It sounded like so much fun: watching a classic movie while splashing about in Sundhöllin, Reykjavík’s oldest swimming pool. After waiting in the drizzling rain outside the pool, we were invited inside by a bunch of young girls, dressed up in Fifties beach clothes, shaking their hips next to an inflatable palm tree – that was as tropical as this night was going to get.
As one of the first ones to get there, I had to sit in the slightly too cold water for over half an hour for the movie to start. By the time the film, `Some Like It Hot´ by Billie Wilder, finally started, I was freezing cold, and had to sit in the outdoor hot tubs for a bit – missing the first minutes of the film was the price I had to pay.
After the hot pot, the prospect of going back in the cold pool water wasn’t tempting at all, so I sat in my towel beside the pool, trying to watch the movie finally. It is generally known, that the acoustic in a pool is different than the acoustic in a movie theatre, and Sundhöllin is no exception. The dialogue was difficult to understand and I wondered why they didn’t at least have subtitles to the movie.
I left early, realizing that good movie + beautiful swimming pool does not equal a nice film experience; it reduces the value of both the film and the pool. You would have a lot more fun watching `Some Like It Hot´ at a cinema or at home and then going to the pool (or the way around, if you like that better). The only thing I got out of this swim-in event is that I was able to make my facebook friends jealous telling them about it. Because, like I said, it sure sounds fun.
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