Swimming Pool
Focus Features | Release Date: July 2, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
A delicious little thriller about an uptight, ill-humored English mystery writer who becomes enmeshed in murder, Swimming Pool is at once comical, contrary, resourceful and ambiguous. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Charlotte Rampling is the best reason, though far from the only one, to see Swimming Pool, a mesmerizing mystery, plus a wonderfully sensuous fantasy.
90
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The tension is never crushing, as it would be in an American job. Instead, it grows by increments, until you realize the movie, in its quiet way, has you snared entirely. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The narrative logic of Swimming Pool slips through our hands like cool water, shimmery and light-dappled, leaving behind the pleasures of summer heat and goose bumps. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Occasionally falters in its symbolism and storytelling, but still unnerves because we're never quite sure of our bearings, or whose "reality" we're watching. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
Ozon misses some chances with Sarah, but Rampling doesn't skip a beat. Freed from the burden of likability, the actress pushes the character from near-farce to near-tragedy, without once appealing to sentimentalism. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Working predominantly in English for the first time, the French director has crafted an absorbing tale about the merging of fiction with reality, propelled by contrasting performances from Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Simultaneously a thoroughly mannered, mischievously artificial confection and an acute piece of psychological realism. Whose psychology, and which reality, remains ambiguous even after the tart, delicious final twist. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Swimming Pool returns Ozon to the psychological complexities of "Under The Sand" and his early mini-feature "See The Sea," and he again proves himself a master of building shocking moments from a series of seemingly insignificant gestures and throwaway lines. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Ultimately, Swimming Pool belongs to Ozon, and while incorporating a carefully measured, quietly menacing style that summons up vintage Hitchcock and Chabrol, he has made it unmistakably -- and entertainingly -- his very own. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
As atypical a summer film as they come -– no explosions, no car chases, no Arnold -– but immensely more pleasing than films with all three of those summertime staples. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Immersed here in both the fair, dreamy air and chilly, deeper waters, Rampling and Sagnier make Swimming Pool a fine sunlit noir, oozing sensuality and menace. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
While not stunningly original, is fresh and compelling enough to hold the viewer's attention through its entire running length. Read full review
75
PremiereGlenn Kenny
It’s worth seeing twice just for the privilege of watching Rampling and Sagnier match each other stroke for stroke. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
But the ending, at once ambiguous and obvious, is a letdown -- a frustratingly literal-minded, or literary-minded, conceit. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Clever and unhurried mystery. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Whether the movie leaves you confused or angry, you will be stimulated to long discussion afterward. How often does that happen these days? Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
After it is over, you will want to go back and think things through again, and I can help you by suggesting there is one, and only one, interpretation that resolves all of the difficulties, but if I told you, you would have to kill me. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
With a little sex, some mystery, a little sex, an appealing title and a little sex, France's Swimming Pool has what it takes to become an art house audience magnet, especially amid the heat of summer. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Very much a genre picture, relying on notions of suspense, surprise, and comeuppance. Indeed, at the center of this movie is a question of whether what we're seeing is really to be believed. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The film takes place half in English, half in French. The chilly, responsibility-laden world of British society contrasts with the sunny, relaxed quality of life in fare-thee-well France. If these seem like cliches, Ozon and Bernheim exploit them so adroitly that they never become stale. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
In its own slightly disturbing way, this psychological thriller serves as an absorbing diversion without sapping brain cells -- almost the perfect summer movie for smart people. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's Sagnier, a young Bardot, who lifts the movie, and Rampling, 58, who gives it nuance, not to mention a nude scene that shows off a body Demi Moore would envy. These two make it seductive fun to be fooled. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Less a thriller than a comedy, and a formulaic one at that, predicated on an amusing but bizarrely simplistic clash of personalities and cultures. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Tricky thriller relies on its smoothly unrippled surface, leisurely pacing and slightly awkward performances to create a false sense of security that sets up viewers for a shock when it takes an abrupt turn into Patricia Highsmith territory. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
All shiny surfaces and clever moves designed to blur the lines between fantasy and reality and uncover the kinkiness that lies within us all. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Unfortunately, after the well-honed psychological melodrama of its first half, this wanders off into the metaphysical territory of Ingmar Bergman's "Persona" (a much better film). Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Until the movie gets lost in its ultimately convoluted conceit, however, it's a superb modulation of menace, tension, mystery and eroticism. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Along with co-writer Emmanuele Bernhein, Ozon...has crafted a contemplative blend of fantasy and reality that illuminates the mysteries of the creative process. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Well-acted, nicely shot, slick and certainly sexy, Swimming Pool may be all foreplay and no climax, but what the heck -- there are worse ways to be teased. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Seductive, ultimately frustrating. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Even though it has some amusing moments, Swimming Pool crawls entirely too slowly toward -- well, toward nothing much. Read full review
60
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
May Ozon and Rampling do more at the level of this film's first hour. Or maybe they could amputate the last part of Swimming Pool and finish the film as it deserves. Read full review
60
SlateDavid Edelstein
Ozon devises tantalizing scenarios and immerses himself completely--then seems happy to tread water. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Ozon has a smooth gift for scenes of unease, but ultimately Swimming Pool liquifies into a dreary puzzle movie. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The suspenseful set-up never pays off, but Rampling continues the impressive collaboration with Ozon that began with "Under the Sand." Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
A hollow excuse for an erotic mystery. Read full review
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