Monday, July 2, 2012

Movie of the Month - July - Swimming Pool


On the surface, all is calm.

Initially another movie was supposed to be my pick this month, but as I recently saw Love Crime with impressive performance  by Ludivine Sagnier it made me think of her another great work in Swimmig Pool. The film, directed by Francois Ozon, tells the story of a writer Sarah Morton played by Charlotte Rampling who visits her publisher's summer house in the south of France. While staying there she meets his daughter - young and fun loving Julie.

Sarah is fascinated with Julie because the young girl is everything she is not – free, promiscuous and uninhibited. The more Sarah finds out about Julie the more she becomes curious about her and her bond with the girl becomes stronger. At the same time Sarah is trying to write her novel but her curiosity of Julie gets in the way of that especially when the two women are forced to share a secret together.

The film brings in thrilling and very interesting story that long after the movie is over will keep you guessing and putting the puzzle together. It also has gorgeous cinematography that truly establishes dreamy, sensual and summery feel of the movie and wonderful performances from Sagnier and especially from incredible Rampling.
Review of the movie - here


Previous movies of the month:

 

25 comments:

  1. Oooh, this looks like a bit of alright! I've heard a lot about Ozon.

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    1. Some of his movies are great, but I'd avoid Angel if I were you - it has Fassbender but it's pretty bad.

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    2. Need. To. See. Fassbender. Trying. To. Overcome. Urgh!

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    3. Haha, well I guess it's not a total waste of a movie considering he is in it :)

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  2. Great post. I need to watch this again at some point. I think the publisher is the same bad guy from "Last Action Hero"(Charles Dance). Speaking of Ludivine Sagnier I wish more people knew about this beautiful and talented actress. Here is my tribute. http://www.videovangaurd.com/2011/03/vern-looks-at-ludivine-sagnier-and.html

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    1. Yeah, Charles Dance is in it, he is a brilliant actor - love his work in Game of Thrones. Ludivine is really amazing, I loved her work in Love Crime so much.

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  3. I love this film. I have the unrated version on DVD. In fact, I went on an Ozon phase after seeing this and 8 Women. I haven't been able to catch up on his work in the past few years but once I re-release and re-edit a lot of my old Ozon reviews. I'll be trying to catch up on everything else he's done including the recent films of his that I've missed.

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    1. I think I only saw this, 8 femmes and Angel but I really need to see more, I really like his style and his cast is always amazing.

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  4. Interesting. The only one Ozon film that I've seen was Angel and I watched right when it has gotten on dvd shelves and we were bored, so we decided to give it a go. At that time, I knew nothing about movies and of course I didn't know who Fassy was, but I remember clearly that I thought "what a gorgeous looking man!" Ha! Anyway, the point of this rambling is: I wasn't a fan of Angel (except for Fassbender there), but I'm curious about Swimming Pool. I checked and it's actually on my watchlist.

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    1. Oh, Swimming Pool is infinetly better than Angel - Angel was gorgoeus to look and Fassbender was amazing but the film was a huge mess. This one almost feels like it was made by the different director.

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  5. Love this film, and love Ludivine, she's this generation's Catherine Deneuve.

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    1. She is really impressive young actress. Gorgeous too!

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  6. I really dug this movie, but I haven't seen it since it came out. I should rewatch it.

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    1. It's really cool on rewatch, considering the ending - makes you look for all the clues.

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  7. Thanks for the heads up on this one, sounds aces!! I will try and see it if I can!

    S

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  8. Nice pics Sati, but the movie doesn't quite appeal to me.

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    1. Sorry to hear that, it's quite divisive though.

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  9. Wow, never heard of this one. Sounds like something I need to see.

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    1. You should it has so many great things in it but Charlotte Rambling's work makes it worth seeing on its its own.

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  10. I love everything about this film. The first time I saw it, I sat dumbfounded through the closing credits and knew I had to see it again as soon as humanly possible. Really cool of you to highlight it.

    Sagnier is simply sensational here. And Rampling... she's got it.

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    1. I really like this one, saw it for the first time in the summer two years ago and it was a fantastic experience. Sagnier and Rampling both created incredible work.

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  11. This one was definitely a mind bend for me. I liked it though. You had to remain constantly engaged in the action to try to put all the pieces together.

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