‘Le Divorce’

If being blasted in the face with pompous sophistication sounds like fun, then look no further than “Le Divorce.”

A cast of wonderful actors, including Glenn Close, Matthew Modine and Stockard Channing, are completely wasted in this romantic comedy lacking any taste or distinctive style.

Kate Hudson stars as a film school dropout who moves to Paris to live with her pregnant step-sister, Naomi Watts.

Once there, she becomes a mistress to the wealthy uncle-in-law of Watts.

The story, written by director James Ivory and longtime collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, meanders around characters and is free of wit and inspiration. It’s painful to watch Watts and Hudson, who are both dull and merely spurting dialogue.

Redeemable qualities include the fantastic score by composer Richard Robbins, and Close, who is the only actor who breathes life into her performance.

It’s too bad the rest of the movie drowns in its excess of retention and glossy classiness.

— Ryan Curell

‘Swimming Pool’

A British mystery novelist (Charlotte Rampling) with writer’s block travels to her publisher’s French mansion where she meets his wild child of a daughter (Ludivine Sagnier) who makes a habit of interrupting her work.

“Swimming Pool” is a fragmented masterpiece of observation, veiled in inspiration of a great Kubrick film. Rampling is spellbinding in her role as a lonely writer, and major points to director Fran‡ois Ozon for isolating her in the film’s crucial opening scenes.

This provides an intriguing surprise when Sagnier, a young actress, shows up to upset the prim author’s stay.

Though a plot twist hazes the final product, it enhances the discussion piece that is “Swimming Pool.”

It’s a movie that causes its audience to second-guess what we have seen and not feel ripped off in the process.

I’m trying to decide if the zigzagged ending was really a twist at all.

This is a wonderful movie to be remembered for its strong acting and ingenious direction.

— Ryan Curell