Synopsis
In a story where times intertwine, Mas de Castell —a Renaissance-style palace on the Costa Brava— bears witness to desire and artistic creation across nearly a century. A place where memory fractures and cinema seeks to capture what time itself has failed to erase.
In 1935, the Georgian princess Roussy Mdivani and her brother Alexis, together with her husband, the celebrated painter Josep Maria Sert, transform the villa into an epicenter of sophistication and excess, known as The Beach of Paris. Amid parties veiled in cigarette smoke and confidences whispered at dawn, Salvador Dalí, Gala, and other artists of the era sketch the contours of a world on the brink of disappearance.
In 1950, the filming of Pandora and the Flying Dutchman turns Mas de Castell into a stage of desire and confrontation. Ava Gardner, caught between the bullfighter Mario Cabré and the jealous gaze of Frank Sinatra, lives out her own off-screen drama. Meanwhile, Margarida, a young local woman chosen as Ava’s body double, is drawn into a game of light and shadow where reality begins to blur with fiction.
In 1999, new owners Javier and Francisco acquire the house in search of a new beginning, throwing a party meant to revive the villa’s former splendor. But the resistance they awaken among some townspeople threatens to unravel their plans.
In 2025, a journalist tries to capture its soul and story by interviewing Javier and Francisco.
A story of love, hedonism, and the fleeting nature of splendor, where the great celebration of life and cinema begins—again and again.
Genre
Running time
Dramedy, historical,
metacinema
110 minutos
Languages
Spanish, English, French,
Catalan, Georgian
Countries of production
Spain, Andorra
Setting
Costa Brava, Spain
Alienated from the turbulences of the outside world, this little paradise bathed in the Mediterranean sun gave rise to extraordinary stories that are close to magical realism.
Palamós is one the most iconic enclaves of the Spanish Costa Brava and the setting of our stories. Back in the early 20th century, it already summoned prominent members of the continent’s artistic elite, who were attracted by its wild, unspoilt landscape, especially by the gorgeous beach of Castell, which has remained uninhabited to our days.
The promoter of this legendary reputation was the painter and muralist Josep Maria Sert, who bought the renaissance style palace of “Mas de Castell” with the money he earned from painting the frescoes of the Rockefeller Center and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, in New York. During the 1930s, Sert’s palace became the epicenter of enormous parties and select artistic gatherings. But the tragic death of his brother-in-law Alexis Mdivani and the baroness Maud Thyssen in a car accident put an end to the spell. It wasn’t until the 40s, when the magnate and racing driver Alberto Puig Palau acquired the property, that a second Golden Age began for the beach of Castell. The restored mansion hosted flamenco festivals, bullfighting events and even the shooting of the first Hollywood blockbusters in Spain. In the 60s Puig Palau declared bankruptcy and was forced to sell the house, which remained in a rui- nous state until Jordi Cerqueda and Fernando Romero restored it to its former glory in the late 90s, bringing in a new generation of artists and creators.
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Top left: Frank Sinatra in La Costa Brava (1950s) / Top right: Baroness Mau Von Thyssen (1030s)
Bottom left: Gala and Salvador Dalí at Josep Maria Sert's studio (1934) / Bottom right: Fernando Romero and Jordi Cerqueda at Mas de Castell (1997)
Top: Coves near the Beach of Castell (2024) / Bottom: Port of Palamós (1930s)
The illustrious visitors who spent their summers at “Mas de Castell” gave it the nickname of “Paris by the Sea”. The list is long: Salvador Dalí, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, the Mdivani princes, Ava Gardner... These celebrities coexisted with the humble fishermen families of Palamós, a peculiar and charming combination that triggered mutual suspicions and hilarious encounters. Alienated from the passing of time and the turbulences of the outside world, this little paradise bathed in the warm Mediterranean sun and protected by the spell of “Paris by the Sea”, gave birth to extraordinary stories, close to magical realism.
The palace or “Mas de Castell” is the central setting of the three stories that intersect in the film. A real space that has experienced multiple transformations under its three different owners. The palace’s exceptional ar- tistic heritage includes the works of several renowned artists, from Josep Maria Sert to more contemporary names such as Jean Nouvel.
Josep Maria Sert’s Beach House and the beach of Cas- tell, the adjacent coves and the old town of Palamós, with the classic Hotel Trias, complete the film’s range of locations.
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Left: Mas de Castell (2024) / Top: fishermen families in the cove of s'Alguer, Palamós (1930s) /
Top right: Ava Gardner during the shooting of "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" (1950) /
Bottom: Beach House of Josep Maria Sert, next to Mas de Castell (2024)