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The Swimming Pool
Directed by François Ozon
Written by François Ozon and Emmanuèle
Starring Charlotte Rampling, Charles Dance, Ludivine Sagnier, Jean-Marie Lamour
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François Ozon's emergence as a major force in contemporary cinema has been more sneak attack then direct ascent. Many of his early short films went essentially unnoticed in the late 1990s, until See the Sea and The Dress were paired together and appeared at some US queer festivals. They caused a stir-- The Dress was a sweet story of comic gender confusion, but See the Sea was an ironic, Patricia Highsmithy tale of a psychotic lesbian murderer fashioned as what seemed to be a sweet coming-out story. Ozon became noticed. After that, his 1999 Water Drops on Burning Rocks-- which was adopted from a play by Rainier Warner Fassbinder-- garnered some attention for its quirky bisexual/transgender plotting and very stylish cinematography. Some critics were already, placing Ozon as a successor to Pier Paolo Pasolini and Fassbinder.

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His next film, the 2000 Criminal Lovers, was a modern-day fairy tale that crossed Hansel and Gretel with the Marquis de Sade with a critique of French racism and cannibalism tossed in. It seemed to confirm Ozon's links to Pasolini and Fassbinder. Daring, audacious, and completely off-the-wall, Criminal Lovers was resonant of Pasolini's Salo: 120 Days of Sodom and Fassbinder's Querelle. Unfortunately, Criminal Lovers seemed to have been pre-made for a cult audience and never received the audience it deserved.

Under the Sand, Ozon's next film, did get audiences and praise. Charlotte Rampling stars as a woman who cannot come to terms with her husband's death, and so persists in thinking that he's still alive. Rampling's performance was suburb, and Ozon's direction flawless.

Ozon followed Under the Sand two years later with 8 Women-- a campy murder-mystery musical that starred every gay female icon of the French cinema. It was great fun, but had a short half-life.

The pre-release buzz on Ozon's newest, The Swimming Pool, was terrific. It was his first film in English, it starred Charlotte Rampling, and was billed as an erotic murder tale about a repressed woman mystery-writer. Alas, The Swimming Pool begins with ambitions as great as the ocean, but by the end puddles to something much smaller.

Written by Ozon and Emmanuèle Bernheim, The Swimming Pool begins like a Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, or P.D. James novel. Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is a late fortyish British writer who has penned a highly successful series but is tired of turning out yearly volumes. She longs to do something new, but John Bosload (Charles Dance), her editor and possible lover, is content that she continue her highly profitable mysteries. He sends her to his house in Southern France where she begins productive work on a novel only to be interrupted by the arrival of John's somewhat estranged daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). Julie hates Sarah's presence as much as the novelist resents her editor's daughter's, and after a series of mean-spirited fights (which include Sarah stealing Julie's private diary to make notes for her novel) they begin to become friends. There even seems to be some erotic tension emerging between them as they wrangle over their shared relationship with John. The situation livens up when Franck (Jean-Marie Lamour), a local bartender who seems to have some sexual interest in both women, is brought back to the house by Julie for what seems to be a threesome. Nothing goes right after this. Sarah, the mystery novelist who specializes in writing about murder, becomes involved in one.

Ozon's writing is cool and deliberate and his cinematography has never been more beautiful. The Swimming Pool has a clean, delicious look, and its first half moves along nicely. Sure, it is a little predictable, but that very predictability gives us pleasure because we know it's going to turn on us. Rampling is great-- all of those years of intelligent performances pay off beautifully-- and Ludivine Sagnier's Julie is sexy, malicious, and vulnerable.

But by the end of the film there's really nothing here. Unlike in Criminal Lovers, where Ozon mined our collective unconscious for its great fears; or Under the Sand, in which he brought us inside the mind of a woman who was coming apart, The Swimming Pool is almost all surface. Even his usual gay sensibility seems to be missing here, replaced by a Hollywoodesque sense of predictable timing. There is a surprise ending, but it brings little pleasure because it is at once both too obscure and too obvious. The "mystery" here is all just a simple narrative trick with no internal motivation or even payoff.

It's too bad, because until now, Ozon has been someone whose work got more interesting with each film. His use of Rampling here seemed to be an indication of his empathy with smart, intelligent performances. And his use of Ludivine Sagnier-- who appears in many of his films including Criminal Lovers and 8 Women-- lead fans to believe that he may be starting a personal repertory company-- shades again of Pasolini and Fassbinder-- who could grow with him and his vision. One misstep early in a career is not a big deal, and with a new Ozon film just completed and scheduled for release next year, we may seen something brand new and exciting. Unfortunately, The Swimming Pool marks not a new height but a lull in Ozon's up-until-now fascinating and growing body of work.

Author Profile:  Michael Bronski
	Michael Bronski is the author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility and The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom. He writes frequently on sex, books, movies, and culture, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
	Email:	mabronski@aol.com