[SXSW 2024] NATATORIUM -- Strong Atmosphere and Visuals Carry Convoluted Psychological Thriller

Review by Sean Boelman

After having its world premiere at the IFFR, the Icelandic psychological thriller Natatorium is making its US premiere at SXSW. Helena Stefánsdóttir’s feature debut is an effective exercise in tension, performance, and visual design, but the narrative is too dense (yet also too ambiguous) for the film to be particularly satisfying. 

The film follows a teenage girl who goes to stay with her grandparents while she awaits the results of an audition, only to find that there may be something more sinister going on in the house than she ever could have imagined. It’s a promising concept, but a few too many questions are asked, and far too many receive a satisfying answer.

Part of the problem is that the film is not able to juggle its characters effectively. There are simply too many variables in this situation — the protagonist’s erratic grandmother, her debilitatingly ill uncle, her disapproving father, her naive love interest. Each of these people feels like a pawn in a game of chess, but it soon starts to feel as if Stefánsdóttir is playing an entirely different game.

At the film’s center is the eponymous swimming pool, kept in the basement and supposedly vacant for years — although, to no one’s surprise, that’s just another falsehood. This is also where the film is at its most frustrating. Some clear horror influences are at play, but it never pays off satisfyingly.

Credit: @Bjartsýn Films.

Ultimately, this is the biggest sin of Natatorium. It’s a ticking time bomb sort of psychological thriller, where much of the intrigue comes from wondering how the mystery will unfold. Stefánsdóttir builds the atmosphere so effectively that you think you’re putting together the pieces of a puzzle. But when the anticlimactic ending comes, you realize that it was never a puzzle in the first place — just a shoddily constructed narrative.

That being said, the film is undeniably wonderful from a technical standpoint. The cinematography by Kerttu Hakkarainen is alluring, and the production design by Snorri Freyr Hilmarsson (who worked on the woefully underseen Woman at War) is incredible. While most films confined primarily to a single location — in this case, a mansion — seek to create a feeling of claustrophobia, Natatorium effectively captures a sense of massiveness and isolation, which is impressive considering the size of the cast.

The performances are also solid, with much of the cast giving subdued, mysterious turns. Elin Petersdottir is the biggest highlight of the bunch, playing her role in a way that feels subtly sinister. Ilmur María Arnarsdóttir isn’t particularly flashy in her role as the protagonist, but it works for a character who is effectively the audience’s lens into this peculiarity.

Some interesting ideas are swimming around in Natatorium, but they almost all feel underdeveloped. At a certain point, it becomes hard to care much about what is happening because you don’t know what’s a lie and what is not. Still, it’s consistently gorgeous to look at, and the atmosphere is alluring despite the narrative’s opaqueness.

Natatorium is screening at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, which runs March 8-16 in Austin, TX.

​Rating: 2.5/5