François Ozon is considered to be part of the jeune cinéma français or Nouvelle Nouvelle Vague, a collection of film directors and auteurs who have separated themselves from the “mostly male-centric and heteronormative” films of the New Wave, facilitating a more “diverse generation of auteurs”, including women and queer filmmakers (Schilt 30). Kate Ince argues that Ozon is “France’s first mainstream queer filmmaker” (5). Schilt points out that the term “queer cinema” is one that is used mostly outside of France, and that Ozon’s (and others’) “status as ‘queer filmmakers’ and accompanying penchant for depicting queer desire on screen are largely downplayed in the French context” (35). In his three films, Swimming Pool, Double Lover, and Summer of ’85, Ozon cements his status as an avant-garde filmmaker who does not fear straying outside the boundaries of heteronormativity. Like Almodóvar, his success is international, and he has a propensity for diverging into the queer when it comes to themes and storylines.

Swimming Pool is the story of a British writer retreating to a French villa in an attempt to get past her writer’s block. Charlotte Rampling’s character, Sarah, is so malcontent and jealous when we first meet her, that it is hard to even think of her sexually. There is a small charge detected between her and her publisher, and yet she also manages to give off a man-hating persona. Later on, we see her attraction to the young man, Franck, at the café. What follows is an obsession, but less so with Franck and more so with the promiscuous young flatmate, Julie. One could even argue that there is a homosexual tone to Sarah’s obsession. Julie is aware of Sarah’s growing obsession, but she does not do anything to discourage it. In addition, Sarah finds inspiration for her own work after spying on Julie’s trysts, and there is an obvious crumbling of her writer’s block after Julie comes into her life. The word “bisexual” is not used, either in the film or in scholarship about the film. It should be noted we never see Sarah have sex with anyone, but we do witness her fantasies that involve both Franck and Julie. There is a very suggestive seen of Franck coming on to Julie at the pool, which turns out to be just a dream or a fantasy on Sarah’s part, with much attention paid to both Franck’s tight clothing and Julie’s breasts. Her sexual fantasy involves both a man and woman. Though Sarah is not outwardly bisexual, she is very much othered in Swimming Pool, defying expectations and norms. Otherness is often linked to bisexuality. Brown argues that it is the actress, herself, that provides the “otherness” that makes her characters so alluring. “Paradoxically, however, this stardom is predicated upon her otherness, which, we might most productively assert, is not based upon a certain definite identity (Rampling as British or European), but precisely on her ambiguity/the polysemic nature of her star persona” (Brown, 59). Rampling, an international film star with wide appeal, delivers an otherness in Swimming Pool that feels very queer, and possibly bisexual.

In Ozon’s film Double Lover, there is a Hitchcockian subtext to this thriller about a woman who begins a passionate affair with her therapist. Chloé doesn’t know who to trust or who to believe, and the audience is also unsure of what to believe, even at the very end. There are several sex scenes in this film, including a threesome scene with two men and one woman. Using the term ‘bisexuality’ in this context is perhaps a stretch, because the two men are actually twin brothers, which makes this more of an incestuous encounter. Chloé strays outside heterocentric norms by engaging in pegging, a threesome, and rough sex, but she doesn’t have any other same sex encounters (unless we count her twin sister). Much like with Swimming Pool, there were many scenes and shots of reflections, especially using mirrors, which is reflective of the doubles aspect weaved throughout the film. The sex scene with the three of them offers our only bisexual sex scene in this collection of Ozon films. We see a man kissing a woman, and then that same man kissing a man. Despite the fact that they are brothers, and that one of them is perhaps sadistic, we are at least granted a glimpse of bisexual sex. The incest is near impossible to ignore, however, which makes this bisexual representation problematic. The film is rife with twists and even violence, and as with Swimming Pool, the ending is far from absolute and open to interpretation.

In Summer of ’85, Ozon branches out with something a little different. Yes, it is a mystery and yes, there is a death, but if you look beyond the mystery portion of the film, it feels like a typical romance film, complete with romcom tropes. The audience, and Alex, first see David, almost as if a mirage, coming to the rescue in stormy waters. He tosses Alex his clothes, very suggestively. They ride a rollercoaster while smiling ear to ear, yelling, and laughing, and then later David takes Alex for a makeover, complete with 80s pop music to accompany it. This has the makings of a romantic comedy. The mother offers Alex the opportunity to manage a second store, and then the camera abruptly cuts to David, languidly trailing his finger up a naked Alex. Kate, a foreign traveler they meet on the beach, provides the third point in their triangle. Alex is jealous of her, and rightly so, for we soon learn that David has slept with her. The audience, and Alex, are initially led to believe that David is gay, compounded by their encounter with the handsome partygoer/former lover of David’s they help get off the street. Kate seems surprised by Alex and David’s relationship, as well, so it appears as if no one was aware of David being bisexual. The break up and animosity between the boys has less to do with David’s bisexual affair and more to do with the actual betrayal, and the words “bisexual” or “bi” are never used. In fact, David casually mentions that he has grown “bored”. After an insult such as this, it is a little surprising that Alex does not respond with an insult about bisexuality or promiscuity, or both. This could be due to the fact that Alex is too crushed to come up with a retort, or because Ozon doesn’t want the word “bi” to be vocalized. At the risk of sounding like one of those queer film critics that Hanson has warned us about, it also feels like Summer of ’85 is playing into the bisexual stereotypes of promiscuity, cheating, and “playing both sides”. From a bisexual’s point of view, perhaps it would’ve been better if David had cheated on Alex with another man, if only to not further feed the negative stereotypes around bisexuals. On the other hand, representation is representation, and though the label is not tossed about, the evidence is there in the film.