Seaside (2002)

Julie Lopes-Curval makes an accomplished directorial debut with the unassumingly charming Seaside. The film, shot in Cayeux-sur-Mer on the bay of the Somme, offers a panoramic view of the year in the life of a lower rung resort town. The town’s biggest industry, aside from tourism, is collecting the stones from the rocky beach and breaking them down for their mineral components. Lopes-Curval eschews any sort of camera trickery, using mostly static medium shots of the town’s denizens and their interactions. This is less a distancing device than a way of giving her actors room to breathe. It’s often the case that glances offscreen and background facial expressions are of more import to the narrative than what people say to each other. A smile that fades a bit too quickly is as telling as a sudden slap across the face. The director gives the actors room to work and the cast is superb, bringing life to each of these characters, even those that appear onscreen for only a moment. Hélène Fillières is particularly good as the film’s central character, Marie. Playing an impossibly beautiful young woman stuck in a dead end factory job, she has an appropriate otherworldliness. The multi-layered story takes its time coming into focus, and leaves some questions unanswered. Through the film’s acute observation, the little town becomes a distinct and vibrant place. Like the woman (Ludmila Mikaël) who realizes she has been coming to vacation in the town for decades without ever knowing what its primary industry was, we learn about this place slowly, and in the end, we still never know it completely. Seaside has a similar feel John Sayles’s Sunshine State, without that film’s unfortunate lapses into pedantry. In its quiet contemplativeness, the film achieves a sublime aching beauty. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide