Perfect cast and a good story

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Starts out being a weakly-named dreary movie and plods on being a weakly-named dreary movie livened up by yet another great find by the Research Department of RavenGlamDVDCollector here at ElectricLadyLand, Ludivine Sagnier, who is a dream- girl with the prerequisite long-legged qualifications, oh wow! The vivacious young French girl, juxtaposed with the snappy old British dragon, Ms. Charlotte Rampling. Wasn't she in ORCA? Didn't they say the killer whale wouldn't have dared to attack her?Now for the uninitiated, allow me to try and describe Ludivine to you poor, deprived folks. She has a face as cute as a squirrel. She has long blond hair gloriously cascading over her back. She totters about on impractical high-heeled sandals like a baby giraffe. Her character isn't shy about skinny- dipping (as well nobody that damned beautiful ever needs to be) and conversing topless, damn near naked, with other people. She has tantalizing vital statistics, let me just say those two are perfect. Perfect. Who could fault them? Ludivine reminded me of a former pin-up model, Rachel Ter Horst, and that's a compliment, a great one, for that's another deliciously golden goddess. All I want you to do now, Ludivine, kid, is to sing the Hilary Duff song REACH OUT AND TOUCH ME. Make an old man happy! {anyway, Ludivine, that angel's face outranks the bare breast in the smoking-in-the-bathtub scene, it is so beautiful, it is sculpted by nature to the most exacting standard of intoxicating allure, I'd have been mad about you even without the nude scenes}Yes, I didn't buy this movie to see Charlotte Rampling. And I'm not going to pretend I can even stand a typical European movie with its slow meandering ways. Personally, I would have wanted Ludivine in something sparkier, but this movie is a great showcase for her. A showcase, ah yes, a girl like Ludivine really belongs in a showcase...!Never mind the European charm. Never mind the artistic flair with the color red having a significant influence. Never mind "thinking man's witch" Charlotte Rampling. I may be a fool but I know what I like.Try and sell this one to theaters without the nearly-starkers pretty girl in it. See how it would gather dust on the video- rent shelf if lying there only for the sake of the serious actress herself.Checking her out on Wikipedia, I see Ludivine got recognized for this performance. Must say, I think she was more or less just playing herself (ooh wondrously!!), slipping into her easy laid-back casual cool. It's a dream part tailor-made for an aspiring starlet. Like Cameron Diaz in THE MASK. Only, of course, nudity, and sexual activity, lots of it, is required. Ludivine has a built-in flair for this, I joyously add.As for the movie, I began getting hope for it. The suspense start building up, you see something forming, I thought, Sarah had a romantic lovelorn connection with the publisher, Julie's Dad, I thought Julie was setting Sarah up for his murder, I thought this was all going somewhere, but... SPOILER ALERT......SPOILER ALERT......notoriously, it doesn't. It has the weakest, most trite (some say ambiguous, but you'll notice I say trite) ending I've ever encountered. It's a cop-out to suggest the old lady was just fantasizing, I think the movie-maker just overstepped the budget!!! So it all just drew to a close after the fun interlude of having a super-hot fox in front of your camera, on your set. Not that I'd have been any different. :)

Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) is a successful British crime fiction author. She's tired of everything and can't get started on her next novel. Her publisher John Bosload (Charles Dance) offers his french vacation home. It's the off-season, and she finds some peace until John's daughter Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) shows up. Julie is a sexually provocative girl challenging Sarah's reservations. Then one night Julie kills a man after having oral sex.The murder comes in very late in the movie, and the tension doesn't have enough time to rise. The first 2/3 of the movie has a good deal of sexual tension. Although Charlotte Rampling is a great actress, I wonder if the tension could be higher with a male lead. It's a slightly different feel with Rampling and Sagnier. Sagnier never overtly makes a pass at Rampling. I think the movie could have higher tension.

