L'été dernier

Messy, unsettling, and quietly gripping. The tension between family members and the way secrets and loyalties clash feels real, and the cast handles the awkward, simmering moments well. Some parts drag, and it's not exactly thrilling, but it's interesting enough to keep watching and shows how messy family dynamics can get when things are left unsaid.

Of course this scheme is inspired by Robert Mulligan's SUMMER OF 42, which also inspired LA PASSAGERE, starring Cecile De France. Or if it was not inspired, it is a coincidence: a mature woman relationship between she and a teenage boy. Good, solid film, helped by a convincing Lea Drucker and her co stars too. Not only her. It is a sweet drama though, not a depressing or gloomy story. It seems very realistic and close to actual situations. It is riveting, tense. Catherine Breillat is not a beginner, and for such stories; she has always done and I suppose she will continue. I prefer this to silly, lame, cheesy comedies.

Catherine Breillat has created a powerful film, in terms of both form and subject. Her mise-en-scene tells the story with very little dialogue. The director gets a lot across and tells the story without resorting to explicit dialogue, using only the mise-en-scène, which is, of course, what cinema is all about: telling the story through the mise-en-scène.

The other strength of the film is its theme and subject matter: a family in which father, mother and children are mutually involved in drama. Note that this is a remake of a 2019 Danish film (Dronningen, by May El-Toukhy).

Léa Drucker carries the film, as it is the story of her character, who evolves, or not, over the course of the story, who is the most exciting, central therefore and is the one in every scene. She appears cold in her professional setting, and evolves throughout the film, as she interacts with her son-in-law, the source of the film's main dramatic arc. She's in control, whoever she's talking to: her husband, her daughters, her sister, her son-in-law. Even if he's going to put her in danger.

The advantage of the film is that, as viewers, we may imagine the story's possible evolution, as well as its possible endings, but the script and Catherine Breillat are capable of making the story evolve or conclude in a way we hadn't imagined.

It's so sad that western propaganda is so uniform. I understand that colonialism is what it is...winners and losers, but the very suble and manipulative way these stories weave themselves into the psyche is so deserate and sad. Simply look at the description... "Follows Anne, a brilliant lawyer who lives with her husband Pierre and their daughters. Anne gradually engages in a passionate relationship with Theo, Pierre's son from a previous marriage, putting her career and family life in danger.". Where in this movie is Anne...a brilliant attorney? The Q/a session establishes she's an attorney, but the rest of the movie is about establishing she's a housewife seeking a little change of pace. Where is it written that in these productions that every family has to be the 'exception'...successful? The thing that brings these perfect families down is some strange act like this. It's goofy.

I believe the initial intention of "Last Summer" was to make the audience a bit uncomfortable and challenge their view on a controversial topic. However it is the lack of dynamics and tension that makes this film plain and dull. Eventhough the story itself is outrageous and shocking, that sadly doesn't translate to the narrative. The scenes that should have been the most intense just pass by and the tale goes on. Personally I think what could have helped to build some gradation was to add some background music (there is no film score at all), that would have helped to depict the atmosphere of the scene more accurately. Something positive that I can say about "Last Summer" is the focus on the portrayal of female gaze and female pleasure, that is still missing in some productions today. But unfortunately overall it felt monotonous and I would also say incomplete...