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La Piscine

Original title: La piscine
  • 19691969
  • GPGP
  • 2h 2m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
10K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
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Play trailer1:44
2 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Romance

Lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa on the French Riviera near St-Tropez. Marianne invites her former lover, Harry, and his teenage daughter to stay. Tension rises ... Read allLovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa on the French Riviera near St-Tropez. Marianne invites her former lover, Harry, and his teenage daughter to stay. Tension rises between them, especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope.Lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa on the French Riviera near St-Tropez. Marianne invites her former lover, Harry, and his teenage daughter to stay. Tension rises between them, especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope.

IMDb RATING
7.0/10
10K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jacques Deray
  • Writers
    • Jean-Claude Carrière(adaptation and dialogue)
    • Jacques Deray(adaptation and dialogue)
    • Alain Page(story)
  • Stars
    • Alain Delon
    • Romy Schneider
    • Maurice Ronet
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jacques Deray
  • Writers
    • Jean-Claude Carrière(adaptation and dialogue)
    • Jacques Deray(adaptation and dialogue)
    • Alain Page(story)
  • Stars
    • Alain Delon
    • Romy Schneider
    • Maurice Ronet
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 35User reviews
    • 51Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos2

    Bande-annonce [OV]
    Trailer 1:44
    Bande-annonce [OV]
    La Piscine - Rialto Pictures Trailer
    Trailer 1:40
    La Piscine - Rialto Pictures Trailer

    Photos166

    Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon in Diaboliquement vôtre (1967)
    Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Jacques Deray, and Maurice Ronet in La piscine (1969)
    Alain Delon and Romy Schneider in La piscine (1969)
    La piscine (1969)
    La piscine (1969)
    Romy Schneider in La piscine (1969)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Alain Delon
    Alain Delon
    • Jean-Paulas Jean-Paul
    Romy Schneider
    Romy Schneider
    • Marianneas Marianne
    Maurice Ronet
    Maurice Ronet
    • Harryas Harry
    Jane Birkin
    Jane Birkin
    • Pénélopeas Pénélope
    Paul Crauchet
    Paul Crauchet
    • L'inspecteur Lévêqueas L'inspecteur Lévêque
    Suzie Jaspard
    • Emilieas Emilie
    Maddly Bamy
    • La mulâtre qui danseas La mulâtre qui danse
    • (as Madlybamy)
    Thierry Chabert
    • Un amias Un ami
    Steve Eckardt
    • Fredas Fred
    • (as Steve Eckart)
    Ruth Price
    Ruth Price
    • Singeras Singer
    Stéphanie Fugain
    • Une amie à la partyas Une amie à la party
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Jacques Deray
    • Writers
      • Jean-Claude Carrière(adaptation and dialogue)
      • Jacques Deray(adaptation and dialogue)
      • Alain Page(story)
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa near St.-Tropez. The main feature of the villa is a swimming pool, stage for most of the action. After a visit Marianne invites former lover Harry and his teenage daughter Penelope to stay. Tension between the grown-ups rises especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope. The consequences are deadly. —Peter Zunneberg <p.zunneberg@tip.nl>
    • female nudity
    • southern france
    • sunbathing
    • saint tropez france
    • man wears a swimsuit
    • 80 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • The most dangerous love-game ever played.
    • Genres
      • Crime
      • Drama
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • GP
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Alain Delon and Romy Schneider had been real-life partners from 1958 to 1963. They were no longer a couple when this film was shot, but remained good friends after their split. In 1966, Schneider married director Harry Meyen and had put her career on hold to care for her son David. Alain Delon imposed that Schneider should be his costar in "La Piscine" and the film revitalized her career.
    • Goofs
      A body of someone that has just drowned does not float on water. Only after the decaying process has started and gases build up in the body does the body float to the surface.
    • Quotes

      Jean-Paul: You talk a lot about the others, but never a word about Harry.

