Under the Sand, a delicate and devastating film from director Francois Ozon, features one of the best performances of the year, by Charlotte Rampling. The British actress, fifty-six and never more beautiful, plays Marie, a recent widow who can't accept the fact of her husband's death. On the beach near their summer house, Marie's husband, Jean (Bruno Cremer), had gone for a swim and never returned. Back in Paris at her teaching job, Marie nearly unravels. Ozon tells this haunting story with potent finesse. Marie uses humor, anger and sex to build a wall around her grief. It's a role of fierce demands, and Rampling meets them all. In a summer of crass, Rampling is a true class act.

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.