Sarah Morton (Rampling) is an English writer, staying at her publisher's villa in the south of France. The solitude suits her, but just as things start to flow, the publisher's young French daughter Julie (Sagnier) arrives unannounced, and her free sensuality unsettles and tests Sarah. The villa's swimming pool is both the visual metaphor for sensuality (as the two women slowly draw closer to and exchange with each other) and the physical centre of the movie's key moments. Eventually there is a death, and the ending forces us to question what truly happened at all. Swimming Pool moves at its own gliding pace, without ever really providing any major emotional connection with the characters. Fortunately Rampling and Sagnier are both excellent, and it's the developing dynamic between the two that's a great pleasure to watch. You may remember Sagnier from director/writer Francois Ozon's previous 8 Femmes - she played the bookish youngest daughter. She's very different in this one, by turns gorgeous, determined, vulnerable, and rather plain.

It's the small moments of change in clothing and manners, the hints of emotion in Rampling's face, that elevate this movie - along with the luscious cinematography and locations.