Pauline at The Beach - Plot

Plot

The film opens on a shot of a wooden gate, as a car pulls up in front of it. Teenage Pauline (Amanda Langlet) gets out of the car to open the gate, as her older cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasle) drives inside their family's vacation home on the north-western coast of France. As the girls settle in to their trip, Marion quizzes Pauline on her love life, and Pauline confesses that she has not had any serious affairs of the heart.

On the beach, Marion spies her ex-lover Pierre (Pascal Greggory). As they are getting reacquainted, a middle-aged man named Henri (Féodor Atkine) approaches and scolds Pierre for abandoning their windsurfing lessons. The quartet agree to have dinner together. Afterwards, they each talk briefly about their ideas of love in Henri's living room. Henri is happy to be free from any serious commitments, as he travels the world as an ethnographer. Marion wants to fall passionately in love at first sight, and she regrets her failed marriage to a man that she did not really love. Pierre is more cautious, and feels that love cannot form in an instant. Pauline listens quietly throughout and confesses that she agrees most of all with Pierre's idea of love, but that she has learned a lot from listening to all of them.

Henri suggests that they all go dancing at a nearby casino. At the casino, Pierre confesses that his love for Marion has been reignited by seeing her again. But she does not want any part in a relationship with Pierre, due to his jealous nature. Instead, she chooses to sleep with Henri.

Back at the beach, Pierre tries to teach Marion and Pauline how to windsurf, when some local boys approach. Sylvain (Simon de la Brosse) takes a liking to Pauline. Marion steals away to visit Henri. Before they make love again, she prods him about the nature of his feelings, worried that she is just a meaningless conquest to him. Meanwhile, Sylvain and Pauline begin an affair of their own.

In short order, Henri does in fact sleep with someone else, seducing a local candy vendor while Marion and Pauline are visiting Mont Saint-Michel. Sylvain is watching TV downstairs at Henri's house, while Henri is upstairs with the candy vendor girl. Seeing Marion pull into the driveway, Sylvain goes upstairs to warn Henri. The candy vendor hides in the bathroom, and Henri shoves Sylvain after her, closing the door on them as Marion climbs the stairs. Once Marion hears the pair in the bathroom, Henri opens the door and lets Sylvain and the candy vendor girl scoot by, explaining to Marion that he had caught the two in his bed making love. Pierre, however, had been walking by, and from the sidewalk had chanced to see the candy vendor girl in Henri's bedroom, naked. Confusion arises as to who slept with whom. Pierre tries to warn Marion off of Henri because of what he saw, but she assures Pierre that it was Sylvain, not Henri, who was cheating on Pauline with the candy girl. Pauline is hurt, but not heartbroken by the news. However, Henri's lie unfolds as those involved begins to compare notes. When Marion is called away for a brief meeting in Paris, Pauline learns the truth about Sylvain. She and Pierre go looking for Sylvain.

They end up running into Henri and at a restaurant in Granville, and they all return to Henri's house to make up over a champagne toast. Henri accepts responsibility for having caused everyone so much trouble. Pauline does not completely forgive Sylvain, however, because he hurt her by lying to her. As they break up for the evening, Pierre and Sylvain get into a scuffle over Pauline, who decides to stay at Henri's, since Marion is still away. In the morning, Henri tries to seduce Pauline, but she fends him off. Having decided to leave on a 2-week sailing trip, and Henri writes Marion a farewell letter.

Back at their cottage, Marion reads Henri's letter, and Pauline suggests that they cut short their vacation. Both have been disappointed in their love affairs. After they drive out of the gate, Marion turns off the car and says to Pauline that she is going to choose to believe that Henri did not sleep with the candy vendor, because believing otherwise would be too painful. She hints that Pauline can still honestly believe that Sylvain too did not sleep with the candy vendor. Both girls agree to cling on to their own ideas of the truth, and they begin the drive back to Paris. The film closes with the same shot of the cottage gate as it opened with.