michael-1151 It's amazing, an English actress playing a moody, sensual French young mother, hiding an enigmatic darker side, unleashed at the end of this film. Sasha Hails walks the walk and talks the talk, strangely unfazed by the threatening presence of a course, uncouth backpacker, initially camping in her backyard, but before long babysitting, almost playing the role of au pair, which had first borough Sasha to France. The visitor, Tatiana, played by Marina de Van (surely it should be vin, given the amount of wine they consume?) is obviously the unsettling element - initially. But as with all good French movies, even short ones like this, you're left wondering who, in the end, is stranger, Sasha, having sex with strangers in the woods while leaving her baby on the beach or Tatiana, with the apparent nihilism of her diary, dark hangmen, twisted doodles and a propensity to ask strange, detailed questions about childbirth? I was flumoxed by the ending; who had done what? In the end, I deduced with Sherlock Holmesian logic, it must have been Sasha, how else could the ropes have been tied? But then, going on a boat, uncaring, nonchalant, as her husband arrives home from his business trip to Paris, unzipping Tatiana's tent, making a discovery enough to put him off camping for life? Ah, yes, now I know: Sasha is really the dark player, the other girl, merely the mixed up backpacker. I think. Not horrific, not a masterpiece, a 52 minute vignette of Anglo French foibles and sexual deviance. Forgive me, I must go and lick my plate clean.

Ronzique When watching See The Sea on DVD recently, I saw a trend from the movie that was actually done a few times in real life since its 1997 release. In the United States, there were reports of mentally unstable women, usually those who had a bad experience with the birth of a child or the child was aborted for some reason, who broke into homes where other women lived with their newborns, leading them to murder the mother and kidnap the child. In those cases, the kidnapper/murderer was arrested by the authorities. However, in one other incident, the kidnapper/murderer committed suicide.When Sasha Hails character invites Tatiana (Marina de Van) into her beach side home, she invites her own death and the kidnapping of her little Samantha (played by Hails' real life daughter, who was born prior to the making of the film). What Francois Ozon does well is to slowly unravel the Tatiana character's intentions as the film progressed. Even Sasha finds out late in the story about the real person behind the backpacker who admitted that she had lost her child. To make matters worse, Sasha is a victim of her naivety.Amazingly, this film lasts only 51 minutes. You would think that this thriller would go, at least 90 minutes, but not enough material was written to extend the movie's length. However, I would have been happy to have seen the kidnapper/murderer get caught by the police to put closure on the case. But the film ends with a crime committed, the perpetrator running free with the baby. Apparently, European films deal more with unsolved answers to problems than finding solutions. How sad.

xhanae I had seen Under the Sand before watching See the sea so I had my hopes high while waiting for it to start on TV. What a mistake that was! Any mention to François Ozon turns my stomach upside down these days. There is so little logic in the story( i.e a lonely mother lets a perfect creepy stranger in her property, she leaves the baby in the beach and bathtub all alone, she lets the stranger babysit her child, after finding the notebook on the tent she still invites the backpacker to stay in the house and ends up having sex with her etc...) that it is hardly believable. Every single impossible mistake the mother makes makes you wanna cry ' not again!'. After a while it looses credibility completely only to become the most disgusting nightmare one can have. Any and every deranging shockers are used. From fecal matter to teeth cleaning with feces dripped toothbrush, from oral sex with gay prostitutes to child-birthing details, from lesbian sex to lesbian kidnapper-murderer-psycho the director welcomes them all. And all this in 50 some minutes which is the only good thing about this film: it's short. The only other movie competing with this one on the disgust-meter is the hostel. If that is art so is this. Quelle horreur!

omp9 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.