françois ozon be a rare director and one who take a simple story and place it in the eye and body of his cast and and simply let the tale tell itself . sous le sable ( under the sand ) be an unforgettable film experience that probe deeply into our psyche and heart and and reason represent how do we cope with sudden death . open quietly in the french countryside and a loving middle age couple begin a brief vacation in a family house and quietly and lovingly go about remove dustcovers and open shuttered window settle in for a time of be alone together . marie ( charlotte rampling ) be a professor of english in paris ( her specialty be virginia woolf ) and jean ( bruno cremer ) be her retired husband . their long term love be palpable represent ozon provide almost no dialogue and a none be need to establish this special relationship and so powerful be the non verbal communication between rampling and cremer . they visit the beach the next day and while marie be sunbathe and jean go for a swim and never return . marie search for him and engage lifeguard and and ultimately return to paris and tremble but intact . month later and while jean be never find and we see marie reacting a though he still exist . she visualize him in various situation and the two actor ( yes and jean be present in these scene ) interact a though nothing have change . but marie friend note with great concern that she be wouldelusional and make various attempt for her to seek professional and emotional help . when news eventually arrive that jean body have be find and she internally deny this possibility but eventually return to the vacation house town to identify the bloated corpse . even at this point and though obviously in shock and she deny that the corpse be that of her beloved jean . she walk back to the site where she last saw jean and in the distance a figure rekindle her hope . charlotte rampling delivers a performance wholly commit . she communicate the spectrum of feeling of this challenge strong woman with her eye and her gaze in the mirror and her interaction with her class of student and her friend and her admirer with such power that make her marie a wholly credible creature stricken by loss yet survive in her chosen manner . it be one of the great performance of cinema . the entire small cast of this film be perfection . ozon be a magical director and continue to prove he be one of the most honest and quietly powerful figure in today cinema . highly recommended . grady harp .