aka La Piscine
starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, Jane Birkin
directed by Jacques Deray
in French with English subtitles
123 minutes
Marianne (Romy Schneider) and Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) live in a beautiful villa on the Cote d'Azure with a view of the Mediterranean Sea and a beautiful swimming pool. They have been together for more than two years when Harry (Maurice Ronet) and Penelope (Jane Birkin), Harry's 18-year-old daughter, come to visit. Harry and Marianne were romantically involved with a few years before she met Jean-Paul.
Jean-Paul is very possessive of Marianne. Harry is very possessive of Penelope. Things turn sour after Marianne spends a day shopping with Harry and Jean-Paul takes Penelope to the beach, a secluded beach.
There is more to the movie but saying anything more will give away too much, just as at least one of the posters gives away too much.
I will say that there is a turning point in this movie. After the turning point, the movie takes a decidedly darker turn. The turning point occurs about halfway through the movie. The ending felt ambiguous to me but I like it and it felt creepy, in part because I wasn't sure how to read it and in part because it inspired conflicting images in my head as to how to interpret the ending.
Two versions of this movie were filmed simultaneously, one in French and one in English. The two films are near identical, as I understand it, but the English version is slightly shorter and has a final shot that was tacked on, which casts a different light on the ending.
I'm glad I saw this movie. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea.
No comments:
Post a Comment