perfect influence for the plot of her book. Julie indirectly influences Sarah to ease up and start drinking, smoking, and having sex with men while she is on her stay. The stay in England ends up being one that Sarah will never forget. I really liked the movie because I could relate people I know to all the main characters in the movie. I really liked how the plot unfolded and how two polar opposites people came to attract. I believe the director did an awesome job with this film. The two get into a lot together and can only get closer from it. Events including covering up a murder bring the two closer.
ReplyDeleteKyle Laney
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool is such a strange, but fascinating film and is easily one of the best psychological films I have seen in a long time. The film is about a woman named Sarah Morton who is an author that takes a getaway vacation in France to write her book in solitude. She stays at a beautiful house with incredible scenery and a well manicured lawn. An unexpected visitor named Julie appears at the house and is the typical crazy twenty year old. She parties every night and has wild flings with older men. There is major conflict between Sarah and Julie, as Sarah is much more reserved and is more stereotypical of the older generation, while Julie is much more youthful and wild, representing the new generation. Sarah starts to realize that Julie’s behavior is perfect for the plot of her book and starts to loosen up. She starts drinking, smoking, and having one night stands with the men that come to the house. It was interesting seeing how these different people came together and actually bonded. The twist in this movie is the quandary of whether Julie is an actual character or whether Sarah made her up to help her overcome writer’s block. Furthermore, Julie seems to represent Sarah’s inner desires, those that she is too reserved or prudish to act out. The parallel scenes of Julie and Sarah at the pool help show that these two women are similar in surprising ways. The way the camera pans left over Julie and then pans right over Sarah further shows that while the two women share commonalities that may be somewhat obscure. Overall, I really enjoyed this film despite its clearly sexualized nature. I found the mise-en-scene, cinematography, and editing fascinating and a worthy effort.
The Swimming Pool was a very interesting movie that developed into a gripping mystery sort of movie. It completely blew away my expectations when I started the movie. Sarah started out as a dry, boring, and even mean character. She seems very stuck up and overly pretentious about her work. I really love the transition Sarah experiences while she's in France. I feel like the movie is all about discovering yourself and Sarah ends up finding her sexuality and expressing herself more freely. At the end of the movie the audience is left to wonder what actually happened at that pool house in France since Julie didn't truly exist. This type of mystery grips the audience and leaves them thinking about the circumstances in the film they just witnessed, was Julie real? Was she part of Sarah? Did those things really happen at the house? and of course who actually killed the man that Sarah seemed to be obsessing over? All of these questions deeply involve the audience in the movie.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, before the house in France Sarah was only concerned about money and writing books. While she's there it seems like she discovers more and more of her sexual urges. I personally felt that both Julie and Sarah might have had some sexual tension towards each other since Julie knew Sarah was watching her and kept going anyway. I very much enjoyed this movie because it was completely unique with many twists in the plot that always kept me guessing and wondering about what really happened, I would definitely recommend it to other people to watch.
Alexandra Ball
C07809270
The swimming pool is a thriller that tells the story of a British novelist who travels to France to write her new book. During her stay in her publisher’s summerhouse, she meets Julie, the publisher’s daughter, who inspires Sarah into writing her crime book allowing her a new perspective and with a crime scene to write about. I noticed that this film uses several camera movements. A scene which is repeated several times but with different characters is when Julie is lying besides the swimming pool and the camera moves horizontally from Julie’s feet to her head and then besides her is standing a man so the camera starts moving vertically to show the man. This type of camera movement is again seen with Sara and a man and again with Julie and Sara. Also, I noticed how interested is Sara in Julie’s sexuality that is always either drinking, having sex or in the pool. Sara is constantly trying to figure out Julie and I feel as if Sara by the end of the movie tries to be like her. I also noticed that there is not much dialogue in the movie, but every time there is key points are mentioned. For example, most of the dialogue starts when Sara decides to write the story on Julie, so here is were we learn about the crime scene that Sara wants to write in her book. I believe that this movie is extremely ambiguous and each viewer can have a different ending for it and a different interpretation. Maybe Julie did exist for some or did not exist for others. In my opinion, Julie never existed and this whole plot was a way for Sara to inspire herself in writing the novel of crime. I found the end of this movie extremely fascinating. All up until the last two minutes of the movie, we are presented with this character “Julie” who stays in the same house with Sara and we think that this is the real daughter of John, the publisher. Nevertheless, in this two or three last minutes, the audience is presented with “Julia” again the daughter of John, but this time, this girl has a different face and body and does not represents sexuality as Julie does. I was so confused since I started thinking if Julie was made up or if Julie was really Julia but Sara saw this girl in another way. By the end, I had to question the movie beginning to end and tie the knots. This movie happened in Sara’s mind, but I don’t know to whether there was a real crime or not.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t like the movie “Swimming Pool“. The film bored me as the narrative couldn’t decide what movie it wants to be. A thriller? A psychodrama? A horror movie? An erotic movie? Usually, I’m in favor of mixes of the narrative. But, for this movie, nothing quite fits.
ReplyDeleteIt was a mess. But, it was a mess nice to watch. I loved the camera work. The different angles and panning technique on Julie stressed her sexual attractiveness. The nearly uncensored sex scenes underlined this and let Julie stand out as a femme fatale who takes guys if she wants to. She is the complete opposite of the conservative, English writer Sarah, who is fascinated by Julie’s behavior. Only because of her, she is able to write another novel. This contrast between the protagonists awakens the interest to watch how the relationship intensifies. Till the middle of the film, I enjoyed it.
But then, the murder of the waiter changed everything. Why did this actually happen? Was Julie evil? And why did Sarah try to behave like Julie (having sex with the gardener without feeling any attraction towards him)? I don’t understand this change. I don’t truly care if Julie was only in Sarah’s imagination; if the movie WAS Sarah’s book narrative – the change just made no sense at all. This scene pulled me out of the movie and then I was bored. I think that the movie wanted to show too many things and then lost itself as well as the audience. That’s unfortunate as I liked the beginning of the movie and especially the contrast between the protagonists.
I really enjoyed the swimming pool this movie was quite interested it had a sort of drama and horror in it. The sex scenes in this movie show a lot of more then any other movie I have ever watched it shows the sexuality between Julie and Sarah. Even though I did not quite understand the reasons for some things in the movie it had the most interesting scenes. It was like a back and forth comparison between Julie and Sarah. Julie is lying out by the pool and she goes for a swim then Sarah is lying out by the pool and she goes for a swim. And both have that really weird scene where the men stand over them and masturbate. I noticed how there were long shots of things that were important and needed to be noticed in the movie. What’s most confusing about the movie is I’m not sure if what is happening in the movie is real or is it all in Sarah’s mind? I don’t like how Sarah was trying to be more like Julie in a way or that is what it seemed to me but I kind of Figured that without Julie Sarah couldn’t have wrote her novel. The reason why I enjoyed this movie is because everyone can have their own out look or how the wanted to interpret the ending of this movie.
ReplyDelete“Swimming Pool”
ReplyDeleteDuring the movie, the way how camera focus on was pretty interesting. At first time, camera follows the Sarah’s view to see Julie. I felt like I became mystery author like Sarah, wrote about Julie’s life and secretly stare her to see what she is doing at the pool. However, at the moment, the view is changed. Camera peeped through the window into Sarah swimming in a pool quietly. Right after that, camera comes back to Julie and it make me curious what Sarah wrote about. Such camera focusing leads me unconsciously to compare between Sarah and Julie. Especially, swimming pool acts as a connection for them. In movie, camera showed that they are at the pool side together. It was good chance for me to see both of them in same time. In other words, now I can see them through third person point of view. Maybe, that moment is most objective view shown in this movie. Most of scenes have view of either Sarah or Julie. Not just camera focusing, the way how to tell story was also remarkable. Actually, I watched this movie two times since some parts are really difficult for me define which is real and which is fake. I think now I almost understand. But still it is not completely clear for me.
I didn’t know what to expect going into the film “Swimming Pool,” but what I did know from the trailer is that it would be a movie where the protagonist, Sarah, would change. Initially, one may think that the film is a horror film because of the setting in which the focus of the movie takes place: Sarah is alone in an empty house, she does not know other people around her, etc. What I realized throughout the movie is that it is not intended to be a thriller or a horror movie, but a movie that makes the viewer think about at the end. My conclusion from this film is that Julie was a total imagination of Sarah, and the actions that Julie did were actually done by Sarah. Also, that Julie is the portrayed image of Sarah’s mind on how she would like to live her life. This movie reminded me a lot of the movie “Fight Club,” where an imaginary person was used to exemplify the desires of the main character. Lastly, the movie had a very hazy feel to it, and the style in which it was shot added to the mystery and quandary of the film.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a very interesting movie, although I am not sure if I like the ambiguity of the ending. Sarah seeing Julia in John’s office certainly called the entire film into question; however, earlier in the movie, Julie mentioned her father having an English family. Therefore, Julie could have simply been John’s other daughter, with the similar names a result of either Julie’s mother’s obsession or John just being a jerk. Normally I enjoy ambiguous endings, but in this case I was simply confused because the implications of the two possibilities are never really explored. If Sarah was simply imagining Julie, she is probably having a serious psychotic break with reality; but the only possible reason the movie gives for a breakdown is that she has bad writer’s block. Alternatively, if Julie is real, Sarah assisted her in covering up a senseless killing, which just seems completely evil and, again, implies that Sarah has had a psychotic break without any real reason. What I wonder, and what would probably solve this issue, is whether or not the murder was included in Sarah’s “Swimming Pool” book.
