I like a French movie - a lot of the ones I've seen have not much plot, but lots of interesting characters. Not to mention a liberal attitude to nudity and sexuality. I recorded this one from a graveyard showing on BBC2 last week, and it was well worth it. Why do all the good little movies get tucked away?
Cockles and Muscles is a farce of sorts, featuring an initially rather normal family on holiday on the French coast (I'm not sure where exactly). Slowly we discover that the mother is having an affair, the son (who mother suspects is gay) is straight, but his sexy best friend isn't, and maybe the father isn't either... The humour is mostly subtle and plays off the interactions of the characters as they cheat and lie about relationships and sexuality. Despite the deceit, the movie has a happy (musical) ending and there is no malice or nastiness going on. 
I particularly like that the son is happy for his parents to think he's gay, just because it pisses his dad off, and the fact that his best friend (played by the skinny but beautiful Édouard Collin, in shower on left...) yearns for his friend quite openly is lovely. Every actor is brilliant, but Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as the mother is a stand out, as is Collin. I've not seen any of these actors in anything before, but I'd happily watch them in something again. One of the repeated themes in the movie involves the shower, where every male character gets to have a masturbation scene! The father turns off the hot water at one point to dampen everyone's libidos, to comic effect.
A very funny film, with a pretty cast and a nice upbeat tone that is kept up all the way til the end. A hidden gem.
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