|
FRENCH | 90 MINUTES | KENDALL SQUARE The shellfish aren’t the only salty indulgence in Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau’s breezy but feckless Mediterranean-set farce. Fussy Marc (Gilbert Melki) must confront his kids’ hormones (and his own?) when son Charly (Romain Torres) invites a seductive gay teen to their summer home. Wife Béatrix (a vibrant Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in espadrille wedges and Daisy Dukes) doesn’t share his distress — she’s too busy sneaking quickies with her smarmy leprechaun of a lover (Jacques Bonnaffé). A palpable, offhand sensuality warms the film, and Torres’s portrayal of confused, androgynous Charly is particularly sensitive. Yet the physical tension never rouses much drama or humor, aside from a run-in with a smoking Weedwacker and the arrival of a plumber. Ducastel and Martineau later try for poignancy, but the effect falls away as readily as Béatrix’s maillot.
BY ALICIA POTTER
|