CinemaSerf

Though the story is really rather slow to get going, I did quite enjoy this seaside comedy romance. It's all about the young "Marius" (Horst Buchholz) who can't quite decide between a life at sea or a more pedestrian one at home with his girlfriend "Fanny" (Leslie Caron). His decision making isn't really helped by his dad "Cesar" (Charles Boyer) who wants him to stay at home and take over their little brasserie, nor by the elderly "Panisse" (Maurice Chevalier) who has eyes on his girlfriend. Anyway, with the scene set it now falls to these four to engagingly walk us through a series of admittedly contrived, but still quite entertaining scenarios that are well and truly stolen by the bickering rapport of best pals Boyer and Chevalier who keep threatening to kill each other when they don't get their way. The antics of the youngsters are usually the cause of this, and when she becomes pregnant - well choices have to be made that only serve to further complicate matters as the newly arrived young "Cesario" (Joël Flateau) starts to grow up believing his dad to be, well you can guess... It's a bit on the long side this, but when the writing is at it's best it allows these four characters to deliver quite a characterful drama that raises a smile treading just on the right side of slap-stick and farce. True, Buchholz isn't maybe the best actor, but his boyish Bogarde-esque looks help him to play a good foil to the equally boyish Caron and both of them work well with the two elderly gents who look like the are having quite a bit of fun making this film that swipes at sexism, ageism and stereotypes in quite an amiable fashion. There are also a few fun contributions from her mother (Georgette Anys); Raymond Bussières also adds a light extra light-heartedness as the "Admiral" and by the end, this parody of small-town family life set amongst the fish markets and the sunshine worked well.