La "Piscine" by Jacques Deray and "Swimming pool" by François Ozon. Two free versions of the "Odyssey" in French cinema

Abstract

In La Piscine, directed in 1969 by Jacques Deray, Harry (Ulises) returns to Saint-Tropez on board of his “vessel”, a Masseratti, and meets again with Marianne (Penélope) who now is Jean-Paul’s girlfriend, a former friend of Harry. As in the Odyssey, Harry delays in the long trip of return amusing itself in successive relations. Inversely to the original story, the “suitor" survives the modern Ulysses.

Swimming Pool, movie directed in 2003 by François Ozon that we can consider as a new version of the eternal Homeric adventure, offers an interesting displacement of roles: In the house - island who is waiting is a writer. It is Penelope that is weaving the story itself and being Homer simultaneously. Instead of Ulysses who returns is Julie, a daughter of the owner, and is she the one that ends up by eliminating one of his own “suitors".