Brilliant, Challenging, and Unforgettable.
1968 was a pretty damn good year for movies, with movies that are now classics ranging from ROSEMARY'S BABY to 2001 to THE LION IN WINTER and a score or so of others. In a way it is sad that the list of the great films of 1968 usually does not include Frank Perry's THE SWIMMER, a brilliant, challenging film that is difficult to describe and nearly impossible to forget.
Briefly, the story deals with Ned Merrill, an upper-middle class suburbanite, who appears at the beginning of the film clad only in a bathing suit. Soon it is established that he is on his way home, and that he can "swim home" by swimming across the pools of each of his neighbors on the way.
Lancaster, at fifty-five here, is still a marvelous figure of a man, and both his physicality and his sexuality are put to good use here, to say nothing of his considerable abilities as an actor. This may well be Lancaster's best performance; it is certainly in the top ten.
Anyway, "Neddy" shows up on the back patio of some friends and begins his journey, encountering various friends, business associates, a babysitter who had an adolescent crush on him, and a woman with whom he had an affair (Neddy is a married man) along the way.
Based on a story by John Cheever, THE SWIMMER is sort of a reverse version of THE ODYSSEY. In a classic odyssey, the "hero" encounters many challenges and difficulties throughout his journey, and usually ends up enriched or at least a better person at the end: he grows. THE SWIMMER, on the other hand, is the tale of a man who is gradually being diminished with each pool, each conversation, each encounter, until the final scene, which I will not reveal except to say that it is shattering.
A lot is left unsaid in this film. For one thing, very often the people Neddy encounters either don't seem to understand what he is doing there or meet him with outright hostility, which leaves him completely bewildered. And if memory serves, we are never told where he has been, only where he is headed.
That's all I can say. This one has to be experienced; it is the sort of film that every viewer will likely have a different take on. And it engages your imagination and makes you think: who is this man and what has happened to him?
The movie only partly answers this question, but that is part of its power: the final scene is devastating and leaves the viewer in the dark about a good many things, which normally I would find irritating, but which in this case is exactly the ending that the story calls for.
But you must draw your own conclusions; see this one. You may not get it. You may even hate it. But I don't think you'll be able to forget it: I know I couldn't.
Never mess with a middle-aged, Bipolar queen with AIDS and an attitude problem!
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