Line #21 Film/LaPiscine


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_swimming_pool_937285166_large.jpg]]
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3	''La Piscine'' (''The Swimming Pool'') is a 1969 Italian-French PsychologicalThriller film directed by Creator/JacquesDeray, starring Creator/AlainDelon, Creator/RomySchneider and Creator/JaneBirkin.
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5	Marianne (Schneider) and Jean-Paul (Delon) spend their holidays in the villa of a friend, near Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. Marianne hears that Harry, a friend, is in Saint-Tropez, so she invites him. He visits them with his daughter Penelope (Birkin). Marianne suggests they should spend a couple of days in the villa and Harry accepts.
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7	A loose {{Remake}} named ''Film/ABiggerSplash'', directed by Creator/LucaGuadagnino and intended as the middle installment of his ''Desire'' [[ThematicSeries Thematic Trilogy]], was released in 2015. It starred Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/TildaSwinton, Creator/MatthiasSchoenaerts, and Creator/DakotaJohnson.
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9	It should not be confused with ''Film/SwimmingPool'', a 2003 French thriller directed by Creator/FrancoisOzon.
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12	!!''La Piscine'' provides examples of:
13	* TheAlcoholic: Jean-Paul is a recovered alcoholic. After a quarrel with Marianne, he starts drinking a lot of whisky again.
14	* BilingualBonus: In the French version, Marianne talks on the phone with Harry in English and her lines are not translated.
15	* BottleEpisode: The film is almost entirely set in a French Riviera villa, with a main cast of five.
16	* BoyfriendBlockingDad: Harry tells Jean-Paul that his daughter Penelope is off-limits and that he will never see her again when he suspects that Jean-Paul had sex with her. {{Justified\|Trope}} because Penelope is only 18 and Jean-Paul is much older.
17	* BrokenAce: Jean-Paul is a handsome guy who has a good job in an advertising agency. He has a beautiful girlfriend and he spends his holidays in a big villa on the French Riviera. However, he is dissatisfied with life. He dreamed of becoming a writer and he failed. He even tried to commit suicide because of this failure. He is a recovered alcoholic. In the end, he becomes [[spoiler:a murderer]].
18	* BungledSuicide: After the failure of his book, Jean-Paul tried to commit suicide, but he survived.
19	* CoolCar: Harry has a Maserati Ghibli. When he arrives, Marianne immediately notices the beautiful car. Later, Jean-Paul asks to drive it.
20	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Over the course of the film, we realize that Jean-Paul is a recovered alcoholic and that he tried to commit suicide.
21	* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Whether Jean-Paul and Penelope had sex when they went swimming together is left ambiguous.
22	* ElephantInTheLivingRoom: When Jean-Paul and Penelope come back to the villa after swimming together, Harry and Marianne suspect that they had sex together. However, during the dinner, they only talk about insignificant subjects.
23	* {{Fanservice}}: This film features two leading sex symbols of their time, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, in and around a swimming pool. You draw conclusions.
24	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
25	** Penelope reads a detective novel, which is a sign that there will be a murder.
26	** The morning after the spontaneous party, Jean-Paul complains that he completely fails at some days, and this is going to be one of them. The day ends [[spoiler:with him becoming a murderer]].
27	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Jean-Paul]] murders [[spoiler:Harry]], but the police does not have enough evidence to arrest him, so he gets away with it.
28	* LoveTriangle:
29	** Marianne is in a relationship with Jean-Paul, but when Harry, her former lover, shows up, she lets him seduce her.
30	** Jean-Paul is in a relationship with Marianne, but he is charmed by the young Penelope.
31	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: After drowning [[spoiler:Harry, Jean-Paul]] removes his clothes, hides them and puts dry clothes by the swimming pool, so that it looks like [[spoiler:Harry]] drowned himself.
32	* MomentKiller: In the opening scene, Jean-Paul and Marianne are going to have sex by the pool (Jean-Paul has already removed Marianne's bra), when the phone rings. Marianne wants to pick it up.
33	* MostWritersAreWriters: Jean-Paul is a would-be writer who has eventually given literature up. He presently works in an advertising agency.
34	* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:Harry is Marianne's ex-lover and he flirts with her. Jean-Paul, Marianne's boyfriend, murders him.]]
35	* NewOldFlame: Harry is Marianne's ex-lover. They start flirting again, until [[spoiler:Jean-Paul murders Harry]].
36	* OffTheWagon: After a quarrel with Marianne, Jean-Paul, a recovered alcoholic, starts drinking whisky again.
37	* ThePlace: The eponymous swimming pool, which is the centrepiece of the villa and is arguably a character on its own.
38	* PoolScene: Pool movie, in this case. The characters spend most of their time in or by the pool, so there are many fan-servicy shots of Creator/AlainDelon and Creator/RomySchneider in swimsuits.
39	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Harry delivers one to Jean-Paul at night by the swimming pool, just before falling into it. Harry tells that Jean-Paul is a selfish spoilt child, who has been always handled too carefully because he nearly killed himself when he was 17. This speech urges Jean-Paul to [[spoiler:murder Harry]].
40	* RecoveredAddict: Jean-Paul was an alcoholic, but he stopped drinking. During the party, he complains about the fact that he is asked to open the bottles, but that he cannot drink them.
41	* RuleOfPool: Harry eventually falls into the swimming pool. Then [[spoiler:Jean-Paul does not let him out and even drowns him]].
42	* ShirtlessScene: Jean-Paul (played by Creator/AlainDelon) is often shirtless by the pool (for example in the opening scene).
43	* SexySurfacingShot: In the opening scene, Marianne gets out of the pool in bikini and reveals her wet body. There is a close-up of her body when she gets close to Jean-Paul.
44	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Jean-Paul and Harry are supposed to be friends but Harry constantly belittles Jean-Paul and he flirts with Jean-Paul's girlfriend. From his part, Jean-Paul flirts with Harry's 18-year-old daughter and he finally [[spoiler:murders him]].
45	* WritersSuck: Jean-Paul, who wanted to be a writer, has given literature up.

Context Film / LaPiscine