(2002) A "somewhat bizarre" (at the conclusion I had the sensation of having been inside an Escher illustration), sensual and suspenseful murder mystery from director/writer François Ozon involves Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling), a well-known author of crime fiction, who has gone to Luberón, France, to find peace and solace at her publisher's house in order to concentrate on her next book.

Before leaving London, acerbic and jealous of the attention a new writer receives after getting a literary prize, Sarah reminds her former lover, John Bosload (Charles Dance), of his oft-expressed motto: "Awards are like hemorrhoids; after awhile every asshole gets one." Disdainful of success and money, initially adhering to an aesthetic existence, eating yogurt while avoiding alcohol, Sarah removes the crucifix on the wall above the bed and begins composing a new manuscript on her laptop, the next in her Dorwell series.

Her hope of a visit from John never materializes, but his daughter Julie arrives at night unexpectedly, soon after accompanied on a succession of nights by male guests. In the swimming pool Julie swims in the nude; Sarah notices a long scar on her abdomen. The older writer and the free-spirited girl cause each other friction. In a heated exchange Julie calls uptight Sarah an "English bitch" who writes about "dirty things" because she's frustrated at not being able to do them herself, suggesting she shove her morals up her ass. She refers to her father as the "king of orgies" who only cares about "blood, sex, and money."

Putting aside her Dorwell story, Sarah begins writing about Julie, snooping through the girl's room where she discovers a diary. In an effort to get better acquainted with her new subject, Sarah offers going out to dinner together; at home Sarah (who grew up in the swinging 'sixties) drinks liquor and smokes pot with Julie. Julie tells Sarah of becoming sexually active at thirteen and falling in love with a boy at sixteen; her mother she says lives in Nice.

The point of view shifts to Julie as she enters Sarah's room to find the manuscript about herself. Taking her cue from Sarah's fiction, she invites the waiter from the local tavern, Franck Durin (Jean-Marie Lamour), who lives near the castle of the Marquis de Sade, over for an evening of partying, dancing, and swimming. The next morning the pool has been covered, the crucifix reappears on the wall, and the café is closed because Franck is absent.

The gardener Marcel shocks Sarah when he says Julie's mother is dead. Following a collaboration between the two women, Julie hands over to Sarah her mother's manuscript, a romance based on her love affair with John, from which Sarah composes Swimming Pool.

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Copyright © 2008 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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