I did not find this film very satisfactory. The main character in the film (Chris) is very inconsistent, and no explanation is given for this; true Romain fancies her mother and not her, but this does not go near explaining things. Also, and I'll try and avoid a "spoiler" here: it is inconceivable that the event that occurs towards the end of the film would go uninvestigated, as apparently it does in the film.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that the film was originally much longer, and that the edited out bits would explain many of the inconsistencies. If any French speakers out there have read the book and can enlighten me, please do. I would like to think that this film was not just an excuse to get a lot of topless women on screen.

You've go to love a movie in which the ColecoVision makes a cameo appearance. At one point, a teenage boy and later Chris (Valerie Kaprisky) are playing Zaxxon on the ColecoVision. The game was priced at what equates to $133 U. S. today but was worth every penny. One of the many memorable scenes in this drama. Actually, others might have a differing opinion of Year of the Jellyfish due to the sheer amount of skin exposed. It was shown here in Quebec on Saturday nights as part of TQS' Bleu Nuit.

Christopher Frank, who directed the movie version of his own novel, tells us the story of Chris and her mother Claude (Caroline Cellier) competing for the same man while on vacation in the French Riviera. They both like Romain Kalides (Bernard Girardeau) who pimps ladies to wealthy men looking for pleasure. Chris also fools around with Vic (Jacques Perrin) a well-to-do married man who looks facially like Alan Alda and has a threesome with another vacationing couple but it's Romain that she wants. When it's obvious that her mother is going to win this contest, well...

Visually, there's nothing to complain about as the cast is attractive and the acting is good. Cellier won the Best Supporting Actress Cesar Award for her performance as a nubile cougar. However, this movie is all Kaprisky. At one point, Chris sits on the bed in her birthday suit and wants to watch music videos and shake her head to the rhythm. Vic then sits next to her and turns off the T. V. in hopes of having a "philosophical discussion" with her. This causes Chris to go into a violent rage over not being allowed to have her fun and Vic agrees to bed her at her own leisure. She then calms down, turns the T. V. back on again and resumes dancing in a sitting position to the rhythm while Vic can only watch and wait.

Can't say the direction was very good. Frank certainly was a paint-by-numbers director and it shows. Seems like he just wants to shock the audience or appease teenage boys than tell a coherent story. Also, many scenes elicited unintentional laughs for me.

Regardless, this is entertaining melodrama for the most part. Not Citizen Kane or Django Unchained, mind you, but good for a slow winter's night. The temperature will definitely rise when Valerie shakes her moneymaker.

Almost every review for this film asks: is this just an excuse to show beautiful topless women? If everyone keeps asking that it's because it is an excuse to show topless women. The only dramatic tension in this soufflé is while Valerie take her top or not? After a while this disappears since she's always topless for most of the film. The story is risible. The mother basically smokes and drinks throughout the movie (and takes her top off as well). The dramatic denouement at the end (don't worry, I won't spoil it) is so underwhelming and filmed in an uninspired manner that you only then realize that the filmmakers were truly only interested in showing topless women. They were too lazy to come up with something else. I like Valerie Kaprisky. There's something bold about her (she's clearly allergic to clothes) but when she has clothes on, one sorta has a hard time noticing her. It's then that one realizes she's ordinary.