Mr. Ozon seems to understand a woman's pysche pretty well. This movie shows the impact of disappearance of a loved one suddenly & without any sense of closure. The bereaved wife, Marie (played perfectly by the gorgeous Ms. Rampling) seems to be doing alright on the surface except for a few comments at a get together which make the viewers feel that she is having a hard time talking about her husband in past tense. We are a bit alarmed but that's the extent of it. However, when she returns to her home, we realize the utter & extreme denial that fills every aspect of her life! It is horrifying & saddening. That a beautiful, intelligent woman can have such a reaction is a clear reminder to us of humanity's fragility & vulnerability when it comes to love. Losing a loved one is never easy. However, since humans are rational beings, it becomes much harder to come to terms with such a great loss in the absence of any plausible reason. So, not knowing exactly what happened to her husband was perhaps the biggest source of grief for Marie.
This is a very sincere look into the mind of a woman who seems to have lost a part of herself with the loss of her spouse. But I struggled with understanding the two men in Marie's life. Her husband's intentions were never fully revealed & I'm kind of okay with that because that's the point of the story. However, the one that I really have a problem with is Vincent. Why this charming & intelligent man got involved with Marie when she was not in a good place mentally is beyond me!
This movie has brought an epiphany to me. We must always consider the possibility that even though we may be perfectly happy & content with someone, things may not be so good for them. And when we love that someone, it may become extremely hard for us to let go or even to understand how they could be unhappy in such a fulfilling relationship. But such is human nature. Sometimes, having been in long relationships, people evolve in different directions such that one partner may be very happy with the routine stuff while the other may be getting suffocated. One man's medicine is another man's poison, after all! And so, it may happen that one fine day, our loved one may want to walk out on us & while it may hurt us, it might be their only salvation! We also need to consider the fact that some people may just be depressed & at that point, it is pretty much out of our hands. All we can do in such circumstances is to be supportive & hope for the best.
Lastly, this is one of those movies where you cannot have a spoiler in a review because the ending scene is open to everyone's personal interpretation & for that, you need to see it yourself!
