Ozon at the Beach
July 12–13, 2006

François Ozon (b. 1967) is one of France’s more internationally celebrated mid-career filmmakers. Of his nine features, four take place, at least in part, at the seaside. In his films, beaches, despite both their natural promise of light and freedom and Ozon’s own claim that they “are timeless spaces, providing abstraction and purity,” are actually menacing and even murderous places. This survey of Ozon’s beach films—including his most recent, Time to Leave, prior to its American release—illuminates Ozon’s disquieting view of the seashore. All films written and directed by Ozon; from France; and in French with English subtitles.

Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film and Media. Thanks to Strand Releasing, ThinkFilm, The Weinstein Company, and Zeitgeist Films. 

Une robe d’été (A Summer Dress). 1996. A seaside comedy about surprise, gender, and sex. 15 min.
Regarde la mer (See the Sea). 1997. With Sasha Hails, Marina de Van. A disturbing thriller in which a young mother and her baby, vacationing by the ocean, meet a strange young woman. 52 min.
Wednesday, July 12, 5:00. T2

5x2. 2004. Cowritten by Emmanuèle Bernheim. With Valeria Bruno-Tedeschi, Stéphane Friess. A five-episode portrait of a failed marriage that begins in divorce court and moves backwards in time, ending with a romantic seaside sunset. 90 min.
Wednesday, July 12, 6:30. T2

Le temps qui reste (Time to Leave). 2005. With Melvil Poupaud, Jeanne Moreau. Romain, a young fashion photographer, learns that he has cancer. Egocentric and cruel, he does not tell his lover or his family, but as Ozon asks, “Why shouldn’t he have the right to choose how he will die? I wanted to accompany Romain on his journey toward death and explore the different phases he goes through, from anger to denial…to acceptance.” 90 min. New York premiere.
Wednesday, July 12, 8:15. T1

Sous le sable (Under the Sand). 2000. Cowritten by Emmanuèle Bernheim. With Charlotte Rampling, Bruno Cremer. A husband, on vacation with his wife by the seaside, goes swimming and does not return. “It started with an idea to do a trilogy about mourning. It began with Under the Sand, a tearless melodrama about coping with the death of a loved one. Time to Leave is about coping with one’s own death, and the third installment, which I may make, will address the death of a child” (Ozon). 95 min.
Thursday, July 13, 6:00. T2