If I Were a Rich Man

A small seaside village stretches along a vast pebble beach. In the winter, it looks like a moonscape. In the summer, a crowd of vacationers and habitués gathers on the beach, bordered by little colorful huts, giving it a festive air. At one end of the beach is a pebble treatment factory where Marie works. Her boyfriend Paul is a grocer in the winter and a life-guard in the summer. Paul does not understand Marie’s dreamy temperament and stifles her with his clumsy love for her. The charm of an unimpressive chorale tapestry, a bouquet of magnificent actors (Bulle Ogier has to be seen) and some beautiful, melancholy photography reminds us that the director, an ex-student of plastic arts, loves Edward Hopper and Wim Wenders. The highly coveted Caméra d’Or won at the last Cannes Festival may have seemed rather overwhelming but it was not without merit. Julie Lopes-Curval has vision, sensitivity and, already, mastery. Source: A. C., Les Echos, December, 2002.