Cadinot: 'Secrets de Famille' or 'Family Secrets'
From the original advertisements: 'A famous entrepreneur from the south of France hires a steward who turns the entire family upside down. Adultery, incest, jealousy, accidents, and scandals. All the ingredients for a true crime thriller by Cadinot.'
I have a great fondness for this 2004 Cadinot film which, while it cannot rival his early masterpieces, is a lot more fun and imaginative than many of the films he had made over the preceding decade. With minor elements recalling many mainstream French films, particularly the work of Louis Malle. The story follows a group of young boys living at the home of Dorian Valmont and his wife Bibian Norai. Bibian is a mature, busty MILF beauty who even has a softcore sex scene with the studly new butler Mario Cavalieri, who the young boys of the household discover, while reading their Gay porno magazines, is actually a porno star.
With much of the action revolving around the family's swimming pool (which I recognised from earlier Cadinot filmns - I wonder was it his holiday home?) there are plenty of scenes involving the attractive young performers cavorting, fighting and humping away. There's not enough footage away from the house, though a venture into a nearby village and a "meet cute" (one of our heroes is urinating when a sleeping gent awakes and humps him by the road) offer some relief. It reminded me, in its humour and general joie de vivre, of the 1975 French romantic-comedy "Cousin Cousine".
