"Hôtel Normandy" is the cinematic equivalent of cotton candy: it's sweet and sugary, it's lightly spun, and it melts away as soon as you consume it.

The French aren't exactly known for their prudishness, so you would expect a movie about a beautiful widow being set up by her friends for some grief-relieving sex would be a raunchy, sensual good time. Probably the most shocking thing about "Hôtel Normandy" then, is that it's so tame.  Borrowing more from Shakespeare than "Fifty Shades Of Grey", the film features a series of meet-cutes, more than one case of mistaken identity, and a perfectly neat happy ending.

Without a doubt the best thing "Hôtel Normandy" has going for it is the strength of its star, Héléna Noguerra.  She plays Alice, who gave up on love after the untimely death of her husband.  But her friends haven't given up on her, and so they pay to send her off to a luxurious resort, where they've also arranged for a client to meet and seduce her out of her mourning.  Noguerra has an effortless charm and a maturity that is surprisingly sexy.  She excels equally at romantic encounters, physical comedy, and heartbroken tears.  Of course, she has the benefit of being an unknown on this side of the Atlantic, which automatically gives her performance an aura of believability.

Unfortunately, Noguerra is stuck in a plot of such clockwork precision which she can only do so much to elevate.  The mistaken identities and coincidences pile up with such methodical transparency that nothing about the film feels organic.  The revelations that are supposed to be surprising are all predictable to anyone who has seen a single romantic comedy before.  And all of these unnecessary plot complications come at the expense of any real character development.  The entire cast are simply puppets dancing on strings, dutifully playing their roles on the way to an inevitable happy ending.  "Hôtel Normandy" is all about style, not substance, but at least it's a very pretty style.  The film does makes for a briefly enjoyable experience -- but also, ultimately, a completely forgettable one.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B7QtChqfcI[/youtube]