Sous Le Sable belongs to Rampling.
Delivering a commanding, devastating, and nuanced performance, Rampling
portrays Marie Drillon, a middle-aged professor who goes through an emotional
roller coaster after the sudden disappearance of her husband. Rampling
beautifully handles Marie's various transformations, making it appear outwardly
as if she is coping with reality, while inwardly she is collapsing. The
writing occasionally lets Rampling down the story's twists and turns eventually
strain credibility, the scenes do not always work to their fullest potential,
and the forced ambiguity of the ending is unnecessary. Still, director
Ozon also makes some strong choices. For instance, allowing the audience
to see Jean when Marie sees him helps viewers to identify with her. And
in Marie's encounter with Jean's mother Suzanne, the subtle hatred between
the two women slowly escalates, nearly reaching a stage of vitriol at the
end. Ozon also confidently handles such tricky and potentially cliché-ridden
scenes as Marie's visit to her husband's study, which could have been heavy-handed
but instead is quite moving, and Marie's first time making love to someone
other than Jean. Cremer also turns in a sensitive, almost silent performance
as Jean, but this is ultimately Rampling's film.