      Marianne: Because there's nothing to tell.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening credits shimmer, as though they were being projected onto the surface of the swimming pool.
    • Alternate versions
      English version. As all the cast, except Paul Crauchet, were fluent in English the scenes were shot both in French and in English. This version proves to be funny for the English-by-the-book used in the dialogue (obviously a line by line rendition of the original French script).
    • Connections
      Featured in La vengeance du serpent à plumes (1984)
    • Soundtracks
      Ask Yourself Why
      Music by Michel Legrand

      Lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman

      Sung by Ruth Price

    User reviews35

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    From Nowhere to Somewhere?
    La piscine or The Swimming Pool is a French crime film, directed by Jacques Deray, who is known as a master of crime, and written by Jean-Claude Carriere; a long time companion of Luis Bunuel, for instance. La piscine isn't necessarily the most accessible French crime film but I would say it is one of the best, at least from the 1960's. It is an erotic, Antonionian film characterized by French existentialism. Although, it is not a perfect film, by any means, it is a surprisingly captivating and intriguing study on modern life as well as on alienation from the world and the society; loneliness, anxiety, love and freedom. The absurdity of being and the meaninglessness of life, how, in the end, nothing really matters.

    The story happens somewhere in the French Riviera, where a couple is spending their holiday at a luxury château, borrowed from their friends. During the opening credits, we see reflections of nature on water: images of birds and trees. After the credits, the camera rises up and the water surface turns out to be a swimming pool, next to which there lies a man -- an insightful shot of the vacant and anguished life of the bourgeoisie. Everything was a lie; beauty and the happiness of life were only elusive reflections -- which happens to be the leading theme of Deray's film.

    Soon we hear a woman shouting "Jean-Paul," and the man turns out to be Alain Delon. The woman (Romy Schneider) swims across the pool, comes to the man and they start kissing, fiercely. The physic happiness of this married couple is almost perfect. But details reveal pressures that begin to erupt, slowly, beneath the surface. In order to resist this anxiety, they make up the most shallow things for them to do and, therefore, invite a friend of theirs, Harry who surprisingly brings his 18-year-old daughter (Jane Birkin) with him. At a surprise party -- that resembles the party of The Night (1961) by Michelangelo Antonioni -- the pressures lead to tragic consequences.

    La piscine strips seemingly beautiful and happy people down from their illusory facade. Jean-Paul turns out to be a failed writer whose fragile ego hides mysterious cruelty in it. On one level, he resembles Camus' Mersault as an apathetic and disregard man who has lost his lust for life. His wife, Marianne (Schneider) is, in turn, a prisoner of her emotions and is unable to free herself from the chains of her husband. Harry is good-looking and wealthy but, in reality, all of his relationships are elusive and mendacious. Nobody cares about him. His daughter, Penelope (Birkin) is a beautiful young woman who arises to her femininity but finds it hard to compete with Marianne.

    Jacques Deray relays a competitive, jail-like vision of the lives of these characters. We see them behind bars, pillars and windows; trapped in an unending rat race. They are captivated like wild beasts, who are ready to kill each other at any second. Furthermore, all the characters are spying on each other: Jean-Paul keeps an eye on Marianne and Harry, for he thinks that they might have an affair. Harry, on the other hand, spies on Jean-Paul and Penelope because his juvenile father instincts can't bear a contestant. Marianne is also spying on them, because she thinks that she might lose the competition of Jean-Paul to a younger woman.

    In the name of existentialist film, La piscine begins from nowhere and ends in somewhere which is quite the same. So why watch a film where nothing happens? Because, on the other hand, everything happens. Why read Kafka and watch Tarkovsky? For the very same reason. Although, La piscine is not a masterpiece, I would recommend it as an insightful film about loneliness and the illusion of idyllic life.
    helpful•44
    6
    • ilpohirvonen
    • Oct 21, 2011

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 1970 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Italy
    • Languages
      • French
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The Swimming Pool
    • Filming locations
      • Ramatuelle, Var, France
    • Production companies
      • Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie (SNC)
      • Tritone Cinematografica
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $211,467
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $3,867
      • May 16, 2021
    • Gross worldwide
      • $215,456
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 2 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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