Anti -hollywoodian to a fault ,"swoon" is the most realistic account of the ghastly murder of a child by two brilliant students ,inspired by Nietzsche, convinced that their IQ place them beyond good and evil .It was the first time the story of those monsters had been transferred to the screen as it really was :
-In "rope" (1949) ,the victim was a young man
-in "compulsion" (1959) ,the plot was sweetened by the presence of bland lovers ( Martin Miller and Diane Varsi) and a long Christian plea by lawyer Orson Welles .
Don't get me wrong ;both Hitchcock's and Fleischer's works were great, ahead of their time ,when the Hayes Code was still applying. They are much more palatable than Tom Kalin's 'remake" , in stark black and white , with the unbearably violent murder of the little boy .
The dominant character (John Dahl in "rope" , Bradford Dillman in "compulsion" ) is less obvious ,but the gay relationship is explicit -whereas it was only suggested in the previous versions-
Indeed,so horrendous were the chances taken by Tom Kalin that ,with any lesser talent ,the result could have been disastrous , rejecting his work into the porn gay film ghetto whereas it is genuine art house cinema .
The questioning , perhaps inspired by French Nouvelle Vague cinema vérité (archival footage is shown towards the end),may disconcert the viewer .That such a harrowing screenplay succeeds artistically without falling into the trap of sentiment is due to the director's feeling for sparseness which does not allow any conventional sentimentality ( no compassionate lawyer , both parents hardly appear ) but it inspires its vital despair .
The trial turns so improper in its depiction of the sexual practises that the women are requested to leave the courtroom ; and for the first time , the movie does not end with the trial or the arrestation ,but spans ,in an admirably succint style the criminals' whole life .MM Chester and Schlachet give performances which will make your hair stand on end , both deadpan , ruthless...but a pure love at a time the society was intolerant ,and the awful massacre of the innocent.
