SWIMMING POOL
Year: 2003
USA: Focus Features
UK: UGC Films
Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Ludivine Sagnier, Charles Dance, Marc Fayolle, Jean-Marie Lamour, Mireille Mosse, Michel Fau, Jean-Claude Lecas, Emilie Gavois-Kahn, Erarde Forestali, Lauren Farrow, Sebastian Harcombe, Frances Cuka, Keith Yeates, Tricia Aileen, Glen Davies
Director: François Ozon
Countries: France / UK
USA: 102 mins
UK: 103 mins
USA Rated: R for strong sexual content, nudity, language, some violence and drug use
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong sex and language
USA Release Date: 2 July 2003
UK Release Date: 22 August 2003
Synopsis
SWIMMING POOL had its world premiere In Competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. With SWIMMING POOL, one of Europe's most daring and inventive writer/directors, François Ozon, reunites with his two favourite leading ladies, Charlotte Rampling (UNDER THE SAND) and Ludivine Sagnier (8 WOMEN). Deliciously sophisticated and sexy, SWIMMING POOL the first of Ozon's movies to be made in the English language, revisits the sense of mystery that infused UNDER THE SAND.
Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is a famous British mystery author. Tired of London and seeking inspiration for her new novel, she accepts an offer from her publisher John Bosload (Charles Dance) to stay at his home in Provence, in the South of France. It is the off-season, and Sarah finds that the beautiful country locale and unhurried pace is just the tonic for her - until late one night, when John's indolent and insouciant French daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) unexpectedly arrives. Sarah's prim and steely English reserve is jarred by Julie's reckless, sexually charged lifestyle. Their interactions set off an increasingly unsettling series of events, as Sarah's creative process and a possible real-life murder begin to blend dangerously together.
François Ozon wrote the original screenplay in collaboration with French novelist and screenwriter Emmanuele Bernheim (with whom he previously worked on UNDER THE SAND). The film is produced by Ozon's long-time collaborators, Fidelite's Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc.