[1] His films are characterized by aesthetic beauty, sharp satirical humor and a free-wheeling view of human sexuality.

After the Fassbinder adaptation Water Drops on Burning Rocks (Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes, 2000) came the film which made his name outside France, 8 Women (8 femmes, 2002), starring Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert and Emmanuelle Béart.

With its quirky mix of musical numbers and murder mystery and a production design harking back to 1950s Hollywood melodramas such as those directed by Douglas Sirk, the film became a huge commercial success.

His next film, Time to Leave (Le temps qui reste) (which one critic said explored the question "how does a frivolous person deal with his own mortality?

")[6] screened at film festivals worldwide in 2005, and in 2006 it was distributed in the U.S. Ozon's first full English-language production, Angel, starring Romola Garai, was released in 2007.