ReplyDeleteIn spite of this ambiguity, I thought the movie was very good overall. The setting was especially well done, conveying the relaxing surroundings and the general quaintness of the French village very well. The characters were interesting and the relationship between Julie and Sarah was especially well paced; it never felt like the developments were rushed, nor did the story ever stagnate. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but, if it was a psychological thriller, I wish there had been a little more indication that the events of the movie were unnatural or evil. As it stood, the death of Franck, a relatively important and sympathetic character, seemed very impersonal.
John David Agliano
C05580571
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteI like this movie because it left me confused. I thought I knew what was going on in the movie until the very end. When the John's real daughter showed up, it made me question everything that happened in the movie. It reminded me of a similar movie, called Deadline, starring Brittany Murphy where she was also a writer who went to large house to be alone while working on her novel. Brittany's character, named Alice, then began hearing things and seeing the spirit of a dead woman around the house. Throughout the movie, Alice began to investigate what happened to the woman and found out that she was murdered and her killer was coming back to the house to kill her (Alice). The ending revealed that none of the events actually happened, and that it all was in the story she had written.
Swimming Pool had a similar ending where the majority of the movie is actually the story that the author (Sarah) wrote. In class, people had mixed feelings on whether or not Julie existed. I think she did. When Julia showed up to visit John, my immediate reaction was that Sarah had been living with a complete stranger during her stay in France. I thought that Julie was very bold to take a chance and get in trouble for intruding in someone else's home. There's no doubt that I think she is real, but there are so many unanswered questions that I have. She could have been John's daughter that he abandoned. I wanted to know what happened to her mother. I think that maybe Julie had something to do with her death.
The movie had a very open ending that could be interpreted in many ways. Overall, it was a great movie. It had me at the edge of my seat because I thought that Julie and Sarah were going to get caught. It was interesting how Julie was able to help Sarah become less of a prude. I am glad that Sarah finally warmed up to Julie because she needed something to spice up her boring life. If Julie had not shown up to inspire Sarah, she would have probably kept her writer's block.
This murder, ignoring the often bloody diffuse the embarrassment, the rest is just dazzling stunts, the handsome appearance of the idols. Fall in love with a killer, was a very fashionable thing, even if the whole world is on the opposite side.
ReplyDeleteI think in "swimming pool", Sarah has unrealistic expectation, the things happens in the subway we can easily find out she is cold and detached for her life as writer.And this is the begining of the story, and had pave the way for the story.Way to kill the dry humor and full of new elements look very sexy, uncontrolled exposure of the body than the to Lourdes temperature · Saini Ye, lightning kill the process and no one else finale staggering. The disappearance of a person, a pool of calm, is so well deserved. The female writer published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father reconciled, subtitles rising, but still feel less than the dead man how innocent and kind-hearted.
Marc Pollack
ReplyDeleteC10553848
Out of all of the movies that I have seen this semester, to be honest, my thought going into the movie “Swimming Pool” was that it might turn out to be my least favorite. I understand why people liked it and wasn’t about to bash the movie, but iI thought that it would just simply not sink into me like some of the other have; but I was wrong. The movie plotline for me, was interesting but it was almost as if you could predict what is going to happen next. I relate this movie to the movie that we watched earlier, “The Salt of Life”. Both movies shared a similar tale of two ‘older’ individuals who wanted or shall I say, needed change. In the movie “Swimming Pool”, the main character Sarah Morton is in need of a place to stay and goes to her therapist’s house in France. There, we are not sure if she has a mental breakdown, or if there truly was another woman there, but someone eventually dies; thus prompting the question of who killed him, and why did he have to die the way he did. Overall, as I watched the movie, it quickly started to climb the movie ladder, at least for me and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who was willing to give it a chance.
Swimming pool a movie released in 2003. When I saw this movie for the first time, which was like 4 years ago I didn’t like too much because I didn’t understand the concept of the movie. Now that I have seeing it for a second time I understand the concept of the movie a little bit more. I think that while you see the movie you can get confused about the character of Julie, the way Sarah behaved sometimes make me doubt about the truth existence of Julie. But once I saw the end, I got to the conclusion that what really was happening was that Sarah was living with an estranger or maybe that she was living in an unrealistic world. I think that unrealistic world is the book Sarah is trying to write. I didn’t like too much the end, because of the uncertainty, it left me with too many question and that is why I got to my own conclusion of Sarah “living in a unrealistic world”. Although the movie is very interesting, I didn’t enjoy it too much. I thing sometimes is very disturbed for example the part where the man was standing in front of Julie and he starting masturbating, which made me realize that the author wanted to reflect Sarah’s loneliness. Also I think that the way the movie is filmed, makes you feel that is a mysterious movie or suspense, which I think is but in a different not clear style.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing watching "Swimming Pool", the main thought that was running through my head was "What just happened."
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I thought that Swimming Pool was excellently done. I am completely split about two ideas as to what happened in the south of France, and both seem equally plausible and both seem to have evidence to support it.
The first theory is that Julie was real. She was a real person who pretended to be Bosload's daughter and the events transpired in a way very similar to how the movie portrays them the first time you watch it through.
The second theory is that Julie was never real. She was a figment of Sarah's imagination of what Sarah wishes she could be. This explains why the merging and switching of personalities of these two characters happen. It also explains why Julie's story does not line up as she told it, and why she believes Sarah to be her mother.
The fact that there seems to be a strange love triangle between them and Frank further questions the idea of the reality of Julie. If Julie is real, then Frank is real as well, and is torn between the youth and vitality of Julie and the relationship that he has been developing with Sarah. If Julie is not real, then I think that it is also likely that Frank is not real. In this scenario, Frank is the ideal lover that Sarah imagines herself being with, but has issues with herself and thinks that a man like him would not want her, but want someone more like who she wishes she was (Julie).
As you can see, this movie is complicated in a perfect way. It is completely understandable, but at the end, you sit there and question yourself and what you just saw. I think that this is a movie that will require at least one more viewing (probably more) for me to fully make a decision about what I have seen.
Sarah is a novel author and she does not have inspiration to write any more books in London. She moves to her publisher’s home in the South of France with the idea of finding a perfect setting for her next novel. She is at ease in this house, until the publisher’s daughter, Julie, steps in. Julie seems like an uncontrolled woman. There is a paralleled difference between Sarah, who is very rigid and serious in comparison to the publisher’s sexually aesthetic, happy daughter. Julie has a lot of sexual relationships with men, while Sarah is immersed into a competition between these two women. Throughout this envious and competing environment, one night there is an accident with Franck, the man that causes this competition, since he refused to be with Julie when he saw Sarah. He is soon dead, and it is because Sarah killed him. This movie can be perceived in two ways. First, there were these two women in the house and the course of events took place. On the other hand, it can be perceived that Sarah went to write a book, and everything was her figment of her imagination. It is interesting to see how a movie can provide different feelings and emotions at the same time.
ReplyDeleteSarit Benatar
C10202193
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteWhen author Sarah realizes that she has no inspiration to write any more in London, she moves to the South of France. While living in the house of her publisher, she has unusual interactions with Julie, the publisher's daughter. While Sarah is a calm and reserved, Julie is reckless and highly sexual - a foil for Sarah. Julie acts as a catalyst for a series of unnerving events that end up fueling Sarah's inspiration by blending fiction with reality.
When we first watched the trailer in class, I was definitely intrigued. The trailer didn't reveal much of the plot line, but showed enough to capture my attention. Having now watched the first, I found the pacing to be slow but fitting for the story. The slow paced allowed for the build up of tension between the two main characters and added to the intensity of the film. The acting was spot on and the choice of a landscape reflected the director's attention to detail. I really liked this film and it held my attention throughout.
C06517157
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteThis movie started out very slow and disinteresting. It was so meek and dull. The rather bland habits of Rampling’s character going hoping for some inspiration almost put me to sleep. It wasn’t until Julie’s character came in to upset Sarah’s order that the film got interesting, so looking back the film was well made to depict the sort of boringness of Sarah’s life being upended by the loose lifestyle of Julie. The dynamic between the two becomes engaging, and then the film really starts to build. Julie comes an as a young seductive figure that brings home a guy every night, and quality of each guy is very interesting. They all seem to be out-of-shape or elder men; the sort of men who you wouldn’t think would have a chance with someone as attractive as Julie. She exudes that euro-trash style and perfectly accepts her form. She doesn’t seem to have a care in the world, but she seeks attention in the company of men. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of Sarah and Julie. One is staunchly conservative in almost every facet. She is a stiff Englishwoman, and Julie is a free-spirited French country-girl. There were points where I thought certain scenes were dream sequences and there were many inconsistencies that confused me. It became clear that the character Julie was not someone that the audience could fully trust. As the roles sort of switched between Julie and Sarah, it also became clear that the full truth didn’t exist in Sarah’s perspective either. In the end, you realize that there were fabrications in this story. It’s not clear what’s real or true and what isn’t. Overall, I found this movie intriguing at best, but it wasn’t compelling. In all honestly if I didn’t have to watch this I probably would change the channel about fifteen minutes into it because of the incredibly slow pace. However, there are points that are very interesting, especially leading up to the climax. The character, Julie, as well draws you in. She and her mystique anchor the film, and I know Rampling is considered a great classic actress. I quite liked her role in Meloncholia, but here I don’t think her was the focus of the film, so I really don’t have much to say as to her portrayal in this film. There’s many, I think who could a good job as the stiff writer, but Julie’s character seems to have been the greater challenge. I don’t think even some of the best thought of seductresses in film could do as good a job as the actress. I personally don’t think someone like Megan Fox could face the challenge of this role with as much success.
