Bord de mer (2002) - film review

Visitors to Cayeux-sur-mer may be charmed by this unspoiled French seaside resort, but for those who live there all year round things are somewhat different.  Work is hard to come by, and distractions are few and far between.  Marie works in a factory that processes pebbles but dreams of a better life elsewhere.   Her boyfriend Paul is a lifeguard in the summer, a shop assistant in the winter.  Her mother Rose has only one real escape from her dreary life – frittering away all her money in amusement arcade slot machines.  Albert is as eager to get away as Marie.  He works in a factory that once belonged to his father.  He resents his mother’s eternal praise for his brother, the son that managed to make a success of his life...

Julie Lopes-Curval won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002 with this, her first full-length film as a director.  Bord de mer offers an unconventional portrait of life in a small seaside town, showing us the tedious and unfulfilled lives of those who live their.  The film is to be commended on its striking realist cinematography, but its sparse narrative and plethora of poorly delineated characters makes it a hard film to engage with.

© James Travers 2008

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