Charlotte Rampling in "Under the Sand."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, we give this film an: Stars: Charlotte Rampling Director: Francois Ozon Rated: Unrated, with nudity, sex and adult themes Length: 95 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Christy Lemire
The Associated Press

(August 10, 2001) -- How do you go on when the man you love, your partner for 25 years, disappears one day?

If you're Marie in "Under the Sand," you pretend he's still around, even when confronted with tangible evidence of his fate.

It's incredibly sad to watch: a smart, beautiful woman in complete denial. And with the warmth and humanity British actress Charlotte Rampling brings to the role, it's devastating.

Marie, an English professor in Paris, and longtime husband Jean drive to their country house for their annual summer vacation. After a quarter-century together, the passion is pretty much gone, though the love endures.

They go to the beach, and as Marie reads and naps in the sun, Jean (Bruno Cremer) goes for a swim in the ocean. When she awakes, she can't find him. Hours pass and he's still missing. Lifeguards search the water and find nothing.

Eventually, Marie realizes she must return to Paris and a life of uncertainty. She works out at the gym, teaches class and has dinner with friends, without knowing what happened to her husband.

But all the while, she lives as if Jean is still with her, maintaining the marital routine. And the heartrending beauty of writer-director Francois Ozon's script is in the small details.

She pours Jean a cup of coffee and butters his toast in the morning, whispers good night to him before turning out the light and going to sleep. She comes home from a dinner party and imagines him wrapping his burly arms around her on the couch, asking her how her evening was.

At the urging of her best friend Amanda (Alexandra Stewart), she tries to date Vincent (Jacques Nolot), but in her mind, she's still married.

In one of the film's few lighthearted moments, Marie bursts out laughing the first time she has sex with Vincent, because he's so much lighter than her portly husband. Afterward, she feels guilty, as if she'd cheated on Jean.

There's also a powerful and all-too-brief scene toward the end, when Marie visits Jean's mother (Andree Tainsy) in a nursing home. Each accuses the other for Jean's "disappearance," and the verbal catfight creates sparks.

Ozon offers something remarkably insightful and adult, thoughtful and thought-provoking.

The film's only flaw: Choppy editing undermines the inherent drama in several moments. Marie stands on the beach alone at night, looking longingly at the waves crashing in the darkness, the wind blowing her hair wildly. Suddenly, the film cuts to harsh daylight, and a wide shot of Marie packing the car to leave the country.

But Rampling makes Marie feel so real, so complete and complex, that such a shortcoming doesn't matter. She appears in nearly every frame of the film, and is consistently watchable.