• La Piscine

8/19/24 (Sun)

Criterion wasted no time in marking Alain Delon’s death the previous day with a special section of his most famous films­. I picked Jacques Deray’s 1969 iconic work in its original French, not knowing that he simultaneously filmed it with the actors speaking English. Watching part of the English version the next day, I was surprised that it’s edited somewhat differently to match the different takes and, less happily, has an inferior alternative ending to match prudish Anglo tastes. (There’s a brief scene early in the French film where the woman is talking on the phone to a Frenchman in English, which made me wonder if they mistakenly edited the wrong version into that space. But in the English version, she speaks German. I have no idea what that’s about.)

The story is secondary here. The film focuses on the four main characters to the near exclusion of everyone else other than a maid and police inspector. Delon and Romy Schneider, former lovers in real life, play an impossibly glamorous couple basking in their friend’s palatial Côte d’Azur villa while he’s away. Jean-Paul, a former writer now in the advertising business, has been dating Marianne for around two years. They spend the days doing very little but hang around the pool and drink, their boredom reflected in some kinky sex involving a lashing with a branch.

Into this lazy world pops Marianne’s former lover Harry (Maurice Ronet), a highly successful record producer, with his attractive 18-year-old daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin). Jean-Paul is wary of his old friend Harry, and for good reason, as the man is clearly trying to win back the affections of his ex. Moreover, Marianne tries to make Jean-Paul jealous by flirting with Harry. That leads Jean-Paul to take up with the daughter, infuriating both the others.

Late at night, Harry returns drunk from a party and taunts Jean-Paul for failing as a writer and sinking into the commercial advertising world. After a battle of unkind words, Harry tries to punch Jean-Paul but falls into the pool, too drunk to swim. Jean-Paul first prevents Harry from getting out of the pool, then actively holds his head under water, drowning him. He tries to cover up the crime, but succeeds only in making the police more suspicious. Marianne covers for him and gets him off. The two appear to have reconciled at the end and have in effect brushed off the murder. (In the English version, we see the police arriving at the house, implying an alternate and more conventional fate. I prefer to forget that ending.)

The rich lives of these people have deadened their senses to normal morality.  While the film is sometimes described as noir, the clothing (what little there is) and summery settings are vivid and colorful, and the gaze of the camera is crisp and bright. The film opens with a striking image of an upside-down reflection of the trees in the pool, followed by the swim-suited Delon lolling famously by the pool and Schneider coming to straddle over him. The camera was in love with these two in particular, and it’s hard to argue. The movie was dominated by long single takes, which felt in some cases more like theater than film.

The score by Michel Legrand was superb, including an evocative jazz number, “Ask Yourself Why”, questioning societal prohibitions of keeping off the grass and disturbing the peace. (I wonder if Joni Mitchell heard the line about playgrounds transformed to parking lots.) The ennui among all the characters recalls Blow-Up, which I saw a few weeks back, though that film had more on its mind than the story per se. In this film, the man literally gets away with murder, and there is no evident regret, guilt or anger, even by the victim’s own daughter. Not sure what the point was, but it was very stylishly rendered. Much has been made of the symbolism of the pool, but I’m happy seeing it just as an expression of the rich and vacuous.

The four main characters dominate the proceedings to the virtual exclusion of nearly everyone, excepting only the police inspector toward the end. The actors are all perfect for their roles; I’m amazed that Hollywood dared to remake this years later since it’s hard to imagine anyone challenging these pros (the remake flopped). The resolution of the show is weak, but I suppose the director and writer (the eminent Jean-Claude Carrière) wanted to highlight in their 1960s way that immorality pays. It’s interesting that they used two foreign-born actresses, Schneider (Vienna) and Birkin (London), though both here seemed as French as they could be.

A slow-burning head game among the idle rich. Well worth a watch.