Swimming Pool is the story of uninspired author, Sarah Morton, and her novel-writing process. We meet her in London and her publisher sends her to his vacation home in France, where he hopes she'll be able to write in peace. It seems to work until a young woman named Julie shows up. Julie's presence and the conflicts she creates for Sarah show the first shifts in the film. Julie's promiscuos nature clashes with Sarah's conservatism, but the former eventually influences the latter to be more open to sexual freedom. Julie goes on to kill a man and Sarah helps her hide the evidence, bringing them even closer. The film's open ending implies that Julie's character never really exists and only comes to life as part of Sarah's novel.
ReplyDeleteI still feel a bit indifferent about Swimming Pool. I enjoyed it while I watched, but Sarah's stick-in-the-mud nature just felt a little overbearing to me. Julie's extreme behavior didn't impress me either, but she tried to be polite when she wasn't busy doing it with unattractive older men. I understand the importance of contrast between the two characters, but something felt too forced for me to enjoy.
I liked the ending, though, because it removed the film from its previous predictability. Around the part where Julie kills the guy, I ably figured out the events that followed. The ending surprised me and left me thinking, wanting to know more -- definitely a highly unexpected twist.
The movie was slow paced for me especially in the beginning and if i hadn't had to watch it i probably would of left. although later in the movie their were points in it that made me glad i stayed for a moment. that being said the predictability of the movie and its moments of inconstant happenings became all very well done and thought out when you find out the ending which was not in any way expected but at the same time explained why the movie was made the way it was and really took a boring movie to another level. If i was a person who liked to analyze films that i watched i could tell you it would make this film much more interesting. That being said I am sadly not one of those so the movie with its ending was only so-so.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Swimming Pool shows a story of 2 entirely different women - Sarah (Charlotte Rampling) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). The movie unveils dark sides of human beings such as bloodiness, sex, and money, which are the 3 main ideas of Sarah's novel. In the movie, Sarah is a conservative novel writer who suppress her desire to sex, where as Julie, the daughter of the publisher, has sex with almost every men she encounters. The swimming pool in the movie can be seen as the concept of sexual desire, which reflect Sarah and Julie's perspective to sex. When Sarah first saw the swimming pool she walks away, while Julie enjoys it a lot as she can show off her body every time when she goes to the pool, where she met lots of her sexual partners. The end of the movie was rather surprising to me, firstly Julie and Sarah became friends, as they smile to each other. Secondly, the way Julie and Sarah wave good-bye as they rarely know each other, which doesn't make sense. Perhaps the whole movie can be viewed as an unreal story where Julie was the heroine of Sarah's novel, and Sarah as the writer observes everything happened in her own story. And I found this conception very talented.
ReplyDeleteThis movie, directed by Francois Orzon, explains the relationships and life of the British crime novelist Sarah Morton and the daughter of the publisher, named Julie. It is interesting to see a play of linguistics, where the two main characters are British, yet they are placed in a French Setting. There is a good sense of differences in characters, where Sarah appreciates the solicitude and peace, and Julie quickly disrupts this. Julie has an eccentric and extroverted personality, who represents sexual freedom. After the tragic incident with Franck, Sarah has an identity crisis, where she believes Sarah is her mother. Sarah then helps Julie cover up the death of Franck, and she even changes her personality and becomes a bit like Julie. She does this by luring the gardener, who becomes a bit suspicious about the shed, in a sexual and attractive way. These two conflicting characters after all become accomplices, and end up liking each other. In the end, the outcome of the story was a bit unclear, which leaves the audience questioning about really occurred that night and after Sarah goes back to Britain. It is difficult to understand who the real daughter of the publisher is, leaving many questions unanswered.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too sure how I felt about this movie. It was entertaining and it made me think, but I'm not sure how much I liked it as a whole. I personally thought it was kind of slow. The slowness did help play towards what the film was trying to achieve, but it didn't work so well for me. The acting was great. The actors were able to portray every emotion so well that it left the audience feeling the same as the characters in the film. There was a great attention to detail in the film which helped to explain little things that the audience needed to consider while watching. During the film I had to decide whether Julie was real or not, and to be honest I am still unsure of what I think, especially after seeing the ending. Overall the film was very mysterious and suspenseful, and I believe that the style of filming really helped to achieve that.The film also had an open ending which I tend to dislike. I like where everything gets tied up in the end, I'd rather not be left to decide what happens for myself. Overall the movie was okay and maybe seeing it again would change my mind one way or the other.
ReplyDeleteHiram Aparicio
ReplyDeleteC06979667
Swimming Pool
This movie was brilliant! The acting was superb. These two women and their interaction with one another is very interesting, for one of them is a free and very sexual being, while the other is very conservative. The Movie's best quality is its the way it evokes curiosity in the audience through its inconsistencies and the manner in which the dream sequences (or what may be perceived as dream sequences) are shot with the same style as the parts in the movie which we may denote as real. This leads me to believe that the film in its entirety is sort of a dream sequence. The way in which the main character is portrayed as a very conservative and boring writer (as reflected through the shot's motions and durations in the beginning of the film up until their role reversal) hints that this movie is actually an account of the story that Sarah is writing while she is there. It reminds me very much of the movie Muse. I believe Julie's character is the portrayal of a side in Sarah which she is repressing, and so she writes it into her story. Another interpretation I have is that perhaps Julie is an alternate personality of Sarah's. Still, I think both interpretations may go hand in hand, for in the end it is, Swimming Pool, the creative work of a writer. So from this one may deduce that the writer is attempting to express the many facets of a mind and the impossibility of being defined by one persona. I heard many people complaining about the slowness of the movie, but I think it was done for a purpose and that if one simply pays attention to the shots, camera angles, symbolism, and overall stylistic approach to the film, they may easily overlook (or better yet: understand) the pacing, and appreciate the artistic value of the film.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool
ReplyDeleteGaurav Dhiman
At first, I did not know what to make of "Swimming Pool," especially through the first 3/4 of the movie. It seemed like a wandering, confused mess. We had only a handful of characters. Sarah, a middle-aged English mystery author, and Julie, a carefree and hyper-sexual Frenchwoman. Both provide a great juxtaposition with one another. We have the prudish and restrained Englishwoman and also an outgoing and lively Frenchwoman. However, as we see over the course of the film, both share more commonalities than their surface may reveal. Sarah, in particular, is interesting because she is very prudish and averse to Julie's deviance. However, we find that she secretly takes pleasure in the other's lifestyle and has been repressing herself. Although we begin to see how tortured a girl Julie is, I believe that the film really is a meditation on Sarah. She constantly mixes fantasy with reality, as even the ending seems to suggest. In a way, her life is no different from the fiction that she writes. She herself unconsciously mixes fantasy and reality, showing a disenchantment with her own life that she seems to try get ridding of through her constant meddling with fantasy. Think about it. Many fiction writers base their works on occurrences in their lives and the real world. At some point, perhaps they, like many of us, really begin to lose their grasp of reality. The film does not hint at any moral assessment of this (e.g. The author herself is not a schizophrenic killer). It seems to accept this norm and not put up pretenses about whether it makes us good or bad individuals. In terms of the cinematography, the whole of the film has a somewhat dreary, seedy, and decaying look to it. The lighting and music cater to this approach. More interestingly, the only idyllic part of the movie is the glamorously blue pool. The pool looks like something out of a magazine or even a dream, both of which are not "real." Mixing this with the rest of the film makes the movie seem like one big dream, with its habit of shifting between different environments and ambiences, from dark and seedy to bright and relaxing. The film itself is like a dream in which a person dreams of running through both a dark and evil forest and then easily transitioning to a forest that seems straight out of a Disney film. Finally, shot selection is something that really jumped out at me. Most shots seemed to be medium or close-up shots, making the world in the movie much smaller and more appreciable. We were spared from overly sweeping longshots that would glorify the brilliant locales and perhaps make the film less character-driven. Emotions, body language, dialogue, and all-around acting are the most vital.
Swimming Pool is a really cool movie that could be interpreted in different ways. I think that Sarah was completely alone during her time at the house. I think her new discovery that John had a daughter, and Sarah’s curiosity about her, became her inspiration for her new book. However it is unclear whether or not Frank’s death or Sarah’s sexual encounter with Marcel really happened. I think it was probably all Sarah’s imagination mixed with things she was writing about in her book. I don’t think that the movie was trying to portray Sarah as insane. When she sees John’s real daughter at the end of the movie, I think she just looks at her and smiles because it was interesting for her to see the person that was the inspiration for her book in person and see how her imagination of what she would be like compared to how she actually was.
