A teenage boy's first job is as an attendant who brings towels and other items to an odd clientele at a public bath house that is equipped with what appears to be an olympic sized swimming pool. He immediately falls for his co-worker, a young woman in her twenties, who leads him on a bit out of fun, and even has some sexual interest in him as we see in one scene when she spies him putting his pants on. While she remains detached he goes from infatuation to obsession, following her and her fiancé around town after hours. However the more important action occurs in the bathhouse which looks run-down and is photographed in its drabby and richly dark colors. The place itself is as as much importance as are the two main characters, the boy who is coming of age and the object of his obsession, his pretty young co-worker. In an ideal setting things would have been different, but here the decrepit bathhouse seems to influence the events in a darker and mildly disturbing way. Within it occurs the film's climax, in the pool, with the two of them, his obsession,and her sexy acquiesence, leading to the ending that makes this a movie that you may not always think about, but probably won't forget.

This earthy, unromanticized and fiercely unmawkish coming-of-age adolescent angst sleeper centers on awkward, gangly, sexually frustrated virginal blue collar klutz Mike (exceptionally played to moody, ungainly, temperamental perfection by "Vampire Circus" 's John Moulder-Brown),who gets a job as an attendant at a seedy bathhouse. Mike falls madly (and badly) in obsessive love/lust with loose, worldly and assured co-worker Susan (an excellent portrayal by enticing redhead looker Jane Asher),a wild and uninhibited sort whom the other employees hold in disregard. Alas, Mike's crush on Susan isn't shared by the flattered, but disinterested object of his increasingly batty desire.

Set in a very seamy, downcast and markedly unswingin' early 70's slum district of London (one wonderfully delirious sequence takes place in a garishly trashy Times Square-like urban cesspool area),this remarkably fine film is more notable not for what it does, but for what it refreshingly doesn't do: there's no crude sophomoric humor or cheap goopy sentiment, the picture doesn't cop-out with a phony baloney everything-works-out-quite-nicely happy ending, the characters are extremely complex and not always appealing (e.g., the initially endearing Mike becomes less likable and more obnoxious as the story unfolds),and a firmly droll and wry, albeit still fairly sympathetic tone is deftly maintained throughout. Director/co-screenwriter Jerry Skolimowski expertly creates a richly textured and utterly plausible lived-in dreariness and tawdriness, punctuating the basically sober mood and grimy authenticity with occasional moments of hilariously bawdy humor (former 50's blonde bombshell Diana Dors has a sidesplitting cameo as an overweight, aggressively libidinous middle-aged frump who brings herself to an intense orgasm by talking excitedly to Mike about soccer). The bathhouse regulars are especially well-drawn: they're lonely, crotchety, down on their luck everyday folks who are desperate for attention and affection. Charly Steinberger's polished, yet naturalistic cinematography masterfully uses the color red to convoy a wealth of emotions: rage, anger, passion, confusion and ultimately despair. Terrific pounding proto-heavy metal score by Cat Stevens and the Can, too. A sadly forgotten and undervalued gem.

I assumed this was a foreign film I found listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was directed by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, but it had elements of West German production, but it is a certainly a British set story, and one that sounded interesting. Basically fifteen year old Michael 'Mike' (John Moulder-Brown) has just left school, and finds himself a job at the local swimming pool and public baths, being trained by Susan (BAFTA nominated Jane Asher) who is ten years older than him but he cannot help but find her attractive. He finds that working at the bathhouse has more than just cleaning going on, he is being tipped to provide more services to clients of a more sexual nature, this includes his first lady client (Diana Dors) who is stimulated pushing his face into her bosom and talking about football suggestively, Susan explains that this tipping is normal practice, and that many of the clients ask for the opposite sex for their tips. Mike falls for Susan, despite the fact that she has a fiancé (Christopher Sandford),there is a night when he follows them into the cinema and an adult movie, sitting behind them and him touching her breasts, the fiancé goes to tell the manager and the police are maybe going to question him, but Susan kisses him and is amused, she and the fiancé do not press charges, the police instead allege a minor being allowed into an X rated movie, and the fiancé tries to get revenge before the police intrude. Mike later finds out that Susan is cheating on her fiancé with a swimming instructor (Karl Michael Vogler),who was also Mike's former physical eduction teacher, in jealous anger Mike breaks a fire alarm and cuts his hand, and he is curious to see what is going on between her and the fiancé. So one night he goes to the club he heard she would be, he avoids being spotted and hangs around the erotic area, buying many hot dogs from the salesman (Burt Kwouk),but also he finds a cardboard cutout of a girl, and it looms just like Susan, so he steals it, and hides with leg cast wearing prostitute Beata (Louise Martini) until the coast is clear, and eventually after ages of waiting he confronts Susan on the underground, she neither confirms or denies the image is of her exposing herself. Following a night where Mike swims naked in the swimming pool, with the cardboard cutout, he is angry again and blows the P.E. teacher's car tyres with broken glass, Susan confronts him and they talk in the park, but when she slaps him her diamond from her engagement rings falls into the snow, so he helps her by scooping the area of snow it would have dropped into plastic bags. They take the snow to the public baths, and with the swimming pool drained he lowers the ceiling lamp to use for electricity to connect a kettle and melt the snow, while he continues the melting in the empty pool, she makes the P.E. teacher walk away upset, not just because of the punctured car tyres, but she says that she borrowed the car keys and lost them as well. Mike finds the diamond, and lies naked in the empty swimming pool holding the stone on his tongue, she is given back the diamond and is about to leave, but she undresses as well and lies with him, they talk and make amends, she tries to leave but Mike wants her to stay, unaware they are there the attendant starts filling the swimming pool, and in anger at her trying to leave Mike hits Susan with the lamp in the back of the head, she falls unconscious into the water, he embraces her while they are still naked. I agree with critics, this is one of the strangest films that was made during the Swinging Sixties, it incorporates many of the aspects of the period, especially with the sexuality of the characters, the setting of the dank and grotty bath house is interesting, the acting is as good as you can get, there are some good funny moments, especially during the constant hot dog buying scene, but also the dark and surreal stuff to, but it is all of it's time and a watchable drama. Very good!