SWIMMING POOL: a revelation of one’s alter ego

Sarah Morton, a successful author of countless thriller novels, was having a writer’s block. To help her do her next novel, Sarah’s publisher, Josh Bosload, offered a vacation house near Lacoste, France. As Sarah was enjoying her vacation-like-work and starting to gain her interest in writing again, Julie, the publisher’s daughter, showed up. She claimed that she was just having a short break from her work. She also claimed that her mother was Bosload’s mistress.

            Julie, having an exciting se life, would usually bring a guy every night that she would have a one-night-stand with. Sarah, on the other hand, felt irritated for she couldn’t concentrate on her work. Furthermore, Sarah, being a middle-aged writer with a prim and prop attitude that never experienced such things felt insecure to the beautiful and youthful Julie. But eventually, irritation and insecurity gradually took Sarah’s attention. She then started to sneak into Julie’s personal things and decided to make a story about her. When the relationship of the two started to become okay, Franck, a local waiter, enters the story.  Somehow, the two then became rivals. Julie happened to be interested also in the said guy but the latter appeared to be interested in the more mature one, Sarah, whom he became an acquaintance when Sarah frequently visit the bistro where Franck was working.

            Julie managed to bring Franck on their house and started to flirt with him. Unexpectedly, Julie invited Sarah to join their company. On that same night, an unexpected tragedy happened. Julie committed a crime in killing Franck. Sarah, on the other hand, didn’t hear all the things that happened for she was wearing earplugs.

            The next morning, Sarah started to become curious as to what happened to Julie and Franck. But this simple curiosity lead to a deeper revelation as to what had happened that night – a crime was committed.  Julie then confessed that she committed the said crime and that she did that for the sake of Sarah and her book. The two then helped each other in trying to hide the crime.

            In an effort to forget what had happened, Julie decided to leave and left the book written by her mother that she previously said was burnt. Sarah also decided to go back to the place she came from and published the book to the other publisher and not on Julie’s dad. When she visited her original publisher, it revealed a big twist in the story. There she saw the REAL Julie – a complete opposite to the Julie she met back in France.

            One of the symbols that are evident in the movie is the reflection of the glass when Julie was having sex with a random guy. While they were having sex, a reflection of them was shown in a glass and Sarah was on the other side of the glass, watching. This somehow symbolize having sex, having one-night-stands, this kind of lifestyle is what Sarah really wanted. Another symbolism from the movie is how Sarah would dress herself. At first, she would just dress simply but in the end of the movie, Sarah was seen wearing a red robe. Red, as we all know is looked upon a sensual colour, it somehow symbolize sexiness especially among women. Furthermore, Julie herself symbolized Sarah’s inner conscience, alter ego or what she really wanted. We can all notice that Julie would usually have one-night-stands on OLD GUYS. And also, in the last part of the story, it was revealed that the Julie that Sarah met was just an imagination.

            Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier who portrayed as Sarah and Julie really did a great job. Charlotte had this prim and prop aura while Julie had this sexy aura, I can surely say that the both of them really pulled their characters great. And I also love Ludivines’ accent in speaking French.

            All in all, although it had a hanging end, it was still a great movie. The end part of the story really gave a great impact of the success of the movie. This movie somehow tells its viewers that you should let go of the things that hinder you from doing what you really want no matter how mischievous it is. 

SEX AND LUCIA: an escape to the end

            

                As suggested by the title, Sex and Lucia is a about a love story of once strangers who fell easily in love with each through passionate sex.

            The movie started with Lucia talking to his depressed boyfriend, Lorenzo. Worried, Lucia decided to go home only to find an empty apartment. Lucia was trying to find Lorenzo when she received a phone call from a police officer and saw a suicide note from Lorenzo. Being afraid to hear the worst thing about his boyfriend, Lucia hangs up the phone. She then decided to go to the mysterious island that Lorenzo always talked about. In that Island, Lucia met Carlos and Elena who were also refugees on their personal tragedies.

            The story then goes back six years ago. Lorenzo was having a one-night-stand with a girl whom he doesn’t even know the name. The next day, Lorenzo was seen in a restaurant having a casual talk with a friend, there, he met Lucia who was somehow his admirer for she was reading Lorenzo’s novels and according to her, she had fallen to Lorenzo. The two then decided to live together and be a couple. As Lucia and Lorenzo’s relationship was going strong, Lorenzo found out that he has a child from the girl whom he had a one-night-stand. As Lorenzo was trying to cope up with his daughter, Luna, he met Belen, Luna’s nurse/nanny. Lorenzo and Belen somehow had a relationship. And all of the things Lorenzo were doing, he writes it down for his next novel. Lucia, on the other hand, had been secretly reading his novel, believing all of which was just fictional. One night, Belen invites Lorenzo to their house. That night, terrible thing happened. As Lorenzo and Belen were having sex, Luna knocked the door and was killed by the family dog. This tragic incident caused everyone to be depressed. And as the story progress, little by little, each secret was revealed – Elena happened to be Luna’s mother and Carlos was not actually Carlos. He was Belen’s step father whom she often fantasized with.

            “The first advantage is at the end of the story. It doesn't finish, it falls in a hole. And the story starts again halfway.” – We often hear this line in the movie. I noticed that this line is also the sequence of the story. Noticed that when Lucia fell in a hole, the story flashbacked to the beginning of it. Furthermore, I also noticed that the movie starts in the middle of the story and also ends in the middle of it.

            The thing that also caught my attention is when Belen ordered the family dog to “guard outside and attack whoever will disturb them”. It was surprising that the dog was clever enough to understand and even took the instruction literally.

            Some of the symbolisms that I noticed in the film are the lighthouse, the moon, the sun, and the hole. For me, the lighthouse somehow represent as a guide for Lucia. There was a scene when he was trying to follow Carlos but lost track on him, when she saw the lighthouse, it somehow served her as a guide where Carlos was. It can also represent a phallic symbol. The moon also represents the lust and sexual desires of each of the characters. Noticed when every time a couple would have sex, the moon would be shown. The sun, on the other hand, represents a new beginning of each of the character since most of them are trying

to escape from their personal tragedies. Lastly, the hole somehow represents how each of them was trying to escape from their tragic past. Because every time they enter the hole, they can go back in time even if it is just an imagination. And Carlos also hid on that hole in the last part of the story when he was trying to escape from Elena.

            All in all, the movie is a great to watch. Not only because of its unique love story but also the twist or the sequence of the story that would make you confused.