Please note: This was screened in July 2025
She wrote, he directed: The Swimmer, adapted by husband-wife duo Frank and Eleanor Perry, is a surreal odyssey through the suburbs starring Burt Lancaster.
Athletic suburban father Ned (Burt Lancaster) attends a pool party and notices a ‘river’ of swimming pools from his current location all the way to his house across the county and decides to ‘swim home’. Each poolside encounter with his neighbours reveals something about himself and his community.
Adapted from John Cheever’s novella of the same name, both were celebrated for their penetrating portrayal of the upper-middle classes in the late 1960s – evidenced by the film’s incisive tagline ‘When you talk about “The Swimmer” will you talk about yourself?’.
The Swimmer is the best-known film by husband-wife filmmaking duo Frank and Eleanor Perry. She wrote, he directed and together they made a distinguished series of literary adaptations before their divorce in 1971. Despite their success at the time their films are extremely hard to find now.
The troubled production saw relative newcomers the Perrys in conflict with major star Lancaster (who commissioned reshoots directed by an uncredited Sydney Pollack) and yet remarkably the film is a cohesive whole. From Levi’s adverts to Mad Men, The Swimmer has inspired and continues to inspire. Experience the shimmering pools, unfinished cocktails and the façade of suburban success on the big screen.
This screening is co-curated with Ellisha Izumi, as part of Other Ways of Seeing, with support from BFI Awarding Funds from National Lottery.
With thanks to Park Circus and Sony.