As his friends nurse their hangovers, Ned Merrill (a burly, bodacious and brilliant Burt Lancaster) awakes from a well-partied slumber and seizes the day by diving into their shimmering blue pool. Invigorated, Ned notices that between this house and his own lies a ‘river’ of backyard pools, so he devises a plan to swim his way home across the affluent Connecticut suburbs. Along his journey Ned bumps into neighbours, friends and flames, some of whom welcome him to their pool, some are less pleased by his trespassing while others draw out unexpected aspects of Ned, gradually shining light on the man beneath the broad-shoulders and easy charm.

“When you talk about The Swimmer, will you talk about yourself?”, beyond having one of the best poster taglines ever, this deftly expansive take of John Cheever’s 1964 short story by Academy Award-nominated husband-and-wife team of Eleanor (screenplay adaptation) and Frank Perry (director) is one of American cinema’s great character studies. Burt Lancaster seems as if he was born for this role, his entire physical form shines with bravado, pride and charisma yet something always feels off, a dark glimmer in his eye calling for help from inside, accentuated further by Perry’s dreamy and eerie craft.