It's Summer Rental meets Blame it on Rio when a French family heads off to the Mediterranean for a sultry summer vacation in the ensemble sex comedy Côte d'Azur, co-directed by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (The Adventures of Felix). When the head of the clan, Marc (Gilbert Melki), decides to tote his wife, Béatrix (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), and his teenage children Laura (Sabrina Seyvecou) and Charly (Romain Torres) off to his childhood beach home on the Riviera, a number of sexy
liasons ensue. Charly -- though straight -- must contend with the come-ons of his best friend, Martin, a closeted homosexual infatuated with him for years but too shy to say so. Meanwhile, as Laura takes up with a young biker, Béatrix re-encounters her old boyfriend Mathieu (Jacques Bonnaffé); Marc's ex-flame pops up, too, both former lovers expressing interest in rekindling affairs. Soon, the entire vacation becomes a surfeit of hilarious erotic complications. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
It's a diversion at best and a strained souffle at worst, but it rings enough Gallic changes on the old family-summer- gone-horribly- wrong genre to deliver some unexpectedly sharp laughs.
There's no denying the appeal of well-toned half-naked bodies, a sun soaked Mediterranean beach, and -- musical numbers extolling the aphrodisiac qualities of shellfish?
Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi (who looks like a Gallic Gillian Anderson) is superb here, giving a weirdly sexy, frequently distracted performance that works well.
"Cote d'Azur" takes place while a family is on vacation in the south of France. Beatrix and Marc are parents of two teenaged children. The daughter, Laura, is off to Portugal with a biker.(Every parent's worse nightmare - the biker part not Portugal.) Beatrix is okay with this because of her Dutch parentage. The
son, Charly, sticks around for his friend Martin to arrive who he has not seen in a year. After some quick observations, Beatrix declares them to be gay lovers.(She's half right.) Again she is perfectly fine with this, even if her husband is a little perturbed. The next person to make an appearance is Beatrix's lover. Complications ensue. "Cote d'Azur" is a mildly amusing French sex farce that preaches tolerance. It does have a rather old-fashioned feel to it with an occasional dash of irreverence thrown in. The performances are good and the situations are believable with one major contrivance.
September 18, 2005
Walter M.
Super Reviewer
This is the forth movie Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau did together... and they made a real summer movie about husband and wife - Marc (Melki) and Béatrix (Tedeschi)- who take their two kids to the seaside house of Marc's youth. Not much of the family atmosphere though: their daughter takes up with a biker and
their son roams the beach with his best friend, who is in love with him. Things get steamier when Béatrix's lover Mathieu shows up, and Marc's old flame appears... The best part of this movie is Valeria Bruni Tedeschi! WOW!
No quotes approved yet for Cote d'Azur (Crustaces & Coquillages). Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Cote d'Azur (Crustaces & Coquillages)'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
