Burt Lancaster gives one of his most daringly complex performances in The Swimmer, a fascinating adaptation of John Cheever's celebrated short story. At first it seems that middle-aged businessman Ned Merrill (Lancaster) is merely enjoying a spontaneous adventure, swimming from pool to pool among the well-tended estates of his affluent Connecticut neighbourhood. But as Ned encounters a variety of neighbours, we see from their reactions that he's on an entirely different kind of journey, balanced on the edge of some mysterious psychosis that we can't fully understand... until the film's final, devastating image. A compelling portrait of loss, refracted memories, and deep-rooted emotional denial, The Swimmer sprung from the same late-60s soil that yielded similarly ground-breaking literary films such as The Graduate and Goodbye, Columbus. It's an egotistical showcase for the physical prowess of its 55-year-old star, but Lancaster turns it into something deeper, more disturbing, and completely unforgettable. --Jeff Shannon [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Neddy Merrill has been away for most of the Summer He reappears at a friends pool As they talk someone notices that there are pools spanning the entire valley He decided to jog from pool to pool to swim the whole valley As he stops in each pool his interactions tell his life story
This much admired cult classic stars Burt Lancaster as Ned Merrill who decides to swim across the country, using a chain of swimming pools in his friends' gardens. Along the way he meets a host of women from his past, faces humiliation, embarrassment and steamy encounters, before arriving home with a startling revelation.
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