ReplyDeleteJulie seemed to be everything that Sarah wasn’t but wanted to be. Julie was free spirited and effortlessly attractive. Sarah was really uptight and not very “go with the flow” but I think that she respected and admired Julie’s carefree, live life perspective. This was probably part of her inspiration to write a book that wasn’t her usual style.
I thought Swimming Pool was a very interesting movie. It wasn’t one of my favorites we’ve watched this semester, but I did enjoy watching it. The movie is about an author, Sarah Morton played by Charlotte Rampling, who travels to her publishers house to work on her next novel. However, when the publisher’s daughter Julie shows up it disrupts the solitude. Throughout the movie we learn that although Sarah is old, she is still a very sexual being. Julie is always very sexual and not very classy. When Julie shows up at the house that is when the complications start to occur. The major climax of the film is the murders. This film actually has some similar qualities to the movie Black Swan we watched in the beginning of the semester.
ReplyDeleteSymbolism and themes are a major part of this movie. The themes consist of Identity and Transfer that lead to desire and sexuality. The woods are symbolic in this movie standing for nature and the wild. The scene I thought was the most interesting and awkward was when Julie and the guy were having sex on the couch and Sarah was watching through the glass door. During it Julie actually looks directly at Sarah and continues having sex. The major question that arises is whether or not Julie is real or made up. There are two ways to look at it with reasons for both sides. In my opinion, Julie isn’t but I don’t know for sure. I would definitely recommend this movie but I don’t believe it’s for everyone.
SWIMMING POOL – ERICA GOTTFRIED
ReplyDeleteDon’t fail me for saying this, but to be frank, I hate films like this. I found it had an exorbitant and awfully gratuitous amount of sex, sexual content, and nudity. And in general, I am not a fan of most female characters, and could probably name the few that don’t bug me on one hand, maybe using a few fingers on the second (it’s not like I have a list - I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty just how many there are, but trust me, it’s not a lot). So to ask my opinion about a film with the kinds of scenes and content this one had centered around female leads? Well that’s just a scenario in which I am going to have to elect to predominantly bite my tongue in the hopes of not hurting my grade.
It wasn’t just the sex stuff that bothered me though. The ideas of a fractured reality and what might be real or not (like Julie) didn’t work for me in this film either.
Regardless of my initial bias in terms of these kinds of films, this is one case where they were validated – I’m not saying there weren’t ANY possible concepts of value in the film – shots, lighting, sound, set up, and the like – just that what I don’t like about the film makes it hard to focus solely on those individual concepts and not my negative feelings towards the film as a whole. I really am sorry – again, if I may plead my case for this not hurting my grade… :D
Swimming pool
ReplyDeleteImagine one of Eric Rohmer's elegant Moral Tales fused with "Les Diaboliques" and you'll have some idea what to expect from this beguiling mystery, which treads a thin line between fiction and reality against a sensual, sun-drenched backdrop.
Rampling and Sagnier are well-matched as social opposites turned wary allies, while Charles Dance makes the most of his few scenes as Sarah's well-meaning publisher.
But this is Ozon's movie. His subtle and atmospheric direction once again confirms his status as one of France's most talented and provocative auteurs.
So I just got done watching the movie The Swimming Pool and I thought it was an alright movie until the end.... I got soo confused when Sarah went into Johns office and when she was walking out. Was that Johns other daughter "Julia" or was that supposed to be the same girl from South France- Julie? omg im so confused, the ending was soo twisted. So does that mean the girl Julie will never get her signed book? Am I talking to myself here cuz I feel like I'm the only one who's seen this movie and nobodys going to answer this because everybodys sleeping......
Feng Yang
ReplyDeleteC06087996
SWIMMING POOL (2003)
The movie was started with the female novelist and the young girl who are addicted to the bloody erotic daily activities night after night. Swimming Pool must be wrapped around the topic with the erotic feelings. It is interesting to study the delicate facial expressions of Rampling Charlotte, when she witnessed the girl conducted debauchery for the first time. It is hard to say that the expression of her disdain held in contempt that Julie is the ambiguous inspiration while is contains a humble sense of identity.
Sarah created a folder belonging to the girl on the screen, the place where she treasured out of the bottleneck. Afterwards when the girl said: I killed him. I think it's for your book; she is no longer the sole perpetrators of the story.
For the belief of illusion, I have my own opinion about it. The story is not fully described in Sarah's point of view that I think the suspense manufactured by Ozon is not enough to overthrow all ambiguous inclusions. The changes of tension between the two women are where he put his energy to cut and to polish. If it was Sarah who looked at her for a long time with a strange smile in the last scene when the girl passed by, even if she has never met Julie and even if everything does not exist, it is just no longer important.
Swimming Pool......
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool was a great film. I enjoyed the performance by both Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. The film took an interesting twist when Sarah Morton began to loosen up and let go and enjoy her surroundings. Watching it the first time I guess we should have realized that some scenes just did not make sense, however your mind just goes with it and figures this is just the way the director wanted to make his film. After you watch the movie, you can actually look back and think that certain scenes were highly unlikely. Also, it was highly unlikely that Sarah would help commit a crime by burying a man.
After watching the film, I doubt that any of the drama even took place in France. And doubt that Sarah ever really met Julie. I think Sarah of course did go to France to relax, and while there she got glimpses into the fact that her publisher did have a daughter, and she got carried away with the idea. Since he had never really talked about her, Sarah was free to let her imagination go wild, which is exactly what a crime mystery writer would do. In the end, the real Julie did not even acknowledge Sarah, which means they never even met. I think the film was made to leave you guessing, and that is exactly what it did.
Swimming Pool is definitely one of my favorite films from this semester. The beautiful Charlotte Rampling’s Sarah is prudish and fearful of what is unsafe. She is discouraged by her editor to try new things, and is told to keep writing the usual detective novels, which are her specialty. It isn’t until she meets the daring Julie (a character completely unlike herself) that she realizes her life is about to flip upside down. Julie is a complete mess, going from man to man because of her ‘daddy issues’, but is not perceived as a whore by Sarah, but a misunderstood and broken young woman. What is highly regarded as a confusing film due to the ending, I think it’s very clear that Sarah indeed met Julie, but the real Julie, not the character she envisioned and wrote about. The film depicts the French Julie as her character, wild and out of control, and when Sarah meets her editor’s daughter, the other Julie, she realizes that it was all apart of her head, that is who she met, she merely envisioned her character while she wrote about it, while staying with the other Julie. While most people might believe the nudity was excessive and unnecessary, I feel it was actually very necessary in order to depict how sexually free Julie was when compared to Sarah’s character. Julie didn’t care who saw her naked and when, while Sarah was very shy when it came to her body, until the end, when she has shed her clothes as a result of learning her lesson, and learning from Julie it’s okay to be free, when she seduces the gardener. The film encourages her to break out of her shell not only sexually, but as a writer, when she writes her best work yet.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of the story is this: In fact, the villa is Julie own phantom out, becauseJulie is a successful career, but life is very empty and boring woman, fifty years old, sheandmother both live together and help her successful writing mainly detective type-based, although the reader is very keen, but in her opinion are not satisfied with ownsingle creation of such a cycle, she wantsinnovation, want new inspiration, you need thepassion of life. Matthew and Julie may be real characters, just do no murder in the villa, everything that happened and are inspired Julie coined, breakthroughs in the past. So after the publication of the works, John also said that the style and very different, but Julie is verysatisfied with their new works.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is just an old woman's mental and physical release, and no such thing asmurder.
I thoroughly enjoyed “Swimming Pool” until the last three minutes. Then I hated it. I had been enjoying the film so much, the atmosphere, the plot, the characters, that the twist ending was an unwelcome slap that brought me back to earth. I could handle the film being fiction, but having it be doubly fictitious as the ending seemed to suggest was too much. However, minus the last three minutes, I thought “Swimming Pool” was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThe acting was phenomenal. I usually judge acting as a film progresses but in “Swimming Pool” the acting was so seamless that I nearly forgot to. The story itself was also strong. I had never seen the jealous older woman theme depicted so well. The film did not resort to stereotypes. The characters were odd, fairly unlikeable, and completely believable.
Although I normally do not re-watch films, I will likely re-watch “Swimming Pool” at some point. Knowing the twist, I will view the whole film in a different way and perhaps learn to live with the disappointing ending.
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteNate Jennings
I thought the movie Swimming pool very well made. I also thought it was a well ensembled drama/thriller film that expressed hardly any emotions through it characters, but still was able to provoke emotion from its audience based on the film’s monologues and twists within its plot. I think the atmosphere of the film is very depressing, gloomy, and somewhat daunting which gives it a good sense of direction towards what actually occurs in the film. The music also has a similar tendency to follow this approach where it provokes the audience to feel nervous and more importantly always attentive. Based on how it was filmed, it seemed to incorporate many different variations of close up shots to make for a feel of close proximity to the movie. There were also many themes including erotism between the two women characters, and the pool that symbolized desire and a fantasy world. Another great addition to the film was the cast that performed as the two characters Julie and Sarah. The characters best appeal to me was their differences in how they held themselves and acted. For Sarah the author, she seemed like a depressed and normally very serious English woman. While on the hand, Julie was definitely the more adventurous type and more keen to live life to the fullest. In terms of whether or not some parts were reality and others were dreams, I believe she exaggerated the stories about what actually happened at the house in France. I don’t believe that Julie actually killed Frank, or that Julie had over dramatic sexual appeal. Instead, I think Julie was going through some serious depression and stress due to the fact that her publishing company wanted to replace her and she essentially just lost her mind for a while. I definitely think that reality is sometimes falsified into a fantasy of hers. The best evidence for this claim is partially due to Julie telling Sarah that she killed Frank to make her book better. This is my theory of the movie but the movie does leave a sense of purposeful confusion to keep its audience puzzled but also intrigued at the same time.
