Cote d'Azur (Crustaces & Coquillages) (2005)

50% of critics liked it
(50 reviews)
60% of users liked it
(1,196 ratings)

It's Summer Rental meets Blame it on Rio when a French family heads off to the Mediterranean for a sultry summer vacation in the ensemble sex comedy Côte d'Azur, co-directed by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (The Adventures of Felix). When the head of the clan, Marc (Gilbert Melki), decides… More It's Summer Rental meets Blame it on Rio when a French family heads off to the Mediterranean for a sultry summer vacation in the ensemble sex comedy Côte d'Azur, co-directed by Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel (The Adventures of Felix). When the head of the clan, Marc (Gilbert Melki), decides to tote his wife, Béatrix (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi), and his teenage children Laura (Sabrina Seyvecou) and Charly (Romain Torres) off to his childhood beach home on the Riviera, a number of sexy liasons ensue. Charly -- though straight -- must contend with the come-ons of his best friend, Martin, a closeted homosexual infatuated with him for years but too shy to say so. Meanwhile, as Laura takes up with a young biker, Béatrix re-encounters her old boyfriend Mathieu (Jacques Bonnaffé); Marc's ex-flame pops up, too, both former lovers expressing interest in rekindling affairs. Soon, the entire vacation becomes a surfeit of hilarious erotic complications. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 34 min.
Directed By: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau
Written By: Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau
Genres: Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 9, 2005 Wide
On DVD: Feb 7, 2006
Studio: Strand Releasing

Critic Reviews

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The gay-themed film's characters and complications are formula fluff.
John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
While Cote d'Azur should be a vacation, it's often more like work just trying to stay engaged.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
It's a diversion at best and a strained souffle at worst, but it rings enough Gallic changes on the old family-summer- gone-horribly- wrong genre to deliver some unexpectedly sharp laughs.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Sexually brazen yet also rather sweet.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
There's no denying the appeal of well-toned half-naked bodies, a sun soaked Mediterranean beach, and -- musical numbers extolling the aphrodisiac qualities of shellfish?
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
Sunny little nothing of a French comedy.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
...an act of cinematic masturbation against pastel colors...
Kam Williams, Denver Urban Spectrum
Works well so long as it is approached as a tongue-in-cheek farce as opposed to a plausible melodrama.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
Delights and surprises, a combo that is important to many audiences.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Valerie Bruni-Tedeschi (who looks like a Gallic Gillian Anderson) is superb here, giving a weirdly sexy, frequently distracted performance that works well.
Don Willmott, Filmcritic.com
a funny, sexy, and very French diversion that's as weightless as a Mediterranean breeze.
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
A feisty sex comedy of errors. It doesn't break any ground, but it still has its charms.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
If anything, the film is proof that a European sex comedy can be just as boring as your run-of-the-mill comedy if the writing isn't up to snuff.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]"Cote d'Azur" takes place while a family is on vacation in the south of France. Beatrix and Marc are parents of two teenaged children. The daughter, Laura, is off to Portugal with a biker.(Every parent's worse nightmare - the biker part not… More
[font=Century Gothic]"Cote d'Azur" takes place while a family is on vacation in the south of France. Beatrix and Marc are parents of two teenaged children. The daughter, Laura, is off to Portugal with a biker.(Every parent's worse nightmare - the biker part not Portugal.) Beatrix is okay with this because of her Dutch parentage. The son, Charly, sticks around for his friend Martin to arrive who he has not seen in a year. After some quick observations, Beatrix declares them to be gay lovers.(She's half right.) Again she is perfectly fine with this, even if her husband is a little perturbed. The next person to make an appearance is Beatrix's lover. Complications ensue.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Cote d'Azur" is a mildly amusing French sex farce that preaches tolerance. It does have a rather old-fashioned feel to it with an occasional dash of irreverence thrown in. The performances are good and the situations are believable with one major contrivance.[/font]
Panta O

This is the forth movie Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau did together... and they made a real summer movie about husband and wife - Marc (Melki) and Béatrix (Tedeschi)- who take their two kids to the seaside house of Marc's youth. Not much of the family atmosphere though:… More
This is the forth movie Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau did together... and they made a real summer movie about husband and wife - Marc (Melki) and Béatrix (Tedeschi)- who take their two kids to the seaside house of Marc's youth. Not much of the family atmosphere though: their daughter takes up with a biker and their son roams the beach with his best friend, who is in love with him. Things get steamier when Béatrix's lover Mathieu shows up, and Marc's old flame appears... The best part of this movie is Valeria Bruni Tedeschi! WOW!