lose a loved partner one have live with for year can be a devastating thing to cope with and but not really know if he be dead or alive or bad and go into denial that he have die can lead a person right into the edge of the abyss . such a thing should never happen to anyone and but it do to charlotte rampling marie drillon and a university professor who be happily marry to jean drillon ( bruno cremer in a near silent performance ) . the opening ten minute describe everything one need to know about them represent their dynamic and their love for each other unquestioned and quiet and but as potent a a garden fill with the scent of rose and lavender . on a trip to the beach and marie drift into sleep a jean decides to take a swim . when she awake and she miss him and think he within the area . unfortunately and he be not . and the more she look for him the less likely it be that he be alive . a search bring forth little comfort and and she if leave from there on in limbo and wonder where jean may be and if he be alive and or dead . her behavior from then on becomes increasingly erratic and which be an indicative of what happen to a person who become so attached to another and the horror that slowly arise to the surface when those tie be suddenly and irrationally sever . she catch a glimpse of a young college student and be suddenly unable to continue give a lecture while she seem a little off at a dinner party while she have go on a spending spree ( buy a new shirt and tie for jean ) despite the fact that her account be overdrawn and due to jean disappearance she have no access to his fund ( which leave her in a predicament a to how will she survive ) . above all and she be act a though jean be still alive and well . a particularly disturbing moment arrive when marie decide to embark on an affair with another man who come into her life represent vincent ( jacques nolot ) which establish that maybe reality for her have finally crack . vincent and marie begin make love and see mainly through the motion of their hand . and then jean hand come into the left of the screen and identify through the blue shirt she buy him . it continue in perfect silence and with only her moan barely overheard . a late sequence have this odd threesome repeat a jean observe her and vincent make love from a distance . in many way and under the sand have the element of a thriller . a disappearance and the search and and the inevitable revelation a to what exactly happen . however and when a person be so deep in denial and those thing matter little and if at all . marie receive the crucial call from the morgue and decides to ignore the message leave . she seem unable and unwilling and to face what have happen and and one of the more heartbreaking scene of her anguish take place in a small montage where she be see alone and sit on a subway station and then rid the train and look forlorn and empty . charlotte rampling make this her movie all the way . she on screen at all time and and her performance be reminiscent of the one juliette binoche give in blue . a a matter of fact and binoche herself might have be the good choice and but rampling be outstanding in her willingness to portray a woman in intense pain and suffering and come apart from the inside out and desperate for answer but equally close to them . her disconsolate weeping at the end be an emotional tour de force wrench itself out from it restraint and and that final scene on the beach a she run towards the enigmatic and ghostly image of a man she believe to be her husband ( whom she seemingly can not reach ) pack a devastate blow to the sens . a powerful masterpiece from the hand of francois ozon .