Rating: 4/5
Longer French version
Lounging at their pool, Marianne (Romy Schneider) gets a phone call from Harry (Maurice Ronet), saying he is going to visit, leaving Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) a little jealous due to her and Harry’s supposed past
You talk about all the others but never about Harry
Harry comes with his daughter, Penelope (Jane Birkin), and Jean-Paul tries to hide that he is smitten
— Pretty, isn't she? — Not bad
Marianne tries to be open to Jean-Paul hooking up with Penelope, perhaps because she doesn’t want to feel guilt in pursuing Harry, especially when she spends so much time assuring Jean-Paul that the two have no history. Jean-Paul refuses to acknowledge his feelings, trying to hide them from everyone, including himself
You're a Pisces with an Aquarius rising — you were born to be loved, but you don't realize it
It’s clear the influence this has had on thrillers — several parts made me think of the second season of White Lotus and a few of Sexy Beast — and for good reason. The filmmakers let the tensions grow until the unspoken must be spoken, and everything changes
Great performances, a beautiful setting, and hot chemistry between everyone — it helps that Delon and Schneider dated for a while before this. Jane Birkin is almost too good at playing younger, to where I thought, “Jean-Paul, what do you see here?” but I guess French dudes are historically “like that.”
If I had one complaint, it’s that the pacing, while well-done, feels a bit slow for me — if some scenes progressed a little faster and the movie was a little tighter, it would be more effective for me
Stray Thoughts
- RIP Jane Birkin — she died just last month :(
- Boy, those suntans look cancerous
- It’s fun seeing Delon and Ronet reunite after Purple Noon — it’s wild that there are nine years between the two movies! They look even more like each other here
- Jean-Paul is incapable of kissing Marianne without taking her top off
- I think Delon mentioned something about some days not being worth it and skipping to the next in both this and Purple Noon
- When Jean-Paul keeps kicking Harry into the pool, it reminds me of the King of the Hill episode where Hank kept doing it to the paleontologist who humiliated Peggy