About Movie:

"The Swimmer" a short story by American author John Cheever, published in 1964 in the short story collection The Brigadier and the Golf Widow. Originally conceived as a novel and pared down from over 150 pages of notes, it is probably Cheever's most famous and frequently anthologized story. At one point Cheever wanted to parallel the tale of Narcissus, a character in Greek mythology who died while staring at his own reflection in a pool of water, which Cheever dismissed as too restrictive. As published, the story is highly praised for its blend of realism and surrealism, the thematic exploration of suburban America, especially the relationship between wealth and happiness, as well as his use of myth and symbolism.

Synopsis: Burt Lancaster stars in this adaptation of John Cheever's dreamlike short story about one man's highly unusual attempt to find meaning in his life. On the morning after a booze-filled night, Ned... Burt Lancaster stars in this adaptation of John Cheever's dreamlike short story about one man's highly unusual attempt to find meaning in his life. On the morning after a booze-filled night, Ned Merrill wakes up in a haze, confronted by the sterility of his isolated, wealthy suburban existence. So he decides to traverse this upper-class world swimming pool by swimming pool: he goes to each neighbor's house, swims through the chlorinated waters of the requisite backyard pool, and chats with the owner. Among the people he sees are his longtime mistress, a sexy babysitter and a couple of politically-liberal (or so they believe) nudists. This interesting, overlooked film, is a visually captivating look at the essential emptiness of the "American Dream."

REVIEWS

This is a beautifully orchestrated film. As far as the classic tale of self-deception goes, this film, along with Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Frank Leutcher by Errol Morris, really lays out the inner conflict and deception of the main character. As The Swimmer progress forward, the self-deception of Ned slowly unfolds in front of not only the viewer’s eyes, but Ned’s eyes as well. The further along one gets in this film, the more blatantly obvious it is that Ned has built an identity completely upon a foundation of lies in order to salvage some sort of personal meaning for his life. It is only when Ned encounters others whom he has wronged in the past that an external picture of him is painted. The rejection and disapproval of these people force Ned into the world of truth, a place where he isn’t very comfortable. Ned’s encounter with former friends at the pool to whom he now owes money combined with his meeting with his former mistress are the moments that push old Ned further away from the false world he has created for himself. Ned’s self-deception seems to manifest itself most fully in the “empty pool” scene. In this scene, Ned teaches an isolated little boy to swim in a waterless pool. Ned states “If you make believe hard enough that something is true, then it is true for you.” This sentence seems to encapsulate the way in which Ned views reality. This view of his is brought crashing violently down upon him in the final scene of the film when Ned arrives “home” to find himself locked out and the house completely empty. Ned’s complete breakdown in this climax of the film signals his return to reality, but more importantly his exodus from the world of “the swimmer”. As a study of self-deception, a better film than this one would be hard to find. I strongly recommend this film to anyone interested in the integration of philosophy and film. -- Wholly Evil




Tags: the swimmer, burt lancaster, tornado u srbiji, john wayne, sally field, clark gable