91Èȱ¬

Scripted and directed by French actor Michel Blanc, this sparkling adaptation of British writer Joseph Connolly's comic novel was a notable box office success across the Channel.

Charlotte Rampling plays Elizabeth, a bourgeois housewife who's vacationing one summer at the upmarket seaside resort of Le Touquet.

Her two-timing husband (Jacques Dutronc) has remained in Paris, pleading work commitments, and her rebellious teenage daughter (Lou Doillon) is partying in Chicago. But Elizabeth is not holidaying alone.

For company, she has her single-mother pal Julie (Clotilde Courau), who's looking to enjoy a holiday romance despite her screaming baby, and some hard-up neighbours (Karin Viard and Denis Podalydes) and their adolescent son, forced to rough it in the nearby trailer park.

Meanwhile amongst the fellow guests at Elizabeth's upmarket hotel are a morbidly-jealous husband (Blanc himself) and his exasperated wife (Carole Bouquet), and Maxime (Vincent Elbaz), a serial womaniser understandably keen not to reveal his marital status.

Expertly marshalled by Blanc - who intelligently weaves together the various storylines - and confidently performed by an impressive ensemble cast, "Summer Things" succeeds as a witty farce of mistaken identities, amorous (mis)adventures, and emotional subterfuge.

The atmosphere of sexual fluidity, the often dark humour, and the unravelling of family secrets brings to mind one of François Ozon's spiky domestic entertainments. Yet beneath the crisp one-liners and farcical encounters, there's an appealingly melancholic core to the film.

Female camaraderie is cherished, the desirability of marriage and coupledom is questioned, and middle-aged disappointment ruefully acknowledged.

It's left to Elizabeth, the most richly drawn character, to ponder just why "our lives don't turn out like our dreams".

In French with English subtitles.