“Swimming Pool”

The nature of obsession runs deep.

When a murder mystery writer borrows her publisher’s house in the South of France she finds herself infatuated with the enigmatic girl who comes to crash. Directed by François Ozon, “Swimming Pool” examines the breadth of a demanding obsession that stretches into insanity. Julie, played by French actress Ludivine Sagnier, enters her childhood home with a bang in the middle of the night, terrifying Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling), who is using the idyllic house complete with a swimming pool, as her writer’s retreat. The two inevitably clash and as their tempestuous relationship unravels by the side of the pool, Sarah’s obsession with Julie deepens.

“When someone keeps an entire part of their life secret from you it’s fascinating,” Sarah tells Julie, speaking to the unanimous and voyeuristic quality of the film itself. Who is Julie? Why do we want to know more about her? As we watch her momentum capture Sarah, we find ourselves questioning the origin of obsession itself. Where does it come from? And why is our involvement in it simultaneously removed and enmeshed? When does obsession engulf reality and our fantasies overwhelm all?

In an image-based era where what we see is what we think we get, “Swimming Pool” embarks on a psychological adventure that questions the validity of the images we claim as proof of reality. If life is often what we make of it, the splashes we make across its surface are sometimes nothing more than elaborate dreams that play out for the rest of us to watch on a screen.

Take a peak for yourself here—“Swimming Pool” is a movie to obsess about.

–Camille Dourmashkin-Cagol