Marcel Camus began his career with a movie taking place in Indochina under French domination ("mort en fraude" 1957),which was unusual at the time ;then he hit the big time with his best work "orfeo negro" which was awarded the palme d'or in the festival de Cannes 1959 -it's today unfairly despised-.
By the late sixties, he broached a trendy subject : youth life at night ,in the Parisian night clubs ("vivre la nuit" 1967): the actors (Jacques Perrin, Georges Géret , even singer-songwriter extraordinaire Serge Gainsbourg) saved something from the wreckage .
Carrying on with the hip youth , his next work ,this movie,depicted boys and girls love affairs on the chic French Riviera (with scenes taking place on a yacht), and what does one get? Max Pecas meets the early sixties NV : a
nightmare ;a non existent screenplay , amateurish acting -even seasoned Katina Paxinou as a wealthy woman fond of young men cannot play her game well ,looking like a poor man's Tennessee Williams' character - by singer Nino Ferrer (who sings his unbearable " mamadou mémé" ) and the other "actors" .Another singer ,Pierre Perret ,cast as a family man whose son is a pest , shares a scene with his colleague.
A could-not-care-less bomb , which is a good way to combine business with pleasure : the French Riviera is really a nice place to be!
