The Swimmer

Here’s to sugar on the strawberries. The Swimmer as a film is very much like a swimming pool. It’s easy to brush off as an odd vehicle for Burt Lancaster from the late 1960’s, with outdated politics of the time and leave it at that. But below the surface, there’s so much more, and I still don’t think I’ve reached the bottom with this second watch. It’s a dreamy, psychological film that questions the state of the main character and questions American ideals of the 1960’s. I could see The Swimmer being released today as a satirical commentary on the upper class from decades earlier, but this film was released during that time period. It has wonderful foresight and subtle commentary on things like wealth, social class, power dynamics, and most importantly on the masks we wear in social settings. The most interesting question The Swimmer asks is what if, against all truths and evidence that point to the contrary, we never take off the mask?Another that it asks is: Once you achieve the American Dream, is there anywhere to go but down?  And I think about Marvin Hamlisch’s wonderful score often. It captures every dreamy, happy, anxious, and confused thought the film has. It might be the most underrated original score I’ve ever heard, unsurprising given the underrated movie it comes from.