If you’re up for a bit of borderline farcical pantomime that manages to merge elements of Laurel and Hardy with Ingmar Bergman by way of “Mary Poppins” then this is the film for you. It’s set amidst the sand dunes of the coast of La Manche where folks have begun to mysteriously disappear. Drafted in to investigate is the avuncular “Insp. Machin” (Didier Després) and his sidekick “Malfoy” (Cyril Rigaux). They quickly settle their investigation on a confluence of the sea and the Slack river, where a family of subsistence oyster farmers live under the gaze of the mansion of the wealthy “Van Peteghem” family. This family - that wouldn’t have looked out of place at the start of John Boorman’s “Deliverance” (1972) - largely ignore the locals and live their degenerate lives selfishly, flaunting their obvious wealth in front of their poverty stricken neighbours. Things get a bit complicated when local urchin “Ma Loute” (Brandon Lavieville) takes a shine to the enigmatic “Billie” (Raph) and that not only breaks the unwritten convention that has inhibited the association of the local proles and their visiting patricians. It also complicates the sleuthing for our policeman, who is prone to swelling (think “Aunt Petunia” from “Harry Potter”) when he gets nervous about a case and for the eccentric family led by the mad as cheese “André” (Fabrice Luchini) and the scene stealing “Aude” (a Juliet Binoche who seems determined to present an hybrid of Katharine Hepburn and Dame Margaret Rutherford as she hams up delightfully). Virtually nobody is as they seem as the drama unfolds and whilst the comedy could never be described as subtle, it’s very excessive nature carries it along entertainingly, if perhaps a little sporadically, towards a denouement that Luchini himself has a go at describing to an equally bemused audience and family. That conclusion is a bit rushed and, I thought, undercooked - but the whole film offers us parodies galore, is grandly scored, photographed and designed and there are a few silly scenes that did make me giggle as it pokes fun at the riche, the not so riche, sexual ambiguities and taboos as it generally lolls along enjoyably.
