mujer del misterio

Swimming Pool is a movie that I really wanted to see in the theater. But time and life usually get in my way. I am really not sure how I feel about the movie. As I said I started out very interested to see this one. But it turns out to be another of those films that have promise, and never really get going. You sort of just wait for something to happen. Sometimes it does, sometimes not, and other times you just don't care. This is one of those films of that latter category.


The movie begins in England. Early morning people on the train going to work. A woman reading a mystery novel, recognizes the woman sitting across from her as the author of her book. She proceeds to tell the author how very much she enjoys all of her books, and can never wait for the next one. The author says in her bitchiest tone, that the woman must be mistaken, she is not the person that she thinks she is and hurries off the train. We catch up with the author in a local pub, still very early morning, and she orders a whiskey, downs it in one swallow and heads off. Already I smell trouble, unhappy with the job, not happy with life...Oh who knows another tortured artist. We will have to wait and see.

She has a meeting with her publisher, who again smothers her with accolades on her latest book. She gives a wave of the hand and says that she is tired of writing the same old thing. And there is simply no way to get her mind on anything else in dreary old London. John (the publisher) suggests that she leave and go to his house in the South of France for as long as she wants, and write what makes her happy. She positively beams at this idea, and it is pretty clear that they are also sleeping together. Asking if he will be joining her, he balks and says that he will call and let her know if he can make it. But she should go anyway.

Off to the South of France, the house and setting are breathtaking. After looking around and a short tour of the small town Sarah begins to write. This is going very well, until John calls and says that he will not be coming because of his daughter Julia. Sarah is upset by this, but she seems determined to continue writing. That night a noise wakes her and she discovers John's daughter in the living room. She has quit (lost?) her job and has come to the house to stay. They immediately do not get along. Stuffy English bitch and a sexually free French girl. They are polar opposites. Julie is for the most part naked, and has a different man over every night. Sarah really just wants to write and flirt with Frank, a waiter at the cafe in town.

There is a whole website by the director http://www.francois-ozon.com
So there you have it folks. A neat little story...Nothing ever really happens. Like I said the encounters were weird when they happened. A man is murdered and they both act like they were just pouring coffee. It makes more sense after, and it is entirely possible that nobody actually died. I am conflicted, while I did not find anything that made me really dislike the film, I cannot say that there was anything that made me love it either. I will be happy to discuss this with anyone who wishes to argue another point.