Mascarade * * * *

Mascarade (sic) is a big rollercoaster of a film set on The French Riviera and it's not too flattering about those that live there and those that live off them.  It's also quite funny. 

The story is partly told to us through a court proceeding, which is where all this shocking behavior was bound to end up.

Adrien and Margot behaving badly.

We meet handsome young Adrien who lives with ageing film star Martha.  He is more or less her toyboy.  An amusing item to have around the house. Her "house" incidentally is an exquisite mansion that once belonged to W. Somerset Maugham.  

Martha is not coping well with her diminishing fame and beauty.  Adrien spends most of his time in the study of Martha's ex-husband. Adrien is attempting to write a novel, by means of justifying his free-loading. It suits Martha. Telling her friends he is a "novelist" sounds better than "gigolo".

Martha has a party where her "friends" have to endure one of her cabaret style performances.  One of the guests attends with a beautiful young woman who would be at least half his age. Her name is Margot.

Bored by these oldies, Margot steals Adrien away in a scene where we can only wonder if she is naturally crazy or full of drugs and alcohol.  Either way she thinks nothing of going up the bedrooms to steal the  jewelry and getting Adrien to drive a classic car into a river. It's love at first sight.

Their times together are outrageous.  Their sexual appetite is insatiable. Every bathroom in every restaurant they visit gets used.  Unfortunately they frequently forget to pay for their meal. 

They decide they really must get Margot a benefactor too.  So, advised by a friend of Adrien who knows everyone in the scene, and has her own axe to grind,  they set their target on a wealthy real estate developer.  Margot gets to work on him. But is he really deserving of such exploitation?

Adrien and Margot have a complicated relationship. Fundamentally disgusted by the conduct of one the other, at the same time they can't stay away from each other, even at the constant risk of being caught by their patrons. 

It's a fun ride and one of the better films I have seen at the French Film Festival 23.