GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Under the Sand
WinStar Cinema

Under the Sand reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 86 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.7 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer, Jacques Nolot, Alexandra Stewart, Pierre Vernier, and Andrée Tainsy

For years, Marie (Rampling) and Jean (Cremer) have happily spent their vacation together in the Landes region of western France. But this summer, while Marie naps on the beach, her husband vanishes without a trace.


GENRE(S): Romance  
WRITTEN BY: Emmanuelle Bernheim
François Ozon
Marcia Romano
Marina de Van
 
DIRECTED BY: François Ozon  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 13, 2001 
Video: November 13, 2001 
Theatrical: May 4, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 96 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: France 
LANGUAGE(S): French (with English subtitles) 

Also known as "Sous le Sable"

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson
Ozon -- has finally hit a home run, and Rampling is his most remarkable RBI.
100
Washington Post Desson Thomson
It's a great pleasure that -- we get to ponder one of the most involving psychological mysteries in recent memory.
Read Full Review
100
Boston Globe Loren King
Mesmerizing and unforgettable.
Read Full Review
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
Fascinating, visually gorgeous cinematic study that will frustrate some viewers by its ambiguity.
Read Full Review
90
Variety Derek Elley
An exquisite reflection on personal bereavement.
Read Full Review
90
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Requires careful attention at its abrupt finish. Close concentration on the final shots yields a meaning not possible should a viewer's attention wander or turn away a few moments too soon.
Read Full Review
90
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Powerfully enigmatic study of the fundamental opacity of human relations.
Read Full Review
90
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It's a role of fierce demands, and Rampling meets them all. In a summer of crass, Rampling is a true class act.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times Dana Stevens
Mr. Ozon gives the movie to Ms. Rampling, whose performance is like a perfectly executed piano etude, finding precise, impossibly subtle shadings of pleasure, confusion and distress.
Read Full Review
90
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Charlotte Rampling takes you so far inside the pain of Marie Drillon it leaves you stirred, shaken and a little in awe.
Read Full Review
89
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Manages the most delicate of hat tricks: It gives definition to uncertainty.
Read Full Review
88
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Ozon has crafted a near-perfect film, a mournful, moving kind of cinema poetry.
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A movie of introspection and defiance.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Ozon specializes in dissecting the vulnerability, erotic longing, and garbled intentions with which people regularly rub up against one another.
Read Full Review
80
Village Voice Amy Taubin
Rampling has never been as beautiful, not to mention as emotionally naked, nuanced, and affecting as she is here.
Read Full Review
80
TV Guide Frank Lovece
The film ends with a return to the beach, and one of the most psychologically chilling and expertly photographed shots imaginable.
Read Full Review
80
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Creepily evocative.
Read Full Review
80
New Times (L.A.) Bill Gallo
A beautifully acted, carefully written meditation on one woman's grief, the enigma of imagination, the persistence of desire and -- let's face it -- the power of denial.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Rampling's authority over splintered emotions has the force of revelation.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Unexpectedly subtle cinematic style.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A fascinating movie that explores grief from an emotionally truthful angle rarely seen in movies.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
This is Rampling's film, and she's never less than surprising, never less than a revelation.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It stays in your memory, will not leave you in peace.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post V.A. Musetto
A sensitive and subtle meditation on aging, loss and bereavement.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David R. gave it a10:
This is amongst the best of French Cinema. Charlotte rampling gives an exquisite performance of a lover in denial. Worth watching more than once.

John G gave it a10:
Beautifully introspective and subtle. Under The Sand tells the poignant but sad story of a woman struggling to cope with the sudden disappearance of her beloved husband. This film quietly studies the effects of lost love.

Jeff M. gave it a 6:
There's an interesting idea for a movie somewhere in this material, but for the most part it left me cold and generally uninvolved. How much time had passed between his disapearance and the dinner party that she attended and met her eventual lover? What explanation had her friends/lover received regarding his death? If we knew these details, then perhaps their reaction to her state of denial would have had more purpose to it.

Paula W. gave it a 9:
Great stuff. Charlotte Rampling is brilliant as a woman whose sanity falters under the strain of grief and uncertainty after her husband disappears one day on a beach in southwestern France. A film packed with style and genuine emotion.

Herschel T. gave it an 8:
It's a painful movie to watch, which is to its credit, but the casting and realism are a "10."

Robert B. gave it a 7:
I'm not quite sure why all of these critics rate this movie so highly. I think this appeals mostly to the 40 over crowd. I'm 26, so it wasn't too entertaining on a Saturday night.

Gregg V. gave it a 10:
Fascinating. Who says there aren't any good parts for "older" women?

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use