Under the Sand

Saturday, February 20 - Sunday, February 21, 2016

35mm print

“The subject matter of prolific young French auteur François Ozon’s fourth feature – a happily married, childless woman’s traumatised denial of her husband’s sudden death by drowning – may, superficially, suggest a move on the director’s part to calmer, more classical, waters after the sly, shocking tactics of his more transgressive early melodramas. Indeed, in focusing so sharply on Charlotte Rampling’s tautly controlled, subtly nuanced performance as the elegant, Paris-based university lecturer who painstakingly, if psychotically, maintains a pretence of continuity, Ozon’s film can be appreciated as a quality star vehicle, and as a tribute to the graceful mystique, sexual potency and fractured sensibility that the now 56-year-old actress brings to the screen. The movie’s emphasis, however, gradually becomes more philosophical, abstract and quietly macabre. Hence a persuasive, intimate study of grief is transformed into a more general critique of romantic self-delusion in conventional marriage, made all the more unsettling by Rampling’s film persona which, ultimately, remains impenetrable.” – Time Out (London)

Print courtesy of the Yale Film Study Center.

Part of the series “Weekend Classics: Charlotte Rampling”

• Country France
• Language In English and French with English subtitles
• Rating NR
• Year 2000
• Running Time 95 minutes
• Director François Ozon

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.