2.03.2004
swimming pool
swimming pool is probably my least favorite of francois ozon's films (the ones i've seen-- 4 or 5, at this point), but that's not saying much. it's still pretty good. it's still playful... still sexy... just not gleeful enough or something... i prefer a film like sitcom, where ozon seems a little more raw and a little less apologetic with his perversions.
it's more or less a murder mystery. at least it ends up being something along those lines after about an hour of rich, gratuitous nudity on the part of ludivine sagnier (who's name is as sexy as her looks, i might add). the eroticism has a strangely analytical feeling to it, somewhat like hitchcock, to whom the film owes quite a bit. this "gaze" (pardon the grad school termonology) keeps the film feeling peculiar, and steers clear of the mainstream/miramax territory i feared upon hearing it was shot in english.
interestingly enough-- and maybe this just reveals a bit of my tastes-- charlotte rampling ends up seeming pretty erotic herself. she's clearly the best thing about the film (ozon's direction seems a little lazy, to be honest), and she brings a kind of kink to her repressed spinsterisms (not unlike isabelle huppert in 8 women, but moreso). you've got to love charlotte rampling anyway, since she was in two of the weirdest films i've ever seen, namely the night porter and, of course, zardoz. but i digress...
anyway, rampling steals the show, and the first hour or so is bitchy fun as she holds, more or less, all that surrounds her (sexy or not) in hilarious contempt. too bad that the film eventually decides to become about something. the whodunit stuff feels like an afterthought and the "surprise" ending has neither the oomph of a good trick nor the strength to re-contextualize what you've watched. it's pretty lame, frankly. but see it anyway cause it's inventive about its sexy-ness, and, uh, it's pretty sexy.
it's more or less a murder mystery. at least it ends up being something along those lines after about an hour of rich, gratuitous nudity on the part of ludivine sagnier (who's name is as sexy as her looks, i might add). the eroticism has a strangely analytical feeling to it, somewhat like hitchcock, to whom the film owes quite a bit. this "gaze" (pardon the grad school termonology) keeps the film feeling peculiar, and steers clear of the mainstream/miramax territory i feared upon hearing it was shot in english.
interestingly enough-- and maybe this just reveals a bit of my tastes-- charlotte rampling ends up seeming pretty erotic herself. she's clearly the best thing about the film (ozon's direction seems a little lazy, to be honest), and she brings a kind of kink to her repressed spinsterisms (not unlike isabelle huppert in 8 women, but moreso). you've got to love charlotte rampling anyway, since she was in two of the weirdest films i've ever seen, namely the night porter and, of course, zardoz. but i digress...
anyway, rampling steals the show, and the first hour or so is bitchy fun as she holds, more or less, all that surrounds her (sexy or not) in hilarious contempt. too bad that the film eventually decides to become about something. the whodunit stuff feels like an afterthought and the "surprise" ending has neither the oomph of a good trick nor the strength to re-contextualize what you've watched. it's pretty lame, frankly. but see it anyway cause it's inventive about its sexy-ness, and, uh, it's pretty sexy.
