Un été inoubliable

Ete packs a great deal of moral and ethical examination into its 82 minutes. The language bounces around between French, English, Romanian and some Bulgarian and I think this adds to its charm. Beautifully acted by both Kristin Scott Thomas and Claudiu Bleont. Lucian Pintilie is a brilliant director and screenwriter -- he deserves more exposure than he gets. Very strong film!

Most of the action unfolds in a remote, dry, semi-deserted place, a romanian military outpost at the border with Bulgaria. Out of this world, comes Kristin Scott Thomas, a summer breeze, lively, hopeful, and somewhat unexpectedly devoted to her husband. She does not hesitate to follow him to his post, in the middle of nowhere. She could live happily anywhere. Her good faith and kindness are unusual in that land. Indeed an unforgettable summer for those who met her, and for the viewers too. But sad, often outrageous things happen in that region. Orders must be carried out, innocent prisoners must shot. Things that no one can stop, or change. Not even a bright and genuinely hopeful character as that of Kristin Scott Thomas. She ends up drinking, we are told...And all is the same, and will probably stay the same. A lost hope...A defeat. A pessimistic movie for those who come from there. Though well made, with very good, solid performances, it is unlikely that this movie will be of much interest to non-romanian audiences. Kristin Scott Thomas: a super intelligent actress, under-rated by far.

I am a Romanian and I never heard of this movie before. I was amazed to see Kristin Scott Thomas speaking Romanian so well and staring in the movie of a Romanian director like Pintilie. The subject was dramatic, but full of heart. It was about human goodness, which from a contemporary perspective is very obvious, but I suppose that at the beginning of the 20th century was seen rather differently. All in all, the movie was good; it kept me hooked for its full length. And bravo for Kristin Scott Thomas, Claudiu Bleont, and Lucian Pintilie. I'm really happy to see Romanian post-communist movies without a script about various transition-related issues.

The movie depicts the atrocities committed against Bulgarian peasants by the Romanian authorities after reconquering Southern Dobrogea at the end of World War I. Petre Dimitriu, a young army captain heads the local garrison and attempts in vain to prevent the killings. It is difficult to understand why Lucian Pintilie chose an obscure short-story, published in the early 1950s as subject for his film. The author, Petre Dimitriu, was at that time a young writer aspiring for recognition by the communist regime. The autobiographical story tries at the same time to vilify the former regime and to prove that the authors father had dissociated himself from that regime. The story was intended to reinforce the author's credentials and to help him become an aclaimed communist writer before his defection to the West. Lucian Pintilie's direction was not able to annihilate the political background of the story. Therefore, despite its qualities, the film rings like an anachronic revival of the socialist realism of the 1950s.

The director manages to pack a lot of local color and drama into a spare 82 minutes. The costumes and scenery are gorgeous, and the acting is superb. And the story itself is both poignant and uplifting. A romantic drama in the Ayn Rand tradition.