I found my way to the story after watching the film recently. I came across the film on Criterion knowing nothing about it.
For anyone who doesn't already know the story, I think it's best to go in blind, but if you don't mind spoilers (and I guess this one has definitely reached the statute of limitations):
I just learned about the film in the recent book “Connecticut in the Movies” by Ileana Douglas. Burt Lancaster referred to The Swimmer as “Death of a Salesman in swim trunks”.
A couple reference points, among many, could be the 1968 film "The Swimmer" or the 1999 film "American Beauty". It's probably best expressed through fiction: reading factual descriptions may prove useless.
It's an American thing to idolize the middle class, and it's a human thing to be deeply discontented with what you have idolized, so really you have a lot of choices in the genre.
Hacker Cinema
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I found my way to the story after watching the film recently. I came across the film on Criterion knowing nothing about it.
For anyone who doesn't already know the story, I think it's best to go in blind, but if you don't mind spoilers (and I guess this one has definitely reached the statute of limitations):
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-swimmer-1968
I just learned about the film in the recent book “Connecticut in the Movies” by Ileana Douglas. Burt Lancaster referred to The Swimmer as “Death of a Salesman in swim trunks”.
The film is available for free at the Internet archive https://archive.org/details/the-swimmer-1968-1080p-blu-ray-x-265-r-00t
A couple reference points, among many, could be the 1968 film "The Swimmer" or the 1999 film "American Beauty". It's probably best expressed through fiction: reading factual descriptions may prove useless.
It's an American thing to idolize the middle class, and it's a human thing to be deeply discontented with what you have idolized, so really you have a lot of choices in the genre.