Movie review: Private Tropical 8 "Ocean Dream" (2004) (Sarah Swain, Claudia Lassi, Veronica Sinchair, Julie Pilver)

 

It's midnight. Eve of a wedding in style. The engaged couple strolls through a manicured French garden in Barre Trigano Castle, accompanied by a third woman. - "It is my parents' house" says the future wife.

This luxurious mansion has little of a house and a lot of a palace. Everything is going great, even the relationship with the sister-in-law seems to be quite cordial and the atmosphere is calm.

Private Tropical 8 Ocean dream trailer (english subtitles)

15 min version of Ocean Dream on Youtube with english subtitles

The spouse, very traditional and gentrified, did not visit the family home until the last moment. The link will take place in the private gardens and everything is ready for the big day.

The Versailles of my parents

Castle de la Barre Trigano, in the suburbs of Paris

High class french mansion

Pic in 2022

- "And from tomorrow it will be only yours, because I'm going to live in Lyon" says the sister. If we compare both women, it is very evident which of the two received the aesthetic blessing (without great fanfare) and which one remained ugly forever. In addition, she is the typical envious sister who always criticizes everything. - "But, it is the last night before the wedding so, you will sleep at your house, and my sister, with me" Silvya and Robert are forced to say goodbye, by fraternal legal imperative.

In this family the rules are important... Mi mi mi mi

Shortly after returning home, Robert is ravaged by nerves and reflects on the momentousness of tomorrow, in which he will be married for life. He decides then to call his best friend, Pascal, who has not been able to attend the ceremony, to calm down. He search his phone but, unfortunately, the phone has been forgotten at his parents in-law,s palace, so he already has an excuse to go back and fornicate in sin if the opportunity arises.

The typical silly forgetfulness

... Or so believed those who seek for an easy plot

Robert decides to leave home this time with his service weapon. He is only going to pick up his cell phone, but he is a policeman and is aware of the dangers that lurk at night. Those of us who have seen a lot of movies already detect that nothing good is going to happen from now on. In the following fade to black, "mobile" appears but we are not referring to the cell phone, but to a cause of prosecution.

The night before the wedding you should not sleep with your husband ...

Sylvia is with her lover, with whom she has had a secret relationship for a long time, talking before taking action. From now on they will have to be more careful.

Bon soir!!

Half an hour later, Robert bursts into the palatial hall and startles the sinful couple, who were dozing in the gloom. - "I can explain" says Sylvia, "Easy man, nothing has happened, calm down" adds the lover. These comments, far from appeasing the policeman, embolden him even more. Wounded in pride, moments later he already wields his weapon, threatening.

Bond, James Bond

Only a single shot resounds. He has killed his wife, and has left the lover scared but alive. As he leaves the house, he realizes the trouble he has gotten into, and with the phone at hand, he calls Pascal, to tell him what happened, and begs for his help.

Pascal, lying on the hammock in Martinique under the afternoon sun, calms him down and invites him to fly on the first plane to the Caribbean.

"Escape plan LIMITED CO, how can we help you?"

It is perceptive to make a little pause here to talk about Pascal, who has been a friend of Robert since childhood and who left France very young. They sent their father, a high-ranking military man, to paradise, before retirement. Thanks to his strong training and great perseverance, he already stood out in high school and set up tourism businesses before he was twenty. A precocious entrepreneur, he soon discovered a business model that no one would have thought of. The beautiful single women who go to Martinique have no one to fuck for, so it is best to sell duo packs that include on the one hand, a tourist walk, and on the other fornication without headaches.

After this short biography of Pascal, we return to the plot.

Three weeks later, all the paperwork is arranged. Robert has a new identity and a new job, under Pascal's command. Sarah, trophy wife, keeps smile and kind as she can. Do not forget that they are talking to a parricide, whom she did not previously know.

Three weeks of voluntary confinement

After the fade in black appears the first of the inexplicable scenes of the film. Ben, one of Pascal's employees, is jogging, and he comes across a sporty girl, whom he tries to catch up with by offering her an innocent massage, without success.

