Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A woman living with her small child at a remote coastal location allows a vagabond woman to stay with her for a couple of days. This is a curiosity piece. While it is somewhat interesting, it is not clear why Ozon even bothered with this one. At 52 minutes, it is too long for a short film and too short for a feature film. Despite its short length, it drags a bit. It is basically a bizarre collection of scenes that don't add up to much of anything. There's no rhyme or reason to the things the women do except that both display odd behavior that is left unexplained. The only point of the whole exercise seems to be to justify the end, which is disturbing but not surprising.

It's short, but there's a surplus of sexuality and deviant behavior in Francois Ozon's "See The Sea", a strange tale about a lonely mother of one who lets a filthy drifter girl camp in the backyard of her island home. When this woman needs a break from baby, she wanders into the nearby forest to get her vagina eaten by one of the local gay boys (or should that be bi boys?) Ozon, who directed the excellent Criminal Lovers, has a skill with material about marginalized characters; he's not averse to strange sexuality, either. You know this film is going somewhere weird, and it sure does, but it manages to stay interesting for the most part and is quite erotic. The island location is stunning and the final revelation is a welcome shocker.

The film is directed by the controversial François Ozon. See the Sea is also his first long feature, as that said; the film isn't very long, only 52 minutes.See the sea is very short and very powerful, but it's also very minimal. Like, there are only three characters in the film, and only two of them can talk, and they barley do. And there is no music or sound effects, everything is quiet, and it's stylistic photographed. It kind reminds me of Roman Polanskis masterful film Knife in the Water.See the sea is a good and very rarely film, but where the film totally failed is the "shocking end", because it isn't shocking, I saw the ending just after five minutes.. So the surprise effect is totally gone, and that ruin the film a lot. But still worth watching.

Saw this film on the Sundance Channel a couple times now. It's really not anything new, but it's still a haunting story of frustration, need, and (mis)trust. Sasha seems to be happy (and even says so) with her current settled life, yet there are displays of her boredom and frustration throughout the film (the baby keeps her occupied, yet at the same time it also won't let her sleep, read, etc.). She is also in need of some sex, as a couple scenes prove.I suppose probably being as bored as she is more so than being polite, she befriends Tatiana after being wary of her at first. Strangely, she starts to place way to much trust in this person (leaving her to watch the baby, etc.), but that just shows Sasha is so pent up that she'll take any chance she gets to have some relief. As they get chummier, Tatiana starts to show to the audience signs of being a bit unstable (you got to see one such scene for yourself!), and later Sasha finds her weird notebook drawings but doesn't seem to think much of it (we all doodle, right?). Later when Sasha offers her most trusting friendliness, Tatiana finally does what she has to do, starting with a scene that at first looks more a return of friendship than what really happens. (Even though what finally happens is a bit predictable, it doesn't take away from its impact since such a thing is always disturbing and tragic.)Overall, this was an enjoyable film, if you are into concise, well shot and acted drama with talented actresses. Also, for this particular film, it's length was just right, at just under an hour. A-