This hugely impressive and somewhat obscure film is a troubling psychological drama about a man called Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster) who appears in his neighbourhood after an absence and decides to 'swim home' to his family house on the other side of the county via all of his neighbours swimming pools. The beauty of The Swimmer is the way in which it is so cleverly structured. At the outset, Merrill seems like a popular and successful businessman and family man but quickly cracks begin to show in his persona. The way in which this is communicated to the audience is via the reactions of the people Merrill meets on his journey. We increasingly discover as he travels from pool to pool that he is not only far from universally liked and respected but that he is also a mentally unstable man who appears to be living in some self-constructed fantasy world. The story-telling approach allows the audience to piece together the narrative from various fragmented bits of indirect information and other very direct hostile reactions. Each neighbour that Merrill encounters acts as a mirror which reflects a dark truth and a different protective layer is peeled back so that we increasingly see who and what Ned Merrill actually is. Among other things, via these encounters we discover that he is a poor friend, is an unfaithful husband and has trouble differentiating between fantasy and reality. As he gets closer to his home, the events he experiences get more and more brutal in their savage self-revelation. At the beginning of his journey he is a picture of health amongst his affluent suburbanite friends, while at the end he is a broken man who pathetically has to scrounge his way into a public pool. The gorgeous weather and beautiful greenery of the fabulous properties that Merrill travels through act as a direct comparison to the very dark nature of the actual story. This is a day in the life of a damaged man, a man who is clearly not a good person, a middle-aged man who in one very uncomfortable scene appears to make a pass on a teenage girl on the basis that she had a crush on him as a little girl. The Swimmer is certainly not a breezy tale despite the attractive setting.
Burt Lancaster is extraordinary in the central role. Repeat viewings of the film only emphasise the brilliance of his performance. It's a very complex role and Lancaster is the dark soul of this compelling tragedy. He is very ably supported too by a very nice pool of actors in the other roles. But it ultimately is Lancaster's vehicle. What makes the film so good though is the combination of this top-class acting, with a great script and intelligent narrative construction; add to that the beautiful suburban Connecticut scenery and you have a superlative drama. The Swimmer is an excellent film that doesn't necessarily give it's audience all the answers but it has enough respect for you as a viewer to allow you to construct it's puzzle yourself, it of course comes highly recommended.
Burt Lancaster is extraordinary in the central role. Repeat viewings of the film only emphasise the brilliance of his performance. It's a very complex role and Lancaster is the dark soul of this compelling tragedy. He is very ably supported too by a very nice pool of actors in the other roles. But it ultimately is Lancaster's vehicle. What makes the film so good though is the combination of this top-class acting, with a great script and intelligent narrative construction; add to that the beautiful suburban Connecticut scenery and you have a superlative drama. The Swimmer is an excellent film that doesn't necessarily give it's audience all the answers but it has enough respect for you as a viewer to allow you to construct it's puzzle yourself, it of course comes highly recommended.