I thought the film, "Swimming Pool" was very interesting. It started off a little slow, but overall I enjoyed the film. The movie's main character is Sarah Morton, who is a successful crime fiction writer who is experiencing a bout of writer's block. She heads off to her editor's country house in France to get some inspiration. Everything is going good and relaxing for her until John's daughter, Julie shows up. Julie and Sarah are complete opposites, which I found interesting. Sarah has a lot of repressed sexuality, which leads her to develop a bit of an infatuation with the promiscuous Julie.
ReplyDeleteI found the differences between the characters to be the most fascinating part of the film. It was creepy how Sarah sort of started to live vicariously through Julie by watching her. I also found Sarah's relationship with food to be very strange. In the beginning she only eats large bowls of plain yogurt, which I found to be a bit gross. The climax of the film was the murder of Frank, who was an acquaintance of both women. Julie ends up killing him because of her jealousy. I thought it was interesting that on the surface Julie seems very free and secure, but in reality she is very jealous and insecure. In the end it is Sarah who has a transformation and comes into her own self in a positive way. She stands up to her editor in the end and goes with a different publisher because he didn't like her book.
I am still not quite sure if I believe that Julie was a real person or just a figment of Sarah's imagination. Ozon did a terrific job at meshing the dream and reality sequences together, so the audience cannot really tell the difference. In a lot of ways it seems that Sarah imagined the whole thing. The fact that in the end she sees John's real daughter and it is not Julie was the scene that most showed that. Also the fact that the murder and coverup seem like the basis for a crime novel also prove the theory. The murder of Frank did seem pretty far fetched to me. I enjoyed the fact that the ending is kind of ambiguous and it is left up to each individual to interpret their own meaning. I also thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography, especially the scenes showing the swimming pool.
Though the acting in Swimming Pool was fantastic and the film was somewhat entertaining, the plot seemed to be very drawn out and developed slowly. The pace of the film made it difficult for me to stay engaged but the performances by the actors were still notable. The actresses' portrayals of the characters were realistic and relatable. However, certain parts of the movie were a bit unnecessary and distracting. For example, I found the sexual scenes to be drawn out, over the top, and a bit disturbing. Personally, I find these kinds of scenes to be unnecessary in certain films and I felt like this was one of those cases. Also, much like the reviews above me, I did not enjoy the ending of the film at all. Overall, there were some great performances but definitely a disappointing film.
ReplyDeleteMichael Lerer
ReplyDeleteI’m really glad I got to see the movie Swimming Pool. It isn’t just that I enjoyed the movie, but also that it was so well-made. It was completely impossible to tell reality from fantasy in this movie. In fact after watching the ending, it is easy to say that the entire movie was a fantasy. The director left the entire story up to the viewer’s opinion of what happened in it. This was a great technique because it leaves everyone with their own version of the story and leaves them talking about it long after they watched it.
Another notable point of this movie is the cinematography. This really lets you see how the movie wants you to view these characters. The constant long panning views of Juile show her good looks and in one scene where it pans up after panning her body, it shows how other character’s long to have her. This view is also used to imply future events. Each time the camera pans past a girl and up to a guy it foreshadows later scenes. And finally this pan effect is used to make a connection between Julie and Sarah. It does this by first using the effect to express Julie’s sexuality and then later to show how Sarah is becoming more like Julie.
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteI really think this was a good and definitely entertaining film. I felt the movie was vey silent too. What I did not really get was the end; I am confused as to who is the real Julie. Maybe the Julie that appears the most s the one that is in Sarah’s book, but the real one is the one that appears at the end. I am not sure. The movie was going great and fluid and all for me, but then at the end it got weird. I did not understand what the reality was. I had a lot of doubts at the end. I found interesting that Julie drinks her coffee, in a bowl. I also liked how Sarah distracted Marcel when he was noticing the uneven soil, that was funny; plus, it worked perfectly. I never thought we were going to see Sarah like that, she looked too decent and shy perhaps to expose herself like that. Throughout the film and Sarah’s stay in the house in France, we see how she changes. She starts to become or at least show some characteristics from Julie. She starts being all angry and inpatient, reserved too. But then, she changes her attitude. She drinks and smokes with Julie, she gets in the pool, and ends up undressing herself for Marcel. I wonder if the book she wrote was supposedly about her stay in the house, or that was only just a part of it. Despite the end being so unclear and confusing, I like that effect. I like how the movie leaves the viewer wondering about all sorts of things, it adds something special I believe. As for me, I do not really know what to think about it or how to interpret it, but I like that I can just look at it in my own way.
The swimming pool
ReplyDelete“The swimming pool”, written and directed by Francois Ozon, is a mystery movie where everything is in a constant suspense. I liked this movie, nonetheless I thought there was some parts of it where it was hard to understand. It is a story that manages a lot with what is reality and fantasy.
I was constantly aware of how the director manages to work on a very silent base. I would say the reason for this was to create a sense of mystery and suspense. I also notice, and didn’t quite like, how the movie falls in a very slow pase, sometime I would say it’s a little to slow so it makes the audience lose track of what’s really happening.
In some occasions I felt a little confuse and wasn’t able to perceive whether Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling), the movie’s main character, was dealing with an imaginary person. The audience ends up with a dilemma, trying to figure out if Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) was actually a creation of Sarah’s imagination or if she really existed. I think Ozon did an awesome job trying to create that doubt on the audience and this wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for the actor, which I think did an impeccable performance.
Ximena Manrique
This movie left me speechless, I thought it was amazing but definitely need to watch it a few more time in order to really understand what happened, since many parts confused me from beginning to the end. This film really makes us think and question everything, its keeps us intrigued the whole time just longing to know more and more. I do feel though as if many questions were left unanswered and that great because it leaves people to have their own interpretations of the movie yet at the same time it feels unfinished, which is what made it work so well, because it removed the film from its predictability. Around the part where Julie kills the guy. Overall ithought it was grweat and am really glad i watched it !
ReplyDeleteThis was by far one of my favorite films of the entire semester. It closely reminded me of the film "Disturbia" with Shia Labeouf. Being inside the head of Charlotte Rampling's character takes the audience into her world of action/mystery. What I thought was a missing link and could have been added was narration of the story she is writing, while typing. I felt I could relate to the characters tremendously. The coming of age in Julie to Sarah Morton's feeling of being stuck. I enjoyed the film very much so and would definitely watch it again to pick up on clues throughout and gain a better/ more clear interpretation of the film.
ReplyDeleteInitially I thought that the film got off to a very slow start and I found myself waiting to figure out the direction the film was going to go. After watching the movie all the way through it became clear Ozon intentionally made the movie appear to start so slow because it adds to the shock value when the ending takes a drastic twist. Ozon’s use of sound, although subtle, really impressed me. I loved the echo of Sarah’s footsteps on the old hardwood floors in the otherwise silent house and it gave the house an eerie aura. The fact that film is set in a beautiful summerhouse in the French countryside helps contrast with the violent crime that occurs. There is also a large contrast between the two main characters Sarah and the fictitious Julie. Sarah represents society’s conservative vision of what a proper woman should be whereas Julie is represents youth and has a more libertarian and free spirited approach to life. Sarah tries to disprove Julie’s accusations that she is boring or old by smoking the joint and tapping back into days when perhaps she was a little more rough around the edges. The camera work was very smooth and had a lot of slow panning shots of Julie’s nearly flawless body. There were also a lot of close up shots on Sarah’s face which allowed the viewer to imagine what Sarah is thinking/feeling. Overall I like the ambiguous ending because it allows the viewer to interpret the movie in a very individual way.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is based around two completely different women. Sarah is an author looking for inspiration for her new novel. Julie is a sex obsessed French teenager. While attempting to write her newest novel, Sarah begins to notice Julie more and more and Julie begins to affect Sarah’s writing. After Sarah spends the night with a man that Julie liked, he disappeared and the suspense begins.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that is impossible to ignore in this film is the costumes chosen for Julie. She is a beautiful French teenager and the director decided to help show that through the costume choices, or lack thereof.
I thought this movie was great until it got to the end. It's well performed and everything looks terrific, but the movie is a huge let down because of the ending. It simply leaves the audience with the uncomfortable feeling that their attention has been messed with for the last hour and a half.
