Near Orouët

Near Orouët is a quintessential summer comedy. Three young women quit Paris for three weeks on the French seaside, where they attract the interest of a local yachtsman and a hapless work colleague. Love triangles and incidental humour abound. The trio take up residence in an old family house, and the holiday quickly amasses its fair share of surprises, rowdiness, uneasy sailing expeditions and elaborate meals.

As these scenes play out, director Jacques Rozier’s powers of observation help raise this tale of female friendship, with its alternate currents of silliness, nostalgia and melancholy, to the level of greatness. A questioning camera, beguiling editing and the use of improvised dialogue create a work of rare feeling: a series of carefully captured encounters come and go, and both characters and viewers come to realise that this is the stuff of which real memories – and real life – are made.