Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

One of the greatest and versatile actresses in Britain, Charlotte Rampling has been an actress always playing any type of role as possible. Working with the likes of Woody Allen, Alan Parker, David Hare, Luchino Visconti, Sidney Lumet, Nagisa Oshima, and John Boorman from the 1960s through 1980s. Rampling was a widely respected actress who kept on challenging herself. By the 90s, her career slowed down a bit as she gained the status of an elder stateswoman but in 2000, Rampling would gain an unexpected comeback role that would not only revive interests from her old fans but gain new, younger fans in the process. Rampling would work with one of France's newer filmmakers in Francois Ozon in the eerie melodrama Sous Le Sable (Under the Sea).

With only three feature films and several acclaimed short films to his credit, Ozon's Under the Sand is a harrowing drama about a middle-aged woman named Marie Drillon (played by Charlotte Rampling) who lives her life in denial after the disappearance of her husband during a summer vacation. Believing her husband is still alive as a ghost, Marie is courted by a new man while trying to discover her husband's behavior as she is forced to face the truth about her marriage.

Directed by Ozon based on a script he co-wrote with Emmanuele Bernheim, Mariana de Van, and Marcia Romano, Sous Le Sable is an evocative, melodrama that is heightened by Charlotte Rampling who proves that sexiness and class shows no boundaries, even in her 50s. One of the best French films in recent years, Sous Le Sable is a harrowing drama that would not only put Rampling back in the eyes of the industry but would serve as a breakthrough for one of France's new bad boys.

For 50-year old English professor Marie Drillon and her 60-year old French husband Jean (Bruno Cremer), they seemed to have an enjoyable life despite not bearing any children. One day, they leave Paris for the French countryside near a beach for a vacation, while Marie is still smitten with Jean. Jean however, seems tired while still enjoying Marie's company. After a nice dinner in their countryside home and a good night sleep, they go to a nearby beach where Jean decides to go for a swim while Marie sunbathes.

Some time later, Jean doesn't return where Marie then asks any patrons including a nude German couple if they had seen her husband. She then returns to her house to a beach town where she asks a cop that Jean is missing. The cop and lifeguards search in the waters as they ask questions about any past injuries or current emotional condition he's in as Marie wondered if Jean had killed himself.

Upon returning home to Paris, news of Jean's disappearance had reached been heard from her friends where some time later, her American friend Amanda (Alexandra Stewart) and her French husband Gerard (Pierre Vernier) asked about Jean during a dinner party. Marie insists that Jean is alive while she is being flirted by Amanda's friend Vincent (Jacques Nolot) who takes her home and kisses her. Marie returns home where she suddenly finds Jean at home, or is it the ghost of Jean? In Marie's mind, Jean is alive and well while she would do her usual daily chores of going to a nearby gym to swim while teaching English literature at a Paris college where a man (David Portugais) is recognized as one of the lifeguards in search of Jean.

Marie goes into denial mode although she doesn's mind being attracted to Vincent where she is invited to dinner as they talk about a book about Virginia Wolfe where Vincent says the English have a strange way when it comes to death. Marie comes home where she fantasizes about Jean and Vincent fondling her while wearing her new red dress. Marie pretends life goes on but couldn't get access to any of Jean's accounts or unpaid bills he had where she begins to find any inkling of his behavior. Then one day, she got news from the police that a body fitting the description of Jean is found where whatever image she had seen or talked to some time ago is now gone. She goes to Vincent for sexual fulfillment where at one point, she laughs because she said he is light.

Then one day as Marie looks for a new apartment that she and Jean was supposed to move into, she is unhappy when she learns that the apartment faces something she couldn't see. She remains in denial mode where she goes to the doctor for a checkup as she finds unpaid bill in which, she searches for a prescription Jean was under. She then begins to piece what flaws Jean had in which, she talks to Amanda and later, Vincent where he spends the night at her place only to learn that she's not over Jean. Marie finally is forced to confront any problems where she talks to Jean's mother Suzanne (Andree` Tainsy) where she gives her news she didn't want to accept. She gets another call from the cops where once and for all, Marie is ready to face Jean and to see if he really is alive and had disappeared or has really died with an ambiguous ending to follow.

Sous Le Sable in comparison to earlier works of Francois Ozon including the short film See the Sea shows his capability to play with genres and find depth in its central characters. With Sous Le Sable, he finally achieves whatever promise many had for him by bringing in a straightforward melodrama with an emotional climax that is striking in its final act.

