"Swimming Pool" (R) (out of four)

"Swimming Pool" is a cool drink of water in a summer crowded with hulks, angels and terminators.

It's "Murder, She Wrote" with a French twist and "Miss Marple" with sensuality.

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Movie Preview: 'Swimming Pool'

Talented director François Ozon ("8 Women") creates an engaging mystery by teaming two talented women he's worked with previously. The classic Charlotte Rampling appeared in Ozon's "Under the Sand," while stunning Ludivine Sagnier was cast in "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" and the more recent "8 Women." Here, their chemistry is undeniable and makes for magic on the screen.

Rampling plays uptight best-selling mystery writer Sarah Morton who gets stuck with a case of writer's block. Her editor and sometime lover, played by Charles Dance, invites her to take a vacation away from the grind of London and escape to his French villa for some fresh air and new scenery. Maybe there she will find peace and be able to write.

Ozon takes his time setting up the scene of Morton's retreat. We are voyeurs watching her go through her paces of taking down a wooden cross placed over a bed, going to the market to pick up fresh fruit and yogurt, setting up her laptop and excruciatingly looking for a place to plug it in.

As you examine Ozon's motives for the intricate set-up, it becomes clear as Morton's peace is shattered when the editor's wild daughter, Julie (Sagnier) comes crashing in.

She's 20-something and brazen with her chipped nail polish. She smokes, leaves food around the house, invites men back to the villa, and swims nude in the outdoor pool.

Ozon again creates viewer voyeur as you watch Morton try to adjust to the new temperature the girl has created in the house. It's a terrific cat-and-mouse game as the mystery writer and her new housemate manipulate each other so that each can get what they want.

Ozon manipulates his viewer as well. Is he trying to shock by consistently showing us Sagnier's bare breasts? And what would make the stuffy Morton suddenly disrobe and invite a scruffy, non-English speaking gardener into her room?

Questions abound in "Swimming Pool." Just when you think you have it figured out, Ozon pulls the rug out from under you.

During a recent interview with Rampling, I stared into her steely eyes. It was as if the swimming pool was reflecting in them. I told her I had many questions about the film, but wasn't sure if I wanted the answers.

In the slow, plodding tone of Sarah Morton, Rampling said: "Good, good."

In an effort to sort out my questions, I went back and watched the end of the film, then stayed again for the beginning. While I had first dipped my toe in the water, my mad desire to figure things out had me jumping in full body.

"Swimming Pool," while not for everyone, can be engulfing. And don't believe for a minute Ozon didn't have it planned that way.