In my view Swimming Pool is a movie that simply dissolves when one sees through its premise, and I think there is something suspicious, even fishy, about a movie that is so made to be "spoiled." This does not mean that Charlotte Rampling isn't quite wonderful and that Ozon hasn't perfected the glossy post-Chabrol-with-an- existential-twist style that he first tried out in Sous le sable (Under the Sand), also with Mme Rampling. She is better here and this is a more cohesive, faster-paced movie.

Swimming Pool cries out to be "spoiled," so I did, on the UK website The Spoiler, q.v.: http://www.niam.co.uk/community//mod...content&id=145 (or just go to www.thespoiler.co.uk and look it up alphabetically).

But I also wrote a respectful description of the movie and Rampling's graceful presence on it in a regular review:
http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=130

As I said there, though, I still prefer Ozon's edgier Les amants criminels (Criminal Lovers). If you observe carefully the trajectory Ozon is following, you will not fail to conclude that he is getting slicker and emptier each time. Swimming Pool gives pleasure, but it's like the old joke about Chinese food, that it makes you feel empty a few hours later -- all that's left is how pretty the South of France is and how slinky and suave Miss Rampling still can be at fifty-eight.