The film's screenplay (that is mostly in French with some English dialogue) really plays up to the same melodramatic withdrawal that Kryszstof Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs: Bleu in its music, melancholia, and its central female lead. The only difference is that Juliette Binoche's Julie is running away from her past while Charlotte Rampling's Marie is more of a woman refusing of the idea that her husband is dead and that she needed him. The film's ending like Ozon's 2003 international breakthrough Swimming Pool that also starred Rampling and Ozon regular Ludivine Sagnier is very ambiguous but it's not as disappointing but rather than a climax where you began to wonder what really happened overall in the film.

If Ozon's ability to carry a screenplay outshines his previous films, so does his directing style where he would have the camera be around Rampling or shoot while she's standing somewhere. The directing comes off in a very subtle and enchanting way in its movements and close-ups of Rampling's character. While Ozon was able to play with past genres from drama, campy musicals, serial killer stories, mysteries, and comedy in previous and future films, this is Ozon's best film so far as a director. Complementing Ozon's directing style in the cinematography by Antoine Heberle and longtime Ozon collaborator Jeanne Lapoirie that really captures the modern look of Paris with its restaurants and colleges while Lapoirie really shines with his use of light, notably in the lovemaking scene with Rampling and Nolot where the white sunlight really shines on them.

Helping with the set and production design for its modern look of Paris and the wooden, tranquil look of the French countryside is art director Sandrine Canaux. Another Ozon collaborator, costume designer Pascaline Chavanne really shines with the well-laced colors and looks of the dresses Rampling wears, notably the red dress that complements her figure and classic sexiness. The film's score by Philippe Rombi definitely underplays the film's melodrama with his melancholic score that fuses minimalist, electronic textures mixed in with a subtle, piano-driven orchestra that plays up to Rampling's emotions along with a French pop song sung by a singer named Barbara.

While the film has a great assortment of characters, Ozon clearly gives his supporting cast a chance to shine. Andree` Tainsy is amazing in the film's final act as Jean's mother where she comes off in an engaging way to Rampling's character about Jean. Tainsy may be this bitter old woman but what she said in that film really brings a lot of truth to both Jean and Marie's marriage. Alexandra Stewart shines as Rampling's American friend Amanda who encourages Marie to date Jean although she knows that Marie is still yearning for Jean as Stewart brings some comedic elements to the film.

Jacques Nolot is excellent in his subtle, charming performance as Vincent who doesn't come off as overly flirtatious but endearing to Marie’s feelings. Bruno Cremer is also amazing as the mysterious Jean where we can get the feeling that he's tired and when appears as a ghost, we see him in the role of a loveable husband that Marie has admired for years where Cremer plays the role in enigmatic, ambiguous format.

The film's greatest performance clearly goes to Charlotte Rampling in the role of Marie Drillon. Rampling clearly gives the performance of her career as she oozes with a classic sexuality and charm that proved that older women could be interesting too. Rampling also brings a complexity to her character where in denial mode; you wonder when this woman will break while she brings out glimpses of her feelings without saying anything. There's even a stillness to character as she is standing on a pool where you wonder what she is thinking while she is enigmatic in her scenes with Cremer and Nolot, particularly in the love scene with Nolot where her body hasn't aged one bit. Rampling's complex, enchanting performance is clearly one of the best performances a woman of her age group has managed as newer and younger actresses should be paying attention of what they'll have to do when they begin to age.

While some will prefer the campy entertainment of 8 Femmes or the sexual intrigue of Swimming Pool, Sous Le Sable is clearly Francois Ozon's most accomplished work to date. Led by the enigmatic Charlotte Rampling, Sous Le Sable is a film that is ravishing in its look and straightforward melodrama. Though some might find the film's pacing to be a bit slow along with its ambiguous ending as its flaw, it's a film that really defines Ozon as one of Europe's finest filmmakers. For those who enjoyed 8 Femmes and Swimming Pool should really get a chance to watch this film, as Francois Ozon is clearly becoming France's new hero in French cinema.

Related Reviews:

Trois Couleurs-Blue (1993):

http://www.epinions.com/content_128764710532

Safe (1995):

http://www.epinions.com/content_138166111876

Francois Ozon Reviews:

See the Sea (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_140494409348

A Summer Dress (1997):

(Coming Soon)

Sitcom (1998):

(Coming Soon)

Criminal Lovers (1999):

http://www.epinions.com/content_140499586692

Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000):

http://www.epinions.com/content_137746419332

8 Women (2002):

http://www.epinions.com/content_129237159556

Swimming Pool (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_135739575940

5x2 (2004):

http://www.epinions.com/content_234372238980

A Time to Leave (2005):

http://www.epinions.com/content_287590551172

A Curtain Raiser (2006):

(Coming Soon)

Angel (2007):

(Coming in 2007)


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age