Directed by Jacques Deray • 1969 • France
Starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet
The bright sun of the French Riviera is deceptive in this alluring work of slow-burn suspense from thriller specialist Jacques Deray and legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière. Formerly one of European cinema’s most iconic real-life couples, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider reunited for this film, bringing a palpable erotic chemistry to their performances as the bronzed and beautiful vacationers whose summer holiday on the Côte d’Azur is interrupted by the arrival of an old acquaintance (Maurice Ronet) and his eighteen-year-old daughter (Jane Birkin)—unleashing a gathering wave of sexual tension, jealousy, and sudden violence. A paragon of 1960s modernist cool thanks to effortlessly chic clothes and a loungy Michel Legrand score, LA PISCINE dives deep to reveal sinister undercurrents roiling beneath its seductive surfaces.
Up Next in Vacation Noir
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Inferno
Directed by Roy Ward Baker • 1953 • United States
Starring Robert Ryan, Rhonda Fleming, William LundiganMegawealthy industrialist Donald Carson III (Robert Ryan) breaks his leg while on a trip through the Mojave desert, and rather than find help, his scheming wife (Rhonda Fleming) and her lover...
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Kansas City Confidential
Directed by Phil Karlson • 1952 • United States Starring John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster
B-noir specialist Phil Karlson brings a gritty pulp punch to this slam-bang heist thriller with a plot tha...
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His Kind of Woman
Directed by John Farrow • 1951 • United States
Starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent PriceThis offbeat noir gem from genre specialist John Farrow brings together a crackerjack cast—including Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Raymond Burr, and Vincent Price (playing, appropriately, a ham ac...
