Swimming Pool (film)
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{{Infobox Film
| name = Swimming Pool | image = Swimming pool (movie).jpg | caption = | director = François Ozon | writer = François Ozon,
Emmanuèle Bernheim | starring = Charlotte Rampling,
Ludivine Sagnier,
Charles Dance | producer = Olivier Delbosc | distributor = Focus Features | budget = | released = 18 May 2003 (Cannes Film Festival) | runtime = 102 min | language = English, French | imdb_id = 0324133 | }}
Swimming Pool is a film released in 2003. It was directed by François Ozon. It stars Charlotte Rampling and introduces Ludivine Sagnier.
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Plot Summary
Sarah Morton, a middle-aged British mystery writer (played by Rampling), is having a writer's block that is stopping her from completing her next book. Her publisher offers his country house in France for some rest and relaxation. Sarah's routine in the house shows her constrained old maid-like lifestyle. After becoming comfortable with the run of the house, Sarah's relaxation is interrupted by the publishers' daughter, Julie (played by Sagnier), who shows up one night and says she lives full-time in the house. Julie is a party-girl whose sex-life includes one-night stands with middle-aged men. A competition of personalities over the different lifestyles develop between the two women. The competition becomes sexual when a local male waiter is involved. An unexpected tragedy occurs after a night of flirting between these three.
The film's main surprise is confusing the audience on how much of these events actually occurred versus how much is Sarah's imagination. These imaginations are the basis for her new book that she writes during her stay in the French house.
Alternative interpretation
The film can be interpreted as symbolist and the plot may become clearer if one supposes that Sarah suffer from multiple personality disorder, the two different personalities are called Sarah and Julie. Furthermore the film contains a color-key: red motif= Julie and blue motif= Sarah. The same technique is used in Eyes Wide Shut.
The Sarah and Julie personalities are contrasted in their behavior:
- Sarah is the logical personality that oppresses the Julie-personality; she is the writer of the Dorwell crime novels; she doesn't smoke, drink or use drugs; Sarah is middle-aged; she is the blue personality.
- Julie is the swinging personality that also represents Sarah's/Julie's youth; she is the writer of the abstract novel; she does smoke, drink and uses drugs; Julie is young; she is the red personality.
The editor is in fact Sarah's/Julie's boyfriend and he knows about her disorder, in fact he turned down Julie's abstract novel in the past. Because Sarah's newest novel was not publishable, he sent her to France, where she could come into contact with her Julie-personality.
Some color/behavioral clues in the film:
- Sarah arrives in a blue Peugeot, Julie arrives in a red Peugeot;
- Sarah's room is blue;
- When Sarah writes about Julie, she writes with a red pencil;
- When Sarah opens the closet, there is a red and a blue robe, Sarah tries the red one, but wears the blue one;
- Sarah goes to sleep in the blue room, feels suffocated, opens the window, Julie arrives, Sarah becomes Julie, takes a bath, smokes and drinks wine;
- The morning after Julie's arrival, there is a single red flower in the garden;
- When Sarah/Julie is recognized in the subway, she denies being Sarah because she is Julie at that time, a few seconds later she drinks whiskey!
- On her way to France she smokes on a red train;
- The editor doesn't get confused when Sarah/Julie tells him that his daughter arrived;
- The men Julie sleeps with are men of Sarah's age;
- In the end Sarah wears a red robe and sleeps with Marcel, meaning that the two personalities are merging.
When Sarah comes into contact with men, she becomes Julie. Franck likes Sarah, but when Sarah becomes Julie, he rejects her, that's why she kills Franck.
Simpler interpretation
If one acknowledges the color clues listed above, a simpler interpretation would be that blue represents Sarah's real-life while red represent's Sarah's imaginations.