Swimming Pool is a difficult movie for me to write a response on because I’m still not exactly sure how I feel about it. The first time I watched it I thought the story was very intriguing, but looking back on it now I’m not so sure. The film’s main character Sarah is an uptight fiction writer while Julie is much more of a free spirit. The actresses do a fantastic job of playing the characters and are able to play off of each other very well. Both characters were very strong and very well developed. However, I wish the last scene wasn’t as open ended as it was. I would have liked to see more closure in the story and overall it left me a bit disappointed. However; I do have a theory as to what happened.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Sarah made up Julie as an imaginary way of getting back at her publisher. I think she was so mad at her publisher for not being romantically interested in her after all the years she wrote for him, that she wanted to give him a daughter that no parent could be proud of. She is not the kind of person that would get back at somebody in real life because she is far too reserved. However; she writes about payback and revenge in her crime stories, so what could she do? Get payback against him in her stories. She imagined a daughter that not only sleeps around, but kills somebody as well. At the end, who helps the Julie out? Not her father, it’s Sarah. Sarah has to fix the mistake that her publisher made, this fictional version of his daughter. There is a scene early on in the film where she calls him up on the phone and says he didn’t tell her his daughter was coming. When she meets up with him again, he does not bring this up. If my daughter went to my house in France for a couple of days, I would certainly want to know about it, and call back to make sure she is okay. This signifies to me that Sarah’s version of Julie didn’t actually exist.
The murder scene is unexpected in this film, like all keen joys and sorrows of the pursuit of dramatic woman, put down the knot drink and a laugh at the same time, jealousy or quietly sneak vigilant. In building villas, a dissolute life of Julie and act weird Sarah alternating day and night, a symbol of lust overflow swimming pool and finally as a coffee shop called Funk waiters, violent shaking, the first abnormal the calm surface of the water, the suspected drop of blood, and finally a naked body of a man. Fantasy suspense crime novels kill or be killed woman writer, Sarah, to see the genuineness of the scene living the crime scene, after a nervous fear of the instinct, in my more wonderful inspiration to the creation golden . She is almost volunteered to whole-heartedly that the deceptively simple murder case, the use of her creative wisdom to successfully clean up the scene to destroy evidence, did not hesitate to open to a poor lawn repairman Matthew is not how beautiful body.
ReplyDeleteI have rarely seen such a deliberate process of murder, no guilt, writing paper and crumpled like a writing will be abandoned, readily thrown into the corner of an unmanned sweep. Since then things have changed, no longer mentioned. Must admit that the way to kill the dry humor and full of new elements look very sexy, uncontrolled exposure to body temperature and compared to Lourdes · Saini Ye, lightning kill the process and no one else finale staggering. The disappearance of a person, a pool of calm, is so well deserved. The female writer published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father reconciled, subtitles rising, but still feel less than the dead man how innocent and kind-hearted.
Swimming Pool is a very strange film. I did not know exactly what to expect from this film before watching it. To be completely honest, I was not particularly excited to watch this film because it falls in the genre of erotic thriller. I am not a fan of this very unique genre, and I find it difficult to take these kinds of films seriously. All that aside, this movie did do a lot of things well. The film features two female leads, one who is young and promiscuous and the other is middle-aged and is the opposite of promiscuous. While this is a movie of subtleties, there is no subtleness about how polar opposite these two women are. They lead two very different lifestyles, and as a result get on each other's nerves. Julie, the younger woman, is the daughter of Sarah's publisher, the owner of the house Sarah is staying in for a short time. Trying to write her new novel, Sarah becomes continuously frustrated with Julie's partying lifestyle. It is worth noting that Julie's appearance makes her come off as European trash. Every night she comes home with a different man. The lifestyle she leads is almost unrealistic. Her sexual element puts this movie on the edge of borderline pornography. However, this is one of the key elements of the film as it creates a sort of envy in Sarah. She is very different from Julie, living most of her life plainly with the most interesting part being her writings. All of these elements come together for the shock ending of the movie when a daughter claiming to be the publisher's daughter shows up at the home. This ending raises many questions that will probably never be answered. Was Julie real or not? As long as this movie is discussed, that is a question that will always dominate the conversation.
ReplyDeleteThe Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteI thought The Swimming Pool was going to be a good entertaining movie and more what I would consider a “normal” movie, and even watching it I still felt that way. Sara was obviously a little creepy. But there was a lot with the camera angles and things that I did not notice while watching it that made everything more peculiar. This was a even more sexual movie than I originally realized. I always like movies that have symbolism and that sense at the end that you don’t know whats real or not, like Shutter Island, Black Swan, and this, and this one was no different. I didn’t think that this was on par with those two, just because the plot wasn’t quite as good and deep. I still am not sure if I believe Julie was real or not and I would definitely have to watch it to decide what I think happened, and even then I will never be 100% sure what I think.
The Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteI really did not know what to expect before watching the movie The Swimming Pool. I knew that it was a thriller so I was excited to see if it would scare/intrigue me. I had very mixed emotions about the film though. First off it is pretty confusing. The ending complicates the whole rest of the story and really makes you question the meaning of the film in general. Was Julie, the girl who she lived with in the house her real daughter or just someone put in there to contrast Sarah. I ask if Julie was there to contrast Sarah because these two characters could be no different. Sarah is an accomplished crime novel writer where as Julie (Sarah’s publishers daughter) is very promiscuous and has no accomplishments. If Julie was not Sarah’s real daughter though I am curious as to why she helped her cover up the murder. They at first hated each other and although they did grow closer throughout the movie no one would cover up a murder of someone they have not known for very long unless there was a special relationship. This movie opened up so many questions and had almost no answers. I guess that was the point of the film, to make the viewer question and think about what really happened. The films extremely open ending made me have bitter feelings overall.
Erik Rueckle-c10166645
Swimming Pool was a movie that I had seen the second half of in the past flipping through TV, yet had never actually seen the entire movie, so I was grateful for a reason to watch the entire thing. First of all, the film makes way more sense when watching from the beginning, as it is much clearer that there are some scenes which are dreams/not reality, such as the scene when the man stands over Julie at the pool, or later when she kills him. What is very interesting about the scenes is pretty much all of them take place at the swimming pool at the house, so it makes it more difficult to easily decipher what is real and what is imagined. I also found the relationship between Sarah and Julie to be very interesting, as they were polar opposites from the start, but grew more and more alike as their relationship grew. By the end, Sarah even began to have some of the same free-spirited sexuality that Julie has, as she has sex with the gardener (unless that scene wasn’t real). Overall, I enjoyed the movie much more the second time around as not only was it easier to understand, but it was much more interesting to see the development of Julie and Sarah’s characters over the course of the film.
ReplyDeleteAgain another movie where I appreciate the set work and the culture that is portrayed in the movie. I would only rate it an ok movie only because it is often very unclear whether she is dreaming or not. Her fascination with the swimming pool is evident but still sometimes unclear as to its symbolization. I was confused for too much of the movie to be very critical but Franks relationship between Julie and Sarah still makes little sense to me. For some reason I was under the impression that it was going to be a little scarier. I am sure that if I saw this movie again I would enjoy it a lot more and understand Julie's role a little clearer and figure out what actually was real.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey Kaminski - C09409163
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool was an interesting movie to me. I enjoyed the very expansive nature of a simple subject. In basic terms, the movie is about a writer sent to her publisher's get-a-way house which is quite peaceful, a great place to write. Then the publisher's daughter comes to stay at the house as well and creates an uncomfortable and non-peaceful environment for the writer; this is the basic issue. However, the movie gets much deeper psychologically than this. The movie can be a bit confusing when you are unsure whether a dream or real life has occurred. I found that this makes the movie much more interesting. I thought the movie was well executed and keeps you wanting to know more as it progresses. Overall, I did enjoy this movie a substantial amount.
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteBefore watching this movie I thought it was going to be a horror film, but after watching the movie I discovered that it was not a horror film at all. This movie is basically about a woman named Sarah Morton who takes a vacation in a house in France. She is an author and she takes this vacation to escape her everyday life and write her book alone in France.
A girl named Julie arrives shortly after. However, Julie is a very annoying girl in my opinion. She is very distracting. She enjoys drinking and sleeping around and I do not enjoy her character at all. She always gets into fights with Sarah because she is such a distraction to her work.
Sarah then begins to use Julie as the center of her book because she is perfect for the plot of the book. This does lead to Sarah relaxing which leads to her drinking and sleeping with lots of older men. This was an interesting movie and I especially liked how the two girls become closer as the movie goes along. The way they cover up the murder is extremely unique as well.
I would recommend this movie to anyone looking to watch a good movie.
Swimming Pool:
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool was an interesting film, to say the least. The setting in South France was stunningly beautiful and the leading actress, who plays the character, Sarah Morton, does a fantastic job in her role. Indeed, it is a beautifully made film, with many stunning shots of the gorgeous publisher’s daughter, Julie, by the pool. However, just as I thought with I’m Not There, Swimming Pool moves at too slow of a pace. At certain points in the movie, it was moving so slow that I wish I had a fast forward button. Additionally, as the plot began to really develop, the film started to get quite confusing. I was having a lot of difficulty deciphering whether what was going on was reality or the fantasy of Sarah’s novel. Was Sarah imagining everything or was she creating it for her book? The ambiguity made it hard to like sometimes. The conclusion of the film was frustrating. It made me re-think everything that had previously occurred and there was no clear resolution. I enjoy movies that make me think and keep me on the edge, but Swimming Pool simply feels like a big tease that keeps the audience hanging by a thread leaving the theater.
