La piscine (1969)

Top comments

1. 

   Hippiemans

   A "relaxed thriller" is what comes to mind after viewing this. 10 years ago
2. 

   Siskoid

   I'm not sure Jacques Deray's La piscine (The Swimming Pool) earns its weird, topsy-turvy opening credits with this slowest of burning sex thriller, its mood closer to lackadaisical summers by the pool, which is of course entirely appropriate. Remade as A Bigger Splash by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), I could help but compare. Guadagnino's characters are much more fanciful and lively, but the abrupt turn to the thriller genre feels like an afterthought. Deray's characters are much more reserved, even opaque, but when the thriller element gets into gear (no faster than in A Bigger Splash), it feels like it were were always building to that moment. What makes Deray's original work is its characters' ambiguity - Alain Delon's minimalist acting, Romy Schneider as a coquette who fosters an enigmatic persona, and Jane Birkin such a drip that no one could see her as a femme fatale. Relationships toxified by characters who don't communicate properly. As audience, we keep filling in the gaps, trying to figure out the psychologies, which is what keeps us invested even when we fear nothing's ever going to happen. How deep does that pool go? 2 years 1 month ago
3. 

   Armoreska

   Remade in 2015 8 years 11 months ago

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