(Premier Login spindaddydad) Forum Owner Posted Feb 24, 2004 12:53 PM
SPOILER ALERT! Do not read the following if you haven't seen the movie. It will ruin the experience.
The plot of Swimming Pool seemingly runs fairly straightforward for the majority of the film's runtime. However, as Sarah returns to her publisher's office in London, she drops a book on his desk that is entitled "Swimming Pool." She states that she knew he wouldn't publish it because it is such a departure from her normal subject matter, so she had it published by a different publisher.
Here's where the big shocker comes in! As Sarah is leaving John's office, his secretary buzzes in to inform him that his daughter is here to see him. We see John's daughter as a gangly teen with braces. We (as well as Sarah) immediately realize that she is different than the Julie whom we had seen at the house in France.
Following is my interpretation as to what happened:
There was never anyone else at the house with Sarah, ever! (except for Marcel). Sarah was totally alone when she wrote the book! All of Sarah's interactions with Julie (John's daughter) were imaginary. Made up and written into her book.
In one particular phone call, Sarah discovered that John had a daughter. This set Sarah's imagination into action. Sarah worked Julie(a) into her book and Ozon worked Julie(a) into the movie.
So, we learn that from the point where Julie enters the house until we see Sarah at the publisher's office is actually taken from Sarah's book. This would explain Sarah's look of bewilderment when she actually sees Julie(a) at John's office. She had an image of what she wanted Julie(a) to look like (as did we) and when she actually saw her, it was quite a shock.
The final scene of Julia beside the pool is just Sarah imagining what it would have been like for the real Julia to have been there.
Here is a rundown of what was real in the movie:
1) Sarah Morton is riding the train to her publisher's office.
2) John informs Sarah that she can use his house as creative stimulation to write the book.
3) Sarah flies to France and is driven to the house by Marcel.
5) Sarah returns to London and presents John with her newly published book.
6) As Sarah leaves John's office she sees his daughter Julia.
Everything between 3 and 5 comes from Sarah's book and her imagination.