I am a physiotherapist and gynecologist. Do you need a check-up?

In the next scene, Pascal appears showing the map of Reunion to a young girl. They are supposed to be in Martinique, but everything is very confusing.

Map of Reunion Island 

Next, Pascal appears again, scolding Ben himself, who is now dressed in a beach look (cap and towel), for being late for a supposed date he had with a girl. Pascal has been forced to sent another employee, Tony, to replace him.

I'm late for flirting, boss. Had you ever listened a better excuse?

The most bizarre thing is that Ben justifies his delay because he claims to have met a girl, from whom he has even gotten her phone number. They show it to us right away. This is another disconnected scene, in which Ben was dressed in a more formal look, and there is a brunette girl sitting on the sand screaming, who is afraid she has broken her leg. Ben, with a little massage, he seems to say "get up and walk." Later, amazed by those holy hands, she introduces herself as Nina and gives him her phone.

"Get up and walk"

At the end of the film, all these inconsistencies in the script will be justified. Let us not be discouraged.

After this momentary chaos, the script regains its meaning with the appearance of Tony, Pascal's employee, who is on a boat with a young blonde. She was a client of Ben, but it became clear that Ben had entertained himself along the way.

Yachts offer a lot of privacy

For his part, Robert finally begins to work and accompanies the brunette who appeared earlier with Pascal in front of the map, to see a school of dolphins. This scene is surprising because it is unfinished. Again the director Max Bellocchio wants to play with us.

Robert, on his first day of work...

Well, after the first day trading, he shows up at Pascal's house and, bold as grass, he invites Sarah, his friend's wife, to go see the regattas. First day of work, a job given to him by his friend, and he is already trying to flirt with his wife. In fact, Robert comments that his friend Pascal is very lucky to have a wife like her. In this scene we realize that they are neither in Martinique nor in the Seychelles. This mansion is on Reunion Island, since it is the same one that appears in Tequila Bum Bum. Located in the Le Port urbanization, in Possesión, to be more exact, on Rue Moulin Joli street.

In the scenes in which Pascal comes out on the phone, the pool is seen in the background

That same night, Pascal, who is more unsure of himself than De Gea playing with the spanish team, asks Sarah what she thinks about Robert, if he likes it or not. OMG! Robert is a parricide, but it seems that nobody cares about it.

- "It's fine but nothing special" Sarah replies, who then adds that the next day she is not available to go to work at the hotel, because she is going shopping with a friend. By the way, it must be said here that Sarah Twain is a Cameron Diaz in brunette, both for the shape of the face and for the gestures when speaking.

Pascal, jealous champion

To avoid tire the viewer with the soap opera atmosphere that is being generated between this love trio, the script now deviates towards those wealthy single women who hire Pascal's services. Of course, they have a life beyond tourism, and now, the blonde who was with Tony on the boat, and the girl who Ben healed on the beach as if she were Jesus Christ himself, are in the hotel room confessing their adventures sex on the island. They get carried away so much that in the end they decide to embark on a lesbian adventure with an uncertain ending.

Of course...

Sarah in the end has not gone shopping and has agreed to go for a walk with Robert, who takes her to La cascade des Aigrettes to win her over because there are too many crowds at the Regattas. Robert is so controlled by the desire that he has forgotten he had an appointment with another client to visit the island by air with Les Passagers du Vent. Pascal calls him because he is tired of waiting, and Robert cannot think of a better excuse than to say that he has suffered an accident with the car, - "Now I can't talk" he emphasizes.

Pascal calling Robert first, Sarah later. He in angry, and with good reason

Pascal does not give up, and after negotiating with the client to send a couple of satyrs to the hotel to compensate her, he decides to call Sarah. Jealousy feeds on itself and the loop of thought is increasingly dense and insistent.

-"Don´t pick up the phone!!"

However, when night falls, during dinner, questions are inevitable. Pascal asks Sarah about a cap that idiot Robert has left at the house. Leaving clues for dumb people. He also asks her why she was not reachable on her mobile all day. The answers are poor and unconvincing.

