Été violent

Jean-Louis Trintignat plays the draft-dodging son of a powerful Nazi in 1943 Italy, in a prelude to Bertolucci's "The Conformist," who falls in love with an older war widow, in an absolutely brilliant performance by Eleonora Rossi Drago, (what else has she ever been in?) featuring a brilliantly choreographed sequence to the song "Temptation," reminding me of Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant," this is one of the better scenes one is ever likely to see in all of cinema where the lovers dance and fall in love around a nude male statue oblivious to the war raging outside, similar to Oshima's "In the Realm of the Senses," there is an extraordinary pacing to the film, an intense love affair, reminiscent of Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's "Notorious," this is a beautifully written, old-fashioned melodrama, the likes of which we just don't see any more.

I believe that there are movies, and movies... "Violent summer", in my modest opinion, it is one of those movies "outstanding." It is able to remain in the memory after 42 years, with some unforgettable Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean Louis Trintignant. The music " live-motive" it created next to the rest of the sound band and the "light and shade" of the picture an overwhelming and captivating atmosphere. The protagonistic couple's election is decisive. The mature woman and the youth are achieved faultlessly. During years I was in love with that woman (I was 16 years old when I saw it). I believe that it is unjust to disqualify certain movies. There will always be who find defects of some type. And in any thing. Maximum when it is intangible things. But the feelings, the summer, the war like detonating., and the passion becomes tangible in this film. And that is undeniable. God willing it is re-published in the future for delight of us and of the new generations. Because the good cinema is much more than the critics of the specialist.

Valerio Zurlini was first known for his melodramas ("la ragazza con la valigla" and "cronaca familiare" but his towering achievement was his final effort "il deserto dei Tartari" a brilliant adaptation of Dino Buzatti's masterpiece (hence not a melodrama).

"Estate Violenta" is a moderately successful film:the umpteenth story of a young and attractive widow and a younger (not so younger by the way,Trintignant was actually about five years younger than Rossi-Drago)lad ,during the Fascist years .The boy has a lot of fun with his mates :thanks to his father who provides him protection he has avoided the draft.He spends his time ,with a spoiled youth sunbathing and partying but history is about to catch him up.Rossi-Drago portrays a woman who stifles in her bourgeois atmosphere.

Excellent performances by the two leads.Gorgeous brunette Jacqueline Sassard is also featured as Trintignant's girlfriend (she would team up again with Trintignant in Chabrol's "les biches"(1967); nothing was heard from her since).Best scene:bombing of the railway station,Zurlini works wonders when he describes people's panic.

I just came back from the cinema after having seen the film. And all that comes to mind is -and forgive me for the level of my English- a simple ahhh! This was one of the best performances I have seen in terms of couple chemistry and the protagonist Eleonora Rossi Drago was just splendid! Pure unspoiled femininity coming out of every little move, gesture, look! The b/w photography, the directing and most of all Trintignan and Rossi Drago transform this erotic drama into a symphony of desire! And I can ask,rather bitterly, after all: where are women protagonists nowadays? And what has been done to the pure magic they radiated?

Valerio Zurlini (1926 - 1982) was essentialy forgotten when in the 2000's his films were again brought under the attention of the public by way of DVD releases and retrospectives. Although Zurlini may not be an Fellini or Visconti, his films are still worth seeinig.

"Violent summer" is situated in the summer of 1943. The war is going badly for Fascist Italy but, unlike the population in Germany in "Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam" (1957, Robert Siodmak), Carlo (Jean Louis Trintignant) and his friends are still living the "dolce vita". They are in the Northern of Italy while the allied forces are invading the South. They are, so to speak, dancing on the edge of the volcano.

The violence in "Violent summer" is restricted to the last 10 minutes of the film. The rest of the time the film is rather slow, with beautiful cinematography.

"Violent summer" has two themes. In the first place it is about a rich boy (Carlo) who is using the influence of his dad to avoid military conscription. In this way it is similar to "The cranes are flying" (1957, Mikhail Kalatozov). In "The cranes ..." the boy is presented as a disgrace and compared to the real heroes in this patriotic war. In "Violent summer" the behavior of Carlo is partly overshadowed by the second theme of impossible love. Carlo gets a relationship with war widow Roberta (Eleonora Rossi Drago). This relationship is condemned by friends and relatives on both sides. On the side of Carlo there is a jalous girl friend. The family of Roberta is of the opinion she should honor the memory of her deceased husband. In fact they try to make this 30 year old woman a prisoner of this memory.

In the ambiguous end it is unclear which theme is dominant.