See The Sea

Before he directed a number of well-received features, Francois Ozon created this spare psychological thriller, which garnered him attention around the world as one of France’s most promising young filmmakers. Awaiting the arrival of her husband, who is away in Paris on business, Sasha (Sasha Hails) and their 10-month-old daughter are spending the summer at an isolated beach house on the coast of France. Soon, there arrives an unexpected visitor, Tatiana (Marina de Van), a scruffy and sullen backpacker who pitches her tent in the yard and is rapidly welcomed into the house for dinner by lonely Sasha. Compared to unsettling classics by Polanski and Hitchcock, SEE THE SEA was hailed by the New York Times’ Janet Maslin for its “stark simplicity and visual elegance.”