jotix100 One realizes not everything is all right between Lena and Michel. They are seen momentarily in deep discussion, but their two daughters do not get a whiff of what is really happening. The girls, Frederique and Sophie, are wiser than their tender years indicate. Lena packs the girl for their summer at a rented house at the seaside resort of La Baule in the Loire-Atlantique department, where Lena and her married sister, Bella, and their families spend the summer.It was the late 1950s in France, a time marked by the conflict in Algeria. The children, accompanied by Odette, come to the house near the ocean where they will intermingle with their cousins. It is also at the resort where Frederique and Sophie will get the news about their parent's irrevocable divorce. Lena cannot stay with Mihel any longer. In fact, she shows a bit of carelessness as her lover from Lyon, Jean-Claude, a sculptor, joins her on his way to America, something he would like her to do.The summer days are spent on the beach, where with the girls irritating their caretaker, Odette, get in trouble when their pranks get out of hand. Lena is determined to settle with the girls in Paris, but she badly needs money that without Michel's help will be almost impossible. Her brother-in-law promises help, but it might not be adequate for the needs. Michel wants to go back, but one realizes they have nothing left of what they once felt.A loving tribute by Diane Kurys, a director who has examined her life in different portraits she has created for the screen. Her stories take an intimate view of family life, or the lack of it, as in this case. The film is seen from Frederique's point of view, basically. All that is going on with her mother is examined by the young girl, still too young to really be able to digest the vibes she witnesses around her parents. It is also Frederique's awakening to young love, because she is attracted to her older cousin, something that is tole in subtle ways by Ms. Kurys. The director, who wrote her own screenplay in collaboration with Alain Le Henry, examines her past with an openness that is refreshing. She handles her cast well and was rewarded with an excellent Natalie Baye as Lena. The other surprise in the film is Julie Bataille, who makes an impression as Frederique. The supporting players are wonderful in their contribution to the viewer's enjoyment of the film. Richard Berry, Vincent Lindon, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Zabou, a young Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi and the young children seen as the cousins.Philippe Sarde contributed with the score which plays in the background, mingled with pop songs of that era. The cinematography is credited to Fabio Conversi and Giuseppe Lanci, which captures the flavor of a typical summer French resort by the sea.

Chris Knipp The is a very typically French slice of late Fifties middle-class life as seen during summer at the seaside when the parents' marriage is breaking up. The looks, the behavior, the attitudes could only be French. In that sense the film has a certain fascination and, hopefully, period accuracy (it's set in 1958).The subtext is that for a young teenage girl in a sociable world, with a sister and brothers and a pleasant uncle and aunt and an annoying nanny and a young boy interested in kissing her and a close relationship with the imaginary addressee of her daily diary, her parents' disintegrating marriage is by no means the only thing going on in her world--especially given the fact that she's at a summer resort in a rented house and the mother is often away and the father is almost always away. There is a lot going on, most notably the changes in herself. This is probably the film's and Kurys' real subject--only it's a difficult one to put across and she doesn't quite succeed. Ultimtely too much is nonetheless going on, and it is all given too similar weight. Kurys, perhaps in her effort to balance autobiography with history and sociology, winds up making neither the adult nor the children's point of view strong enough. Lindon, Bruni-Tedeschi, Bacri, Berry, and Baye have been in better films. However, they're interesting actors, and the child actors are equally fine. This is not as bad or as great as some have suggested. It's very watchable, but it doesn't really go anywhere.Not a disaster, and a sincere effort, but not successful storytelling and not finally a very memorable experience.

dokken I just can't understand why anyone would be willing to have spent all the time, effort, and money it takes to make a film on something like this. It really takes a lot of effort to make a movie. More than a few people in this world felt passionately enough about this thing to write it, direct it, shoot it, rehearse it, finance it, etc, etc. My god! It's not that it's really bad or anything, there just doesn't seem to be any point in it existing. It's a boring movie about everyday people doing everyday crap. Sometimes they hang out at the beach. Sometimes they bicker. There's some kissing. Why? Why not just do nothing instead?

Helmut S. (classicsincamera) I have seen this movie on the German TV yesterday with the title: "A summer at the sea" and I was deeply impressed.Despite that it was produced in 1990, the theme is more up-to-date than ever. Excellent actors of all ages performed very well indeed, a great story, some romantic spots and lovely music will make you thinking about the relationship of children to their parents, their pain and childish emotions which often get hurt.This story could happen today, next month or the following year, next door of you or at any other location or country. So you will get nothing NEW out of that movie but the sad reality of daily life in the eyes of children whose parents can't behave.I only can highly recommend this movie - buy the DVD and you will enjoy it definitively more than just one time.