Starring: Bulle Ogier, Ludmila Mikaël, Hélène Fillières, Jonathan Zaccaï Script: Julie Lopes-Curval, François Favrat Original Title: Bord de mer Running Time: 1:28 Country: France Year: 2002
A first film which, through a gallery of portraits, looks like a commercial for a beach resort in the bay of Somme, France.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter. By rhythm of the seasons, Seaside brushes an impressionist portrait of a city without much interest, through the personal lives of some of its inhabitants. Marie, a factory worker, is bored to death from summer to winter; her boyfriend works as swimming teacher during summer and as storekeeper the remainder of the year; her mother spends most of her time wasting money from her pension at the casino; Pierre, a fashion photographer, returns to visit his parents accompanied by his pregnant girlfriend, while Albert intends to quit his white collar job at the factory... Each character tells the story of the city by metonymy. Scenes of the everyday life evoke the desire of a better life elsewhere, with the portrait of those who left the city to succeed and those who dream about it, as well as those who are satisfied with their simple existence.
If the actors, from Bulle Ogier to Helene Fillières and Ludmila Mikaël, compete with precision to give flesh to their characters, the film takes pains to draw the attention to its subject and passes like the seasons, imperceptibly. Unfortunately.
Seaside movie review
