La belle saison

When you watch this feature, you think of LA VIE D'ADELE, speaking of the same scheme, female homosexuality. This film is gripping at the most, telling us the story of two Young women who met in Paris during the early seventies, when the feminist movements spread all over the world. And don't forget that two years ago, in France, the marriage for everyone laws were on every lip. So it remains in the line of actuality. Cecile de France is terrific here, so is Noémie Chowsky, as the mother of one of the two women in love for each other. A human drama that grabs you from the start to the end. I highly recommend it. Catherine Corsini made here an outstanding piece of work.

This is a sensitive portrayal of two women from different backgrounds in conservative, rural France. Delphine, a country girl in Paris is introduced to feminism at a time (1971) shortly after the student riots in Paris, the bra-burning feminism of late 60s USA, and the teen-led cultural revolution in music, art and fashion. Paris was a world away from her farm in the Limousin. It is a film about feminism and lesbianism with strong female leads directed by an experienced female director who was, herself, a teenager at the time the film was set. As such it is authentic and tender, not titillating. It is a film about relationships, between Delphine and her mother, her Parisian girlfriend, the boy she is expected to marry and above all the conflict between the city and the country.

It is a film that could only be made in Europe and only set in the 70s and was justifiably nominated for a Lumiere, France's equivalent to the Golden Globes. Jellybeansucker should stick to sucking jelly beans and watching simplistic action movies. This is for those who prefer content to pace.

This story of a relationship between a farmer's daughter and the woman she meets in Paris is effective in some ways. Set in the early 70s in the first flush of modern feminism, the plot is pretty simple and the issue simpler - will they stay together against the pressures of rural society? Izia Hegelin makes an effective and believable daughter of the soil, struggling to reconcile her feelings and her ties to her land and family; in an underwritten role as her lover, Cecile de France is less effective but does her best. Some good scenes showing the sometimes silly behaviour of activists and their disconnect from real life. The ending seemed slightly unlikely to me in some ways. There are sex scenes but they are neither very erotic nor graphic. So - worth seeing, but only a moderately good film.

LGBT rights are more relevant than ever. In several countries, unfortunately, the trend is towards more difficult living conditions for gays and transgender people. Seen in such a perspective, the plot of this film remains relevant, despite the fact that it depicts a summer in 1971. Although perhaps the problem here is something we have seen in many films, the film is experienced as both engaging and well told. I sat thinking when I saw this movie; how many such fates exist? Both before and now? That people cannot live their lives to the fullest, in fear of condemnation from their surroundings. There are probably a lot of them, and in that way such films become important and unfortunately relevant. For such films we need. We need to be reminded of how the world treats and views queer people. In addition to a strong and pointed action, the film is also beautifully filmed, well directed and with good actors who get both convincing and engaging.

I didn't much care for the first half of 'Summertime': a posse of beautiful, self-confident and middle-class young feminists assert their right to "to as they please" in the Paris of the 1970s. What is absent from the portrayal is any sense of the personal insecurity that cripples most of us; these sisters, it seems, can quite literally do anything for themselves. The film becomes more nuanced when it follows two of its protagonists (a lesbian couple) back to the farm in the country where one of them (Delphine) grew up, and whence she has now been summoned owing to the illness of her father. There's still some idealisation here: the family own their farm and live a simple peasant life. But the conflict between Delphine's familial and spatial sense of identity, and the new relationship she has forged in the city, is nicely portrayed, as is the guarded hostility of her mother and her local acquaintances to the choices she has made in her new life. Overall, it's not nearly as strong as 'Blue is the Warmest Colour', but it grew on me as I watched it.