Côte d’Azur

FLICK It’s a romp on the beach as directors Olivier Duscatel and Jacques Martineau (Adventures of Felix, My Life on Ice) pull out the stops and have fun in the Mediterranean sun in this hilarious screwball comedy, which never neglects the meaning of friends and family. When Marc and Béatrix take their teenage children Charly and Laura for a seaside vacation, it’s anything but relaxing as everyone has romantic secrets that escalate into mixed messages and sexual high jinks.
Complications arise for Marc (Gilbert Melki, Intimate Strangers) when he meets his gay childhood friend Didier (Jean-Marc Barr, Le Divorce), now a plumber, who gets his signals crossed and can’t let go of their past. The delightful Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi plays the open-minded mother, Béatrix, who is very supportive of her straight son that she believes is gay, and must hide her clinging lover Mathieu who unexpectedly pops up everywhere. Bruni-Tedeschi is as light, sexy and breezy here as she is intensely serious in the François Ozon film, also from 2005, 5x2. (Blink and you’ll miss her in Munich.) Melki and Bruni-Tedeschi easily anchor the shenanigans, which seems to stem from eating oysters and shellfish (alluding to the original French title Crustacés et coquillages) that create an aphrodisiac affect.
The misinterpretations and surprises surrounding everyone at the beach house are reminiscent of French farce, though no one is slamming doors. (But there is something going on with the hot and cold water in the shower!) The atmosphere is enchanting, the acting is pitch perfect, and there is even a musical number! Côte d’Azur is fun for the whole post-modern family. (2005) My Score: 8.5 out of 10.