L'Hôtel de la plage
1978 Comedy   
 
Credits
  • Director: Michel Lang
  • Script: Michel Lang
  • Photo: Daniel Gaudry
  • Music: Mort Shuman
  • Cast: Sophie Barjac (Catherine Guedel), Myriam Boyer (Aline Dandrel), Daniel Ceccaldi (Euloge St. Prix), Michèle Grellier (Marie-Laure Delambre), Francis Lemaire (Lucien Vermaelen), Robert Lombard (Guedel), Bruno Du Louvat (Antoine), Guy Marchand (Hubert Delambre), Jean-Paul Muel (Paul Dandrel), Anne Parillaud (Estelle), Michel Robin (Léonce), Martine Sarcey (Elisabeth Rouvier), Bernard Soufflet (Bertrand), Rosine Cadoret (Cécile St.Prix), Anna Gaël (Brenda), Blanche Ravalec (Yveline), Germaine Delbat (Madame Léonce), Madeleine Bouchez (Belle-Maman Dandrel), Marcelle-Jeane Bretonniere (Odette Vermaelen), Hélène Batteux (Mme Guedel), Valérie Boisgel (La mère de Rose-Annie), Marilyne Canto (Juliette Guedel), Marie Bunel (Claudie), Gérard Gustin (Jean-Pierre), Denis Lefebvre Duprey (Stéphane), Philippe Ruggieri (Pierre-Alain), Geoffrey Carey (Dave), Fenella Maguire (L'anglaise du train), Roger Trapp (Monsieur télégramme), Jean Texier (Monsieur Muscre), Malène Sveinbjornsson (Charlotte), Lionel Melet (Jean-François), Thomas Sussfeld (Doudou), Pascal Beguet (Sébastien), Martine Desroches (Caroline Dandrel), Gérard Darmon, Nathalie Baures (Victoire)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 110 min
  • Aka: Holiday Hotel; The Beach Hotel
 
 
 
Summary
A group of tourists arrive in Brittany for their annual summer holiday at the Hôtel de la plage.  Everyone - infants, teenagers, husbands and wives, even those who are obviously past it - has just one thing on his or her mind: sex...

Review
Michel Lang directed this light-hearted but otherwise inconsequential sex comedy which pokes fun at the French on holiday.  It’s low key, fairly predictable fare, with some obvious jokes and more than a few moments of tedium.  However, it has certain charm, particularly in the way it compares the amorous adventures of different generations, and there are several memorable scenes which succeed in mixing farce and bitter-sweet depictions of those short-lived romances of youth.

© James Travers 2006


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