I really enjoyed the movie Swimming Pool. When you leave the cinema asking yourself why did certain things happen and what was the movie really about, that’s when you know the movie is good—it left you with a hook even after it was over.
ReplyDeleteWhen a movie is based on a writer, trying to write a book, we already know that the story happening, viewed by the audience, relates to the book being written. Other movies like this include The Ghost Writer and The Number 23. Even though during the movie I did not suspect the entire murder to be part of the murder/mystery novel Sarah Morton was writing, as soon as the real Julie was revealed, the mystery of why everything that happened did was solved.
When I walked into this movie, I was quite excited because usually a movie about book writing is very suspenseful and includes one of my favorites, The Shinning. The movie did live up to my expectations mostly because of Charlotte Rampling’s acting and the interesting character of Julie (played by Ludivine Sagnier, a French actress). Rampling is illustrated as an unpleasant character, a British irritated snob. Despite her unlikable character, she still somehow keeps us captivated with her story and what she is trying to do throughout the movie.
This movie is very slow paced, about a middle-aged woman who is boring on her own. Still, the ending reveals that everything though about Rampling’s character was false and misleading.
The movie Swimming Pool is a narrative told visually. The story is communicated through camera movement and camera language. Some of the camera movements used are dolly, tilt, and tracking. This film shows women watching women and focuses on the female body. At first, Sarah is watching Julie, usually from above. The low angle shots of Julie portray her as powerless. As the movie progresses there is an identity transfer. It switches to Julie watching Sarah. At first Julie is associated with desire and sexuality and after, those traits are given to Sarah. Also, first there is a shot tracking Julie’s body and later in the film there is one of Sarah. In addition, the movie has a mystery aspect; we don’t know exactly what is going on. For example, the ending of the film implies whether Julie was a made up character by Sarah or if she really existed. It explains why the movie was ambiguous at times. Maybe everything that happened was real, but maybe Sarah made it all up. It is left open to interpretation because it is not revealed in the film. Overall, I didn’t like the plot very much but I thought the cinematography was great.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool
ReplyDeleteMatthew Head
I enjoyed Swimming Pool, the themes in this movie were simple, It reminded me of the fem fatal movie theme. It was certainly not the most fast paced movie I have ever seen, however I think it worked. I would not have watched this movie by myself, however I am glad that I saw it. I was not a fan of the ending however, I think unlike Black Swan which was very vague about what actually happend, I do not think that that style worked for this movie. I think that when you use such an open ended style of ending you have to make sure it is a fast paced movie. I almost feel as if I may have wasted some of my time watching this.
Initially, when I saw the trailer for the film shown in class, I perceived the film as being a intense thriller due to the eerie music being played. However, after the class screening, I thought of the movie as more of a mystery. Regardless, I enjoyed the film as it kept me engaged and constantly thinking throughout the movie.
ReplyDeleteSarah, a well-known crime fiction writer, while staying at a house with who she assumes to be her boss’s daughter, Julie, struggles to write the next novel in her collection. The film deals with the audience’s perception of what is reality and what happens in Sarah’s mind. The twist at the end of the movie, where Sarah’s boss greets his daughter who is not the Julie that Sarah knows, rather a similar looking girl name Julia, causes the audience to question all of the previous events that occurred. I believe that this creates a parallelism between the next mystery Sarah is trying to write and what is currently happening in her life while at the house. Thus, I believe that Sarah, in her mind, created this perception of reality, which includes Julie and everything that happened while at the house, in order to fulfill the void of not being able to come up with a story to write about for her novel.
I think the final scene of some deliberate excess, speculation and hinted before they have enough to put an end to. Turn a blind eye pose drunk Honey girl is just an illusion, the pool is not too very sorry?
ReplyDeleteThe suspense is layers, but the process was to enjoy the calm. One belonging to the film of two women calm flow state, such as water at the top of the curtain was rolled up in the secretive process. About two women and a murder. Period of 52 minutes of video is really straightforward and blunt, can not say no aftertaste, and I am just a kill to bring shivers.
Addicted to the bloody erotic female novelist, night after night the young girls of the tiles. [Swimming Pool] must be wrapped around the topic is not open passion. Rampling Charlotte, the expression really make people hesitant, hard to say that the expression of disdain held in contempt for the first time she witnessed the girl debauchery is contains a humble sense of identity. Julie is ambiguous inspiration. Sarah on the screen, a folder belonging to the girl, her treasure out of the bottleneck. Conscious girl said: I killed him.I think it's for your the book, she is no longer the sole perpetrators of the story.
For the illusion of a say, I do not fully believe. Story is not fully described in Sarah's point of view. Ozon manufactured suspense, and not enough to overthrow all ambiguous inclusion of two women students from the hostile oil is his energy to cut and polish. If the last with a strange girl pass by, but smiled and looked at her a long time Sarah, even if it is never met, Julie, even if everything does not exist, are no longer important to us.
Francois Ozon directs the psychological thriller. The movies stars Charlotte Rampling as a mysterious writer. Sarah (Rampling) accepts the offer of using her publisher’s vacation home. Sarah seems to be conservative and repressed. She clashes with the other inhabitant of the house Julie. She is the inhibited daughter of the publisher. The emotional deep freeze starts to thaw between the two because of Julie’s promiscuous sex life. Their lives are more complicated on the death of one of Julie’s nightly assignations. This movie was screened in the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
ReplyDeleteHolly Bensur
ReplyDeleteC09668372
When I first looked up Swimming Pool before watching it in class, I was rather skeptical because I have never really been fond of thriller or horror movies. So I went into the screening with a doubtful attitude that I would enjoy the film, but as the movie progressed, I found myself enjoying it more and more, eager to see what came next.
The ending of the film left me perplexed yet intrigued. It left me wondering if what I had just seen was really true, or just a part of Sarah Morton’s imagination. Or maybe if parts of it were true and others imagination. Obviously, I am still trying to conceptualize the differences.
What I enjoyed most about the film is, if it all was Sarah’s imagination, is that a place or thinking, and trying to immerse yourself completely in it, can lead you become an entirely different person. In the beginning, Sarah had a very tight, strict and dull personality. As she meets Julie and starts to like her and eventually become more like her, Sarah lets go of who she was and is able to relax. No one should be themselves all the time – life would get boring. It is good to mix it up every once in a while.
Swimming Pool is a thriller directed by Francois Ozon. One of the things I liked most about Swimming Pool was the constant switching from reality to fantasy. Having watched and studied Black Swan earlier this semester I was much better at picking up signs of when we were in reality or not. One of the biggest factors I used to work out what was real was the costume. For example in the pool seen when Franck is looking over Sarah she is wearing the same one-piece swimsuit that Julie had on before. This hinted to the fact that the scene was imaginary as Sarah was trying to see herself as Julie. This was very similar to a scene in Black Swan when Nina and Lily are wearing the same grey sweater.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing the transformation of Julie and Sarah. When Sarah first meets Julie she just looks at her as a young and immature girl. However as the film develops she becomes obsessed with Julie and longs to be as sexually active as her. I feel Julie represents the younger years of Sarah life that she never got to enjoy. Although I sometimes do not like it when a director leaves you with an ambiguous ending I felt it was appropriate in Swimming Pool. We are not sure whether the murder of Julie actually happened or if Julie was just a fantasized character. I feel if we knew the whole story and it turned out that Julie was fictional it would take away from the entire film. In my opinion I feel that both Julie characters did not ever exist but were creations by Sarah’s mind.
Nicholas Sando
C10186082
Swimming Pool was a rather odd movie. The movie starts off very slowly, with Sarah traveling to France to work on her book. The slow pace of the movie changes when Julie, her editor's daughter, arrives. Almost immediately, the film becomes much more fast-paced and much more sexualized.
ReplyDeleteJulie is essentially the anti-Sarah; outgoing, loud, sexual; and this contrast takes up a major part of the film. Towards the end of the movie, however, when things start to become stranger, it becomes less clear whether Julie is a real person or simply a figment of Sarah's imagination. The fact that Julie so perfectly counterbalances Sarah, along with a couple of dream sequences, indicates that Julie may not be a real person at all. This is further emphasized when Sarah meets Julia, her editor's real daughter.
Swimming Pool, while initially rather slow, quickly develops into a psychological thriller that leaves the audience very interested in the events that unfolded before them.
Swimming Pool kept me captivated and interested throughout the entire movie. The basic premise of the move is that Sarah, a popular yet conservative British writer, is having writers block and is invited to her publishers house to help her get over it. One weekend, the publishers daughter, Julie, a sex-crazed partier, shows up at the house claiming to be on vacation. Julie and Sarah are polar oppoisties in personality and Sarah spites Julie at first but eventually becomes interested and envious of Julies lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching this movie as it kept me on edge the entire time. However,I do wish it was more clear as to when Sarah was having a dream or not. I would also liked to have seen a more clear resolution to the movie. I don't think i would reccomend this movie to others.
The title ‘Swimming pool’ symbolizes many things. The story of film actually starts when Sarah and Julie met in the swimming pool and I think this place is the center of conflicts and desires. An d It was very impressing that Sarah follow Julie as swimming like Julie in the pool and stealing her food.
ReplyDeleteI think the most important thing we should focus on is the relationship between two women, Julie and Sarah. At first, Sarah didn’t like her and felt angry about julie’s self-indulgence. However as time goes by, Sarah is attracted by Julie and wrote about Julie. It is the interesting that Sarah is the writer who can depict things specifically and full of emotions.
