The Swimmer (1968)
Waspy American crashes local pool party.
Presentation:
When a film is recommended on X as one of the best of all time, I’m usually skeptical. But it’s been 3 out of 3 home runs, and this film is no different. I was debating whether to give this a 4 or a 5, because there isn’t another film quite like The Swimmer. I think this is one of those films that works best when you have no idea what it is about. The film starts out unassumingly - classical cinematography, hard lighting…then it slowly gets more and more artistic. Out of focus POV shots, slow motion, reflections, flares, some of the cinematography is innovative even by 2026 standards. Perhaps the audio is poor, but I’d argue everything adds the disorienting experience. An accomplishment on its own, the spiraling madness surpasses Vertigo , captures the emotional feel of despair and confusion better than any other film that has attemped it. Simply put, this is better than any classic, but it’s relatively newer produced in 1968. It’s also a perfect snapshot of the booming 60s of American affluence, with striking blue eyes that look like something from the planet of Arakkis.
Analysis:
The film is about a man who slowly has his life turned upside down once he realizes that the people around him despise him. This is contrasted with a perfect beginning, where he appears to be popular and in good social standing. Slowly and through bits and pieces we realize that he is full of delusion, having cheated and parasitically mooched off of others. We can see it clearly when he borrows money from the kid, only to find out later he has abundant unpaid debts. The source of all the suffering is hinted at being alcoholism especially from the opening pool drink scene and feeling of cold withdrawal, but it’s left open to interpretation. His affinity for swimming could allude to swimming in debt, promiscuity, or alcohol. The scene teaching the boy to swim encapsulates the entire trauma. He pretends the pool is full of water, because if he can imagine it enough, then it comes true. Just not for everyone else in reality, which is the problem. When the boy begins bouncing on the diving board, he attempts to save him for fear the boy would jump to his death. This is projection, as he himself has likely tried to commit suicide. He ends up with a painful wake up call when he realizes his life is actually in shambles despite all the rich white folks eating caviar and having affluent pool parties in the American dream.
Conclusion:
There are people that say there is no such thing as American or white culture, to which I would rebuttal them with this film. To be honest, the waspy white men in this film almost felt like a Jordan Peele satire by 2026 standards, but that ends up being part of the craziness. This a classical film, but also very Hitchcockian. I’d even argue that this surpasses Hitchcock. The film plays very much like a book, as it was based off a novel, and is perhaps one of the strongest adaptions I’ve watched that adequately captured the literary ambiguity. It’s absolutely strong cinema, but that doesn’t guarantee you will like it. I have a feeling that younger audiences will find this boring, but it’s potentially one of those films where even if you don’t get it, you’ll like be entranced by it anyway. There’s a memorable sense of mysterious discomfort that lingers long after. You know you watched something incredible, but you can’t describe why. And sometimes that’s the most magical cinema.
Recommendations
Taking the scenic route through life.