Bord de mer (2002)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Julie Lopes-Curval

Writers:

François Favrat (writer)
Julie Lopes-Curval (writer)

Release Date:

4 December 2002 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Seaside takes place in a small coastal town on the Bay of Somme. The year-round inhabitants find ways to make their lives work; Paul...

Plot Keywords:

Factory | Lifeguard | Seaside | Mortgage | Bicycle

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Bulle Ogier	...	Rose
Ludmila Mikaël	...	Anne
Hélène Fillières	...	Marie
Jonathan Zaccaï	...	Paul
Patrick Lizana	...	Albert
Liliane Rovère	...	Odette
Emmanuelle Lepoutre	...	Albertine
Fabien Orcier	...	Jacquot
Jauris Casanova	...	Pierre
Audrey Bonnet	...	Lilas
Jean-Michel Noirey	...	Robert
Jacqueline Carpentier	...	Denise
Alexandra Mercouroff	...	Lucille
Antonia Ortu	...	La serveuse de bar
Nathalie Pannel	...	La femme notable

Also Known As:

Le requin (France) (working title)
Seaside (International: English title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

France:U | Hong Kong:IIB | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Not Rated | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Cayeux-sur-Mer, Somme, France

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

References Jaws (1975)

Oh, I DO Like To Be Beside The Seaside

This is another charmer. The great thing about France is that filmmakers are allowed to make 'small' films like this without being penalized. In the same year (2002) for example Le Chignon d'Olga was also released and between them both films racked up something like 100,000 admissions but nobody yelled, no heads rolled, in fact Julie Lopes-Curval who directed Bord de mer went on to write La role de sa vie which co-screenwriter of Bord de mer, Francois Favrat, directed and with Agnes Jaoui and Karin Viard co-starring 'Role' was a much more high-profile project. Not a lot happens in Bord de mer. If you want an analogy it's something like Walden if Thoreau had been part of a community. It's just a record of a year in a small seaside town which is virtually almost always out-of-season even in the summer because the only visitors are regulars, most of whom own property rather than staying in hotels/pensions. It's a company town to the extent that a small family company 'mine' the sea for stones which are then 'sorted' by the locals and used to manufacture anything that CAN be manufactured from pebbles. We follow a handful of people, the best known being Bulle Ogier and Ludmilla Mikhael, ex-Comedy Francaise as they are, in the immortal words of Johnny Burke, busy doing nothing. The film is shot in lovely, not to say restful, pastels and a second viewing some two years later was just as enjoyable as the initial one.