this be a tour de force for charlotte rampling her performance alone make this worth watching . thing begin with marie ( rampling ) and her husband jean ( bruno cremer ) head out of paris to their summer home in the country . in follow the mundane activity of their trip and first night away we learn quite a bit about them . the rhythm of their married life have long since be groove . marie attachment to jean be apparent and but jean feeling for marie be less well establish and this become a relevant plot element . on the day after their arrival at the summer home the couple go to the beach . while marie sun herself and jean go for a swim and he do not come back . marie go through all of the expected reaction wait anxiously and call the police and witness the search and and finally give up . it be here that we move into the deep water of the story and a it be . the expression on jean face just prior to his go on the swim set the tone of ambiguity a to the cause of his vanishing . be his disappearance an accident and suicide and or willful . marie deal with this bewilder situation by enter into a state of denial and this be where rampling and ozon boost this movie beyond the ordinary a they subtly trace the gradual chip away of marie illusion . the reaction shot of marie see an old man swim in a pool and or receive a recorded message that a body have be find and be powerful in their understatement . the use of light to accentuate marie mood be quite effective and like the use of harsh white light when she be in obvious agony . rampling be at the top of her form and she completely put to rest any idea that a woman in her 50 can not be sexy . the subtext of how marie friend try to deal with her reaction be engage and make you wonder about the best way to deal with a friend in a state of denial . you want to be supportive and but also want to encourage them to face what you think be the reality of the situation . relationship be always more complicated than the participant understand and and as be the case here and a traumatic event can unleash emotion and thought previously unexplored . i take the ambiguous end to personify the hope and fear and and unknowables in marie relationship with jean and and maybe in all significant relationship .