Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan has observed: "If we think of space as that which allows movement, then place is a pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place." The pause that refreshes, the pause that bestows meaning, is a pause to explore the soul of place.

In this meandering and slow-paced French film, which won the Camera d' Or at Cannes in 2002, director Julie Lopes-Curval focuses on a small town on the sea in northern France. In one vivid scene, a pregnant woman who is visiting the area leaves her husband and takes a seat atop a lifeguard stand. When he reaches her and asks what she is doing, she replies casually, "I'm reflecting." He asks, "On what?" She answers, "On this place."

One of the problems with most of us is that we have never really taken the time to get to know the place where we live. This is the case with Anne (Ludmila Mikael) whose son, a successful Paris fashion photographer, has returned to the area with his wife. Feeling very happy about the prospects of soon being a grandmother, Anne ventures out on the beach and discovers a pebble factory that makes bathroom fixtures and porcelain. An employee boasts about its worldwide market. Anne hasn't paid attention enough to notice that the factory was there.

Marie (Helene Fiillieres) knows about this factory; she works on its tedious assembly line. This stunning beauty is in a romantic relationship with Paul (Jonathan Zaccai), a lifeguard in the summer who works at the grocery store in the winter. Their relationship has gone from bad to worse following the arrival of his mother, Rose (Bulle Ogier), who has lost her home thanks to a gambling addiction. One of the members of the small town correctly calls Marie "a dreamer." She yearns for something completely different.

The same goes for Albert (Patrick Lizana), a manager at the factory his great-grandfather founded. It has been taken over by another corporation, and he is bored with his job. He is also uneasy about the recent return of his wealthy mother, Odette (Liliane Rovere), to the seaside town. She and Rose used to be good friends but now they avoid each other. Money has created a barrier that keeps them stubbornly apart even though they shared something special in the past.

Writer and director Lopes-Curval has done a fine job capturing the spirit of this once fashionable French coastal town. In the changes of the four seasons, the main characters make their choices and seal their destinies. This is the kind of film that isn't in a hurry to make its points. There are of pauses during which we get to know the place better and see how it has shaped and altered the lives of these people. Seaside is splendid exploration of the power of place and the small changes that give our lives meaning.