Threshold Series "The Swimmer" Understanding narrative

On Monday 21st Febuary we concluded our look into the Threshold Series by watching a film called "The Swimmer".
The film is about a man called Ned and his descent into madness, Ned is an accomplished swimmer with a family of two daughters and a wife.
Throughout the film audiences will begin to see him slowly losing his mind and ths is illustrated by his recluctance towards  accepting change as well as eagerly wanting to swim home.

As this film was shot in the 1960s the layout of the film was quite bright and somewhat surreal, I felt the characters came across as fake and patronising because of the they would address him. In Ned's quest to swim home he begun to discover some home truths as well as some shocking revelations which seemly tipped him over the edge.

When Ned finally reaches home he repeatly bangs on his front door whilst the camera slowly zooms out from him and then zooms in to a hole in the window. As the camera zooms in we begin to see an empty house with only rubbish in it, at this precise moment we now realise how mentally ill this man is.

I felt the ending scene which sees him desperately banging on what appears to be the house he used to live in were quite distressing and somewhat thought provoking. Frank Perry directing highlighted how mental illness isnt recognised enough and as a result many people are ignorant towards it and its sufferers.

If I could sum up this film in three words they would be :

1. Strange
2. Thought provoking
3. Painful