Swimming Pool is one of those films which leaves you questioning everything you've seen. Once it concludes you immediately start running the whole thing back in your mind, trying to piece it all together. It's a film which entertains you while also compelling you to think. That's a very good combination. It is a slow film, taking its time in setting itself up and really taking its time in fully revealing itself. But while there may be moments where you wish the film would pick up the pace it certainly manages to hold your interest throughout. And in the end it is clearly worth having taken the sometimes slow journey towards its intriguing conclusion.The story follows middle-aged English novelist Sarah Morton who, with a bad case of writer's block, has holed up at her publisher's French country house. Alone there Sarah can clear her mind and find her inspiration. But she won't be alone for long, her peaceful serenity disrupted when her publisher's young, nubile and quite oversexed daughter Julie shows up to stay in the house with her. To say that Sarah and Julie don't hit it off would be putting it mildly. Furious with the intrusion Sarah calls her publisher to complain but oddly seems unable to reach him. Little oddities continue to pile up. What exactly is going on here? The film is not going to give up its secrets that easily, you have to wait to the end. But there is really good entertainment to be had as the plot weaves its way to the finish. Sarah does find her inspiration. Where she finds that inspiration and what it leads to is both surprising and smart. Writer/director François Ozon thought his story out very well and executed it in fine fashion.The film's smart, compelling and very intriguing story is played out very well by Charlotte Rampling playing Sarah and Ludivine Sagnier playing Julie. There are other characters who come in and out of the story but it is really all about Sarah and Julie. And both Rampling and Sagnier do excellent work portraying these two very different women. Sarah is cold, stern, reserved. Julie is free, open, wild, full of life. And prone to quite often putting her bodily assets on full naked display. As much as acting the part looking the part was important for the character of Julie and Sagnier is certainly up to the task there. The initial clash between the two main characters is inevitable. But as the story evolves the characters do too and Rampling and Sagnier capture the evolution wonderfully. As Sarah and Julie come to understand each other a little better you would think things in the home would become a little more peaceful. In reality it is at this point where the drama and tension get ratcheted up. The film has some thrills in store. In the end the film gives you much to appreciate. And much to think about.

Actress Ludivine Sagnier shined in the previously reviewed "Love Crime", but her breakout role came in the 2003 film "Swimming Pool". This time she is paired with the impeccable English actress Charlotte Rampling, who's long career has also spiked with this role. Sagnier's raw sexuality and self confidence sets this film on fire. Not to mention the much older Rampling who also gives a shockingly brazen performance.The story revolves around Rampling's character of Sarah Morton a best selling author of crime fiction novels. Based in London and fighting a loss of inspiration for her new novel her publisher suggests staying at his French villa to relax and recharge. She accepts and in short time finds the peaceful serenity of the Mediterranean to be as relaxing as it sounds. Being a writer Sarah prefers to be on her own and welcomes the quiet and sleepy surroundings. She is very conservative and quite British. She does call her publisher back in London and asks when he will join her but he keeps brushing her aside. She visits the local café on numerous occasions and chats up the mustached waiter Franck who comes into play later on.Sarah's peacefulness is shattered with the introduction of Julie (Sagnier), the publishers daughter who arrives to crash for a few weeks. Julie is young, impulsive and very in touch with her sexuality. They are exact opposites and are usually at odds with each other, but Sarah also finds her quite intriguing. Is she jealous? probably. Does she see a story there? Definitely. Julie brings home a different guy each night, and the sounds of them getting' busy awakens something in Sarah. She snoops around Julie's things and finds a diary, which she starts to spin into literary gold. She then asks her to dinner to get some more details. While Julie is skeptical of her kindness she eventually becomes wise to her plan.Then there's the swimming pool. When Sarah arrives the pool is covered and unloved. It is only when Julie arrives that it starts to heat up. It seems that when the pool comes to life so does Sarah. Julie spends most of her day lounging around the pool and sometimes wearing a bikini. When Julie brings Franck home one night they drink, smoke and dance. After Sarah goes to her room for the night she can't help but watch them as they go for a swim, she interrupt their interlude then goes to bed. The next morning Franck is gone and their is blood by the pool. Julie has a sort of breakdown as she thinks she killed him. She regains her composure and Sarah starts to help her get away with it."Swimming Pool" has one of those endings that results in good discussions afterward. You end up rethinking all of what you have just saw. Make sure to seek out the unrated version to get the full experience. The film contains copious amounts of sex and nudity and would be teen boys holy grail, but really its more that just a skin flick. It's French for cryin' out loud. The R-rated version is available on Netflix watch instantly.