A taut psychological thriller, La Piscine reunites Alain Delon with his co-star from Purple Soon,Maurice Ronet, for another tale of obsessive jealousy. In a luxurious villa on the French Riviera, Jean-Paul (Delon) and Marianne (thewonderful Romy Schneider) have created a peaceful, loving relationship. Trouble begins to stir when their old friend Harry (Ronet) comes to visit along with his daughter Penelope (a very young Jane Birkin). The atmosphere, light and agreeable at first, grows darker, as each member of this tragic quartet conspires to take advantage of the others for their own spiteful purposes.
‘With the cool impassibility of an entomologist studying an insect colony, Jacques Deray tears away the tissues of illusion, suspicion, secrets and memories that come to define his characters and their relationships… Romy Schneider, in top form, cuts a remarkable figure as she easily dominates the two men on the scene: Alain Delon, more mysterious than ever, and Maurice Ronet, overbearing and corrosive. As for Birkin, she subtly projects the very image of a seductive innocence spiraling into a kind of perversity.’ – Marcel Martin, Les Lettres Françaises