SEE THE SEA A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 1998 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
What could be more idyllic a vision than a mother and her ten-month-old daughter vacationing together amid the sun, the sand, and the sea? And what could be more threatening to the beauty and innocence of that natural harmony than a creepy, malevolent loner insinuating herself into their tranquil lives?
That's what François Ozon's brief yet chilling "See the Sea" ("Regarde la mer") is all about, and it's generally effective in its sometimes subtle depiction of escalating malice.
Sasha Hails is convincing as Sasha, the lonely mother on holiday with her infant daughter. Into their lives comes a nomad-like traveler called Tatiana, who happens upon their ocean-front property and asks to pitch her tent on their land. Sasha is reluctant at first but, stimulated by the prospect of someone to offer her temporary companionship since her husband has been waylaid in Paris, she finally agrees.
As effective as Hails is Marina de Van as the stranger who preys on Sasha's vulnerability. With her bloodshot eyes, ripped clothing, and dirt-ingrained fingernails, Tatiana is not the kind of person one would normally invite over for dinner. Sasha, with the best of intentions, does and Tatiana becomes a guest in her home.
This is where the film, unfortunately, defies a certain logic. Who would go trotting off to town leaving their baby daughter in the care of a total stranger, and one with questionable personal hygiene habits at that? Perhaps it's because Tatiana claims to have once been a nanny, but her scatological dinnertime repartee--focusing on epidurals and episiotomies--should have tipped off the most accepting of xenophiles.
Nevertheless, Ozon's film succeeds as any good horror film should by making the threat of violence more prominent than the violence itself. The mood is heightened by including a toddler as one focus of the danger: the little girl (credited as Samantha) is extremely natural in front of the camera, blithe and innocent to the advancing disquiet.
She cries incessantly for her mother throughout the film and it doubles the existing tension--her plaintive wailing is enough to push even the most well-meaning of psychopaths over the edge.
Many films can be accused of being overly long but that isn't the case here. At just fifty-two minutes, "See the Sea" is, if anything, not quite long enough to completely establish the tension required for its heart-stopping finale. Ozon is guilty of adding some distracting scenes, such as the surreal one in which Sasha leaves the calm and serenity of the brick-red beach to join the libidinous men who walk the shaded woods like zombies.
It's a rare observation that a film needs to be 15-20 minutes longer in order to be more effective.
Showing with "See the Sea" is Ozon's 1996 short "Summer Dress" ("Une robe d'été"). This fifteen-minute film is an appropriate precursor to the main feature with its similar beachside setting and portentous homoerotic subtexts. Not only that, but it makes embarrassingly full use of the Sonny Bono-penned ditty "Bang Bang," fervently delivered on the soundtrack by a French chanteuse called Sheila.
Now *that's* scary stuff!
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu
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