Tapis Rouge Classiques returns to De Uitkijk with La Piscine. The film will be introduced on May 25 by Pierre-Pascal Bruneau, founder and chairman of the L’Echappée Foundation and Tapis Rouge. La Piscine has been recently restored in 4K and features English subtitles.
The opening minutes of La Piscine are marked by silence. A man and a woman—Jean-Paul (Alain Delon) and Marianne (Romy Schneider)—are lying by the pool of a villa near Saint-Tropez. They appear relaxed, but nothing in their body language is truly carefree.
At first glance, Jacques Deray’s 1969 film is a sultry summer drama, drenched in sunlight and stillness. But beneath the surface lies something else: unspoken tensions, old wounds, and a desire that does not come without consequences. The arrival of Harry (Maurice Ronet), an old friend and former lover of Marianne, and his daughter Pénélope (Jane Birkin), further unsettles the balance.
La Piscine is part psychological drama, part character study. The pace is slow, the mise-en-scène deliberate, but nothing feels empty. The film takes place largely within the confines of the house and the pool—a closed world where glances, silences, and small gestures carry increasing weight.
The casting alone carried emotional weight: Delon and Schneider were once a couple, and their reunion attracted considerable media attention. Their chemistry—charged yet distant—adds an extra layer to the film.
Visually, La Piscine is a time capsule: the fashion, the color palette, the summery lethargy. At the same time, it remains a contemporary study of human relationships—how people respond to one another when circumstances seem too comfortable to be honest.