The swimmer (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The swimmer |
| Original title | The Swimmer |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1968 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Frank Perry , Sydney Pollack |
| script | Eleanor Perry |
| production | Frank Perry |
| music | Marvin Hamlisch |
| camera | David L. Quaid |
| cut |
Sidney Katz , Carl Lerner , Pat Somerset |
| occupation | |
| |
The Swimmer is a surreal American drama from 1968 starring Burt Lancaster .
Literary template
The film is based on a short story by the American author John Cheever , which appeared in 1964. The plot has been changed a bit for the film. Some things have been added, others deleted.
action
Ned Merrill, played by Burt Lancaster, unexpectedly visits friends one summer morning, dressed only in swimming trunks, to swim in her pool. The couple warmly welcome the unexpected guest, even if at least two years have passed since their last meeting. After learning that a couple who are friends of his neighbors has also bought a pool, he comes up with the idea of swimming through the pools on the properties of his former acquaintances in an affluent district of Connecticut , which are strung together like a river, and in doing so, towards their properties traverse. As a dedication to his wife, he calls this “river from pools” the “Lucinda River”. Details about Ned's earlier life are only evident in the hints and allusions of former acquaintances whom he encounters in their gardens on his way from one property to another. These allusions suggest that in his past Ned was not just the caring and beloved family man he portrays himself to be. It also becomes clear that he is broke and that some old acquaintances still owe money. As the film progresses, and the more he is exposed to these increasingly negative allusions from various previous acquaintances, Ned talks more often about having to go home. One of the people he meets is his apparently former lover (Janice Rule), who confronts him with accusations and humiliations.
For a few hours Ned is accompanied by a pretty young girl who used to be a regular babysitter in Ned's house and who now confesses to having fallen in love with him at that time. They part ways when Ned makes clear advances and takes her away.
As the last stop on his odyssey, Ned stands in his swimming trunks in front of his own uninhabited house. A thunderstorm has come and it is raining cats and dogs. The abandoned and overgrown tennis court is briefly faded by a memory of a tennis game with his happy daughter. Weeds have grown over the house and while he is knocking desperately on the door, the camera reveals the abandoned interior of the house.
Creation and reactions to the film
The film was made in 1966, but did not appear in cinemas until 1968. Numerous plots of land belonging to wealthy suburban residents were temporarily collected for a fee so that they could shoot there. When the film was released in 1968, it was not very successful. It was only over the years that many Lancaster fans discovered it as one of his outstanding works.
Reviews
“Allegorical film fable that uses the figure of a homeless wanderer to demonstrate the narrow-mindedness of the well-off American bourgeoisie. The ambitions in terms of content and form, however, partly lead to kitschy pathos and pretentious symbolisms. "
“Sensitive study of a person who failed to survive [...]. Using the example of Ned Merrill, Perry reveals the hollowness of a society whose status symbol the swimming pool and whose reactions to human misfortune are reserve, defensiveness and malicious pleasure. The film, which is symbolically somewhat overloaded in terms of the camera and the music, is nevertheless recommended due to the extraordinary treatment of the subject and the surprising representational power of Burt Lancaster in the title role. "
this and that
Due to differences, director Frank Perry was replaced by Sydney Pollack in the middle of filming , which led to delays in shooting. So the passages of the film with Ned's former lover, Shirley Abott, were arranged by Sydney Pollack.
Burt Lancaster, 53 at the time of shooting, had to complete a comprehensive fitness program and swimming lessons before and during filming in order to do justice to the athletic figure of the main character and the swimming scenes.
Janice Rule was a last-minute replacement for Barbara Loden .
Web links
- The float in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The swimmer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 9, 2017 .