Tanya’s Score: Good*
Rated: PG
Starring: Burt “not bad in a bathing suit” Lancaster; Joan “not bad before plastic surgery” Rivers; Dolph “not bad consider I only know him as the cop father from Gimme a Break” Sweet
Plot: A man decides to swim through all the pools of his wealthy neighbours as he makes his way toward home.
Tanya’s Verdict: The minute this movie started I realized I already knew the outcome as it’s based on a short story by John Cheever that I read in university – and that has stayed with me all these years later.
What was most interesting about this movie to me is the unfolding of the story. The immediate plot – swimming across neighbourhood pools – has little to do with what is actually going on. Â Everything is a metaphor – the pools, the neighbours, the glorious day, the highway. The story slowly unravels as Ned (Lancaster) works his way from neighbouring pool to neighbouring pool, the audience begins to piece together what is going on based on the conversations he engages in from house to house. Reality is a construct of multiple perceptions.
The movie, just like the story, left me with a lot to think about.
*Four score descriptions: Sh**; Okay; Good; Great