There’s something about swimming pools. They’re spaces that quite literally invite us to dive in, giving us permission to shed our inhibitions—and clothing—to get a little wet & wild.
As we’ve covered on this very site, over the years a great number of queer films have featured pools as key settings, using them to evoke feelings of desire, discovery, and even a little danger.
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Other People’s Bodies is a new film from writer-director Alan Brown that continues that trend, following a group of old friends who reunite at vacation home during one particularly hot summer weekend, “reigniting long-simmering passions, grievances, and regrets.”
At a secluded country estate, modern dancer Olivia (National Treasure‘s Annie Parisse) is taking a hard-earned break with her handsome husband Seb (A.J. Shively, ’22 Tony nominee for Paradise Square), both looking for a little rest & relaxation.
But their peaceful, poolside getaway is disrupted by the sudden, unexpected appearance of Mateo (Eric‘s McKinley Belcher III), Olivia’s former best friend and dance partner—who also happens to be Seb’s former lover.
Mateo’s own dance career ended after a serious injury, and he and Olivia haven’t spoken in eight years, ever since a betrayal that led him to cut them both out of their lives. Complicating things further is that Mateo has his young and flirty new lover Zaki (Uncoupled‘s Jasai Chase-Owens) in tow.
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Well, if three’s a party and four’s a crowd, how about six? Surprise! Two more old dance colleagues turn up, married couple Gabriella (Manifest‘s Julienne Hanzelka Kim) and Fabian (Severence‘s Adam Jepsen). Oh yeah, and Fabian was Olivia’s lover before she got with Seb.
In other words, pretty much everyone has reasons to be jealous of, lusting over, and/or has grievances with everyone else. Sounds messy, eh? We are so in!
Other People’s Bodies is described as a “queer reimagining” of 1969 French erotic classic La Piscine, from director Jacques Deray. While not overtly queer, that steamy psychological thriller starred the beautiful Alain Delon, the highly problematic star who once was at the center of plenty of gay rumors back in the day. Perhaps because of that, folks have long felt a sense of homoeroticism lingering between its male characters.
Interestingly, La Piscine has already inspired at least one other reimagining: Gay filmmaker François Ozon’s Swimming Pool from 2003, which took a more streamlined approach to the story, following a novelist (Charlotte Rampling) on a writer’s retreat who becomes obsessed with a young woman who turns up claiming to be the homeowner’s daughter.
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No spoilers, but neither of those films have the most sunshine-y endings, despite all the literal sunshine. So don’t be surprised if things get a bit dark in Other People’s Bodies, too—our guess is someone’s going to end up in that pool, whether they like it our not.
Alan Brown’s Other People’s Bodies is set to have its world premiere on October 11 at NewFest, New York City’s premier LGBTQ+ film festival, and tickets will be available here beginning Sep. 15. There’s no word yet on when it will be more wide available, but stay tuned for updates on more festival dates and theatrical and/or streaming release details to come.
In the meantime, check out the scorchingly hot first trailer for Other People’s Bodies below:
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