Going to the swimming pool is a bit like watching a movie: when you sit at the bottom of the pool, you see some amazing and amusing things in the water. A young boy with goggles at the end of his nose and a swimming cap pulled tightly on to his head spends a while observing the scene playing out in front of him. That’s how life goes … fit bodies, ghastly bodies, bonkers bodies – there’s quite a parade taking place in this watery showcase.
The pool people are a diverse bunch: women nattering in the Jacuzzi, a man swimming with fast and determined strokes, a baby burbling in an enormous buoy … This is a very funny and poetic contemplation of everyday life. With the fine lines of her delicate artwork, with everything simple and suggested, the director Mor Israeli inevitably brings to mind the famous French cartoonist Sempé. And the almost sociological nature of the observation means Jacques Tati is never far from our thoughts either.
The animation reveals small details: one swimmer manages to retrieve his goggles just before they sink, another adjusts her swimsuit before getting out of the water – we feel like we are watching reality even though these are drawings. Anyone who has ever been to a swimming pool will have noticed little quirks or movements made by people we don’t know, both in and out of the water. So, we let ourselves be soothed by the sounds of the breaststroke, the front crawl and the lapping. To the intense rhythm of the aquagym, like takes its course. Feel like diving into a cinema-pool?
