The death of a beloved person implies also a big loss, a loss which dependents refuse to believe.Director Ozon flurries and unsettles the viewer again. It begins with the cut right after the vanishing of Marie's (Charlotte Rampling) husband Jean. It's summer. The married couple apparently enjoys their vacation at the sea. Suddenly, Jean disappears and the search of the police remains without a result. Cut! Marie sits with friends at a table, ostensibly in a flashback, outside it's winterly, Marie tells from Jean, who is waiting at home. She goes shopping and buys some clothing items for Jean. However, by and by, the viewer realizes, that this is not a flashback: It is the time after Jean's vanishing and Marie lives on as if nothing has happened.The film concentrates only on Marie and her denial of reality, her non-acceptance of the loss, which goes so far, that she i. e. sees Jean in the door while she sleeps with another man, Vincent. Jean remains ubiquitous in Marie's life, he is always there and only disappears in a few scenes when reality comes in her life for a second. He is also present in the character of Vincent, whom she replaces with her missing husband, talks to him and treats him as if it was Jean.That's why the film takes place in Charlotte Rampling's face, who shows a fantastic performance: She appears in every scene, her mimics symbolize the whole suffering of Marie. In clear, calm shots Ozon glances at the emotional recovery of his protagonist. Behind her chilly facade, Rampling only forebodes the psychological precipice of her figure and screens the film from flying out into melodrama. Rampling is the undoubted highlight, the highlight of a film which leaves behind an unsettled viewer.

"Under The Sand (Sous le sable)" is a cross between Bergman/Ullman's "Faithless (Trolösa)," for its humorless look at a middle-aged, comfortable marriage, and "Truly, Madly, Deeply" for how not to deal with an unplanned break-up.Charlotte Rampling's face and body language are wonderfully expressive, as she alternates between facing reality and basking in fantasy, and in French and English.While it's always interesting to be a movie tourist inside middle-class Parisian apartments, we don't really get much insight into individuals or relationships.It's just sad.(originally written 5/20/2001)

Simple story: Husband goes missing after a swim on holiday and his wife is in denial about the situation. The idea here is to tell the story by showing only the outward reactions of all involved. Ozon hereby creates a mystery (is he really dead?, was it a suicide?) but the over-explanatory character spoils all the fun. The walk in the woods, his face before the swim already tell everything, but if that's not enough Virgina Woolf is thrown in (if you dislike reading check out The Hours).So the rest of the movie we rely on the acting, which is average but not that interesting. We have the almost obligatory love scenes, redundant fantasies and much talk about nothing. Everything is mildly interesting. But one scene stands out: that between Suzanne (Andrée Tainsy, who just passed away) and Marie (Rampling). Andrée Tainsy mixes so many facial emotions in that scene it makes the whole movie worth watching.Ozon is a very traditional filmmaker who seems to strike a chord with his French audience. But he could have lived thirty years ago and made the same movie. It's almost as if he is in denial of the great French film history. Luckily we still have Jeunet, Besson and a lot of new talent to save the day for the French.

"Under the sand" is Francois Ozon's last picture in the 20th century (not the motion picture company), preceding his more recent work of "8 femmes" (2002), "Swimming pool" (2003) and "5x2" (2004) going into this century.The first 15 minutes say more than meets the eye. The relationship between husband and wife is depicted in the blandly uneventful annual ritual of going to the summer cottage. Yet, during the rest of the film, you keep thinking back to these first few minutes, looking for clues to explain what you see. You recall how at the service station break she draws a puff from his cigarette and then almost playfully puts it in his mouth, and how he does not seem to respond much. You recall how before going to bed, she is visibly happy (though not excited, as they must have done this for years) at "finally getting to the vacation" and how he does not seem to respond much.When he vanishes from the beach, presumably drowned, it gradually becomes clear that the film is a psychological study of the woman, a detailed account of how she gets on with her life – career, friends, romance – as if he is still around, at least in one corner of her mental existence. Without the details depicted in the first 15 minutes, this would have been it, a refusal by someone who is bereaved of a beloved to recognize the tragedy. (Ozon, I understand, interviewed grief counselors to study bereavement to prepare for the film). The first 15 minutes however add another layer, of doubting whether he simply disappeared because she has bored him so, as suggested by the mother-in-law.Words film critics used to describe this film include unsentimental, restrained, simple, ruminative. Charlotte Rampling's performance has been universally hailed by critics as one of her best. They are right. Watching Rampling in this film is quite a mesmerizing experience.