See the Sea

On the surface the story seems slight. Set on Ile d'Yeu, one of the French Atlantic islands, it concerns Sasha (Hails), a lonely English housewife - abandoned for the week by her businessman husband - and their screaming baby. Happy to have the company, she allows a French backpacker to pitch her tent in the yard. Tatiana (de Van) is sulky and taciturn, but is she also dangerous? Ozon builds an overwhelming sense of nightmarish unease from seemingly banal detail; every composition, every cut signals a startling, disquieting talent. The scene in which Tatiana 'borrows' Sasha's toothbrush is worthy of Repulsion.