In what raffle did you get this cap?

Pascal seriously suspects that Robert is fornicating his wife behind his back but, perhaps in the hope that his testosterone will run out, he continues to provide her with "tourist" guidance work. Each one has his own strategy.

Habitual suspect

Honestly, i don´t care about the island

Despite the overload of work, the ungrateful Robert does not look like he is going to forget Sarah, and days later Pascal decides that he has to take big decissions. On the sofa, lying with his wife, he tells her that he is going to Madagascar the next day at night for a two-day trip. This once again shows us that they are not in Martinique, but in Reunion. Nobody goes from the Caribbean to the South Indian Ocean for two days. Sarah lies to his face and tells him that she will miss him very much.

The next morning, Robert asks Ben to fill in for him. Apparently he is very tired and it is not surprising, with the pace he is taking. Ben gladly agrees and jumps up to the hotel to pick up the next whore.

Superben to the rescue!

Therese Island and Conception Island

This scene is indeed shot in the Seychelles, specifically in the west of Therese Island, with a perfect view of Conception Island.

But what promotes this work absenteeism is a call from Sarah, who, driven by desire, chooses to meet Robert now, while Pascal goes to the travel agency to buy tickets to Madagascar.

Luckily, Pascal doesn't catch them, and although the ending seems very predictable, the director doesn't stop playing with us for a minute.

Now, after sunset, Pascal goes to the airport, to be away for just one day. Sarah, just saying goodbye to Pascal, pretending that she is going to miss him, takes the wireless and calls Robert with the infallible phrase: "I'm alone"

See you soon, my love

2

-"I´m alone"

Now yes, the disaster comes up. The loser Pasca turns around as soon as he gets to the airport. He sneaks into the villa and walks over to the glass door of the Jacuzzi (yes, a glass door to watch people while they are in the shower) From there he watches Sarah and Robert kissing and fucking each other.

Who seeks, finds

However, Pascal is a man who controls his emotions well, and is not going to shoot lovers point-blank, in a scene that would seem to be taken from a Truman Capote novel. He prefers dish served cold as a revenge.

The next day he asked Robert to clean his brand new Mercedes R107 SL, a classic from the 80s, which is parked in front of the hotel that he owns La Villa du Soleil.

Hotel La villa du soleil, Reunion

Clean my car, please!

Robert picks up the sponge and begins to scrub professionally, but in alert, perhaps warned by the sixth sense. Suddenly, three INTERPOL agents burst onto the scene and arrest him for Sylvia's murder. Robert Duvall is his name, like the actor who plays Consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather and Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner in Deep Impact.

"Mr Rober Duvall, you are under arrest"

Then comes the final twist, a flashback to the moment that changed his life, when he met his wife and lover. Without going any further, the dream gave him the clue of how to act correctly: with a revenge as a dish served cold, as Pascal would do, and not with a smoking Colt.

As we can see, the confusing parts of the script, the clerical errorrs, the disconnected scenes and changes of clothes that seem like raccord failures, the unfinished scenes and the mistakes about the location, are intentional, to better represent the free will of the dream world that we explore every night in the loneliness of our minds. Masterful Max Bellocchio, once again. 

"But i love you"

To end. Robert leaves his fiancee's palace dejected, touched in honor, but without bloodshed or a murder of passion to regret.

He calls his friend Pascal to go see him and who knows what adventures await him in that heavenly destination. The final question is whether we are facing a new Groundhog Day, like in the Bill Murray movie.

The best decision of his life

THE END

RATING: 7/10

Info:

Private Tropical 8 "Ocean Dream"

Year: 2004

Film genre of the plot: crime movie

Destination: Reunión island and Seychelles

Actors: Sebastian Zarrio, Sarah Flu, Greg Centavo, Jennifer Bark, Luisa de Narco, Philippe Bean, Lucy Bee, Claudia Lassi, George Bull, Julie Pilver, Veronica Sinchair, Sarah Swain

Where can I find it: Private or Google

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