As we all know to our cost the lazy, hazy days of summer can turn from a well-earned vacation into a holiday from hell.

When a group of Parisian friends decide to decamp to the old money resort of Le Touquet friendships are tested, identities mistaken and affairs embarked upon. Oh, and suicides attempted.

Warring couple Vero (Viard) and Jerome (Podalydes) haven't got old money. They haven't even got new money so wind up in a caravan park.

The beautiful Lulu (Bouquet) and her psychotically possessive husband Jean-Pierre (Michel Blanc, who directs) are constantly at loggerheads.

Single mum Julie (Clotilde Courau) dumps her screaming baby on Vero while she pursues a debauched romance with Vincent Elbaz's womaniser. Sleeveless Pringle sweater. That's all you need to know.

The whole party is watched over with a twinkle-eyed hauteur by glamorous snob Elizabeth (Rampling), the mistress of the devastating put-down. "That's such a lovely dress - just like an old friend."

However, back in Paris her lush of a husband Bertrand (Dutronc), who has the look of a careworn Bryan Ferry, but moreso, is entertaining a transexual.

Director Blanc remains true to the structure of the traditional French farce but brings the absurdist British humour of Joseph Connolly's source novel to the fore.

The action takes place at a cracking pace yet control is never lost as an ever increasing cast of misfits are juggled in ever more bizarre situations.

He just about raises the characters above caricature and maintains subtlety when the frantic comings and goings would make Albert Square look lethargic.

Blanc indulges himself a bit as the jealous spouse and some plot lines are slacker than others but this is as bracing as a day on the beach.

Tim Evans