The stereotype of the sex tourist is a fat, balding middle-aged white man with unsuitable shorts and more than a passing resemblance to Gary Glitter.

Charlotte Rampling - the sinewed, willowy brunette star of such erotic fare as The Night Porter and, er, Basic Instinct II, does not quite fit the template.

Yet, here she is, sunning herself on a Haitian beach while muscled local lads carouse in the surf before quietly sneaking her off to a beach hut for something you don't see in the Bounty adverts.

Relatively new to this world of palm-fringed frolics is Brenda (Young), a divorcee from Savannah, Georgia, who - we are told in a Big Brother-style confessional - had her first orgasm aged 45 while on the island three years before.

The solution to her sexual frustration was washboard-stomached Legba (Cesar), who was 15 at the time...but has since become the stud-of-choice for Rampling's character Ellen and her crew of nookie-starved matrons.

The problem is black adonis becomes more than "just a gigolo" for Brenda when she reveals she has held her pent-up lust on a leash since that sandy knee-trembler years before.

French director Laurent Cantet expertly juggles the conflicting themes of the island paradise inhabited by the privileged white women and the grim lives of the bullied locals under vicous dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

We learn about the women via monologues to camera and discover that Ellen is a buttoned-up French teacher at posh girls school who unsuccessfully trawls Boston's bars for sex.

Albert (Ambroise Eddy), the hotel restaurent manager, provides the local slant when he reveals Haitian contempt for whites - particularly Americans - and their all-corrupting dollar.

It's an intriguing premise, expertly conveyed by a strong cast, none moreso than Cesar, who maintains the beguiling inscrutability of a man leading a double life.

They didn't mention this in the brochure.

Tim Evans