The two woman’s relationship is very complicated. Sarah discovered her inner desire which seeks her own sensuality because of Julie. Due to Julie, Sarah attracted men to absorb her attractions. In addition, the ending of the film was very shocking because the whole things happened in Julie’s house were in Sarah’s novel. She created Julie who is very gorgeous character. I think in the scene when Julie called Sarah as Mom, I had to figure out that Sarah is the actuall mother of Julie because Sarah made Julie in her novel.
Nathanael Skinner
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting about this movie is not knowing what is real and what is imagined. What is real or what is in the book or what is in the imagination of the writer.Also at the end we are confronted with the publisher other "daughter".
In the main part of the film we see the difference in the two main characters lives. One is out going and sexual, and the other is a recluse, keeping to her self. As time goes on, we see Sarah start to envy julie, then she starts to dream about stuff.
Finally the murder happens, and sarah helps julie with covering it up.
But at the end we start to question reality, and weather or to julie was real, if the murder was real, or if it was all in Sarahs head.
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteThe movie was fairly easy to follow and was obviously about a frustrated writer of serial novels, called Sarah Morton, who took the advice of her publisher, John Bosload, to come up with a fresh idea for a new book while vacationing at the publishers villa in France. Little did Bosload know that the idea for this new book would be hatched from Sarah Morton's imaginative use of the publishers daughter as the main character and involve the publishers own vacation hideaway. Sarah played by the elegant and stunning Charlotte Rampling is a somewhat withdrawn, cold and uptight woman while Julie played by Ludivine Sagnier is stunning, seductive, adventurous, and mysterious, but the two don't like each other. Sarah is more quiet and Julie is loud, the two present polar opposite qualities to the full extent and have opposite habits.
The twists and turns that take place in the film are expressive of Sarah Morton's desperation to end a serious creative block. This was an interesting and entertaining movie. Good acting and a decent plot. I enjoyed watching it.
Swimming Pool kept me interested throughout the entire movie simply because it gives the audience the opportunity to begin to draw their own conclusions based on what happens between Sarah and Julie. I was able to make guesses on what I believed to be reasoning, and that is always fun while watching a film; that is how films stay interesting and make you want more. What is happening in Sarah's mind and what is reality becomes somewhat blurred and this allows the audience to guess between what's real and what's illusion. There was a sexual energy present throughout this movie which also made it quite intriguing. Overall, I enjoyed this movie, and I wasn't sure if I would have, based on the plot and the initial scenes.
ReplyDeleteSwimming Pool is about a writer who had writers block and her publisher let her spend the summer at his summer house to write the novel. This movie played mind games with the audience because You would think that her publisher daughter was at the summer house but at the end his daughter showed up at his office and she looked younger with braces. I believe Sarah had a fantasy and the novel she wrote was all in her head. I enjoyed watching the film because it got you thinking about if the plot was real or if it was an imagination the author had in order to write a wonderful novel for her publisher.
ReplyDeleteWephnirva Nonord
C07404423
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteJulie's full of sexy and unruly lifestyle had a huge impact on the traditional life of Sarah. She made Sarah jealous. In fact, we eventually came to understand that Julie does not exist, it's all Sarah's imagination. All of this can come from the most primitive desire in the heart of Sarah that was suppressed, all this is a true reflection of the human subconscious.
Swimming pool is like a symbol of the desire, all the stories revolve around expanding it. When Sarah final jump into this pool, the desire starts reveal. When the film story slowly began to develop into a murder case, in fact, everything is just a gimmick. According to the end of the movie, we can even understand that it is non-existent event. The whole movie is like a scam, the reality of space and imagination is blurred, and it's difficult to clear and attainable region to separate those are true and those are virtual. But according to my personal understanding, the film gradually mixed Sarah's imagination of desire and the mystery she is writing, gave the audiences a absurd impression.
Swimming pool
ReplyDeleteI can’ t imagine some murder screen in this film, , like all keen laughter, anger, sorrow and happiness pursuit of dramatic woman, put down "drink and laugh at the same time, snuck envy or alert. In the construction of the villa, a dissolute life of Julie and behavior of weird Sarah alternate day and night, a symbol of desire overflow swimming pool, finally as a coffee shop called the horror of the waiter, violent shaking, the first abnormal calm waters, doubt drop of blood, and finally a naked man. Crime fiction, fantasy suspense kill or be killed women writers, Sarah, see the real life scenes of the crime scene, the tension of the fear of instinct, in my wonderful inspiration creation of gold. She is almost voluntarily for murder, look be like simple, use her creative wisdom clear success site, destroy evidence, not hesitate to open a poor lawn mechanic Matthew not beautiful body.
seldom see this kind of attempted murder process, no guilt, letter, crumpled like a writing will come to see him at any time lost in the corner of a no one to clean. Since then things have changed, not to mention. Must admit, the way to kill dry humor, full of new element looks very sexy, not exposed to temperature and Luther • Saini than you, and end the process of lightning killed no one gaping. The missing a person, a swimming pool, calm, so deserve. Women writers published a new book, the rebellious daughter and his father and good, subtitles rise, but still can't feel the kind of innocent
This movie is another good example of the fight between good and evil. Sarah is a successful writer who avoids the vices of the modern era. Then her character is introduced to the fiendish Julie, who's risky (evil) lifestyle begins to rub off on Sarah.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of the movie, Sarah has done things that the viewer would not have expected earlier on. Such has helping Julie bury her murder victim and seducing the gardener for ulterior motives.
However, from a cinematic standpoint, this film is interesting because you can't necessarily tell what is true to the story apart from what Sarah is imagining. Everything about the story could just be a display of what Sarah is writing. Julie may not even exist.
Swimming Pool is an interesting thriller that focuses on the life of Sarah Morton and her attempt to write another novel, when it seems she has some form of burnout or writers block. Her publisher offers his vacation home for her to go to relax and attempt to get away from everything so that she can focus on her new novel. It turns out to be a perfect situation until one night a young woman in her 20’s appears; it is her publisher’s daughter.
ReplyDeleteThis unexpected visit throws Sarah for a loop and becomes the main focus of the film. Julie, the daughter, is very laid back. Her hobbies seem to be tanning by the pool, swimming in the pool and bringing men back to the house. It is hard to state what exactly Sarah thinks about her but she is most definitely curious, intrigued and disgusted by Julie’s lifestyle. She becomes a kind a voyeur and is unable to take her eyes off of Julie.
I believe this was a film that suffered from style over substance, and was left wanting a bit more from it. I don’t think the characters were developed enough and were two one dimensional, within the first 2 minutes of seeing each character you knew what they were going to be like throughout the rest of the film.
Swimming pool is one of those films that leave the audience split at its conclusion. Some believe it went one way, some believe it went another way. What is more interesting to me than the plot of this movie is how it was shot and some sort of the underlying thematic points that are made behind it. Whether you believe Julie to be real or not, one thing I do believe is certain is that not all of the events that Sarah perceived to have gone on happened exactly as she envisioned them in her own mind.
ReplyDeleteThere was some interweaving that did take place and this showed even if the events did take place, Sarah was at the time, at a rough point in life and she wanted to reflect her own self doubts onto another person, who was everything she wanted to be.
Some examples of this is all the sexual scenes that happened in the movie, all seem to be a little bit too unreal or unbelievable either in their circumstance or how the situation took place. They all seem more of viewpoint of a biased character, than an unbiased representation of what actually happened.
Swimming Pool
ReplyDeleteC04997305
Swimming pool tells the story of novelist Sarah Morton. Sarah has become well known for her crime novels The Dorwell series. When her publisher John offers her his house in France to use as inspiration for her upcoming novel she willingly accepts. Sarah travels to the French countryside and finds herself comfortable in the setting until Julie, John's daughter, appears. Julie is a sexual being, free spirited and far from the reserved role Sarah takes on. Sarah is at odds with Julie and her behavior but at the same time fascinated by her. Sarah seems influenced by Julie’s presence and we witness a character transfer between the two women. At the end of the film we realize that Julie was a creation of Sarah’s mind.
Swimming Pool gives a glimpse into the mind of a crime novelist via Sarah Morton. Sarah creates the idea of Julie and the events that unfold surrounding her. This creative approach leaves the audience believing in the events that take place while in France up until the end where they are lead to question the film. Swimming Pool is a clever psychological thriller that makes use of long shots that can be witnessed throughout the entirety of the film.
This movie is interesting mainly because at the end of the movie people may still try to figure out what happened actually in the movie. "Did the murder really happened"? The actor setting is very interesting. Sarah is that kind of successful crime fiction writer who is treated already been suspecious of weird in the personality. The view setting is also attractive, a big house in the rural area far away from people. The quite blue swimming pool back yard. Sounds like some event is already being set up.
ReplyDeleteIt is easy to understand the personality difference and behavior difference. Julie is dressing kind of trashy and easy-going on having sex. This somehow affects Sarah letting her try to go back to her old time. One of the scene that Sarah was sneaking out Julie having sex with different man. The nude body of Julie and the image of Sarah on the window showing her face kind of shows Sarah's desire of sex. This also increased the intention of the movie.