La Piscine

Romy Schneider

Alain Delon

A sensual and good looking slice of late sixties psychological drama almost totally based around the swimming pool in the grounds of a luxurious villa on the outskirts of the French resort that originally gave us Brigitte Bardot, St Tropez. Directed by Jacques Deray his 1969 film La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) stars ex-couple Alain Delon and Romy Schneider as lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne who are spending a lazy sun-drenched summer in this magnificent villa. All goes lovingly until Marianne invites her ex-lover Harry (Maurice Ronet) who brings along his 18-year-old nubile daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin) complete with very long legs and pouting ‘come and kiss me’ lips. As you can probably guess, from the first moment following there arrival a certain amount of uneasiness and tension arises between the hot-blooded quartet that escalates into a ‘dangerous love game’. A typical swinging sixties art house movie, full of tension, sexual longing and testosterone, beautifully filmed, never rushing its narrative, a scrumptious treat.

Jane Birkin