Last Summer
2023 · Directed by Catherine Breillat
Original language: French
- drama
The story
One summer, a French teenager who has been living with his mother in the city moves in with his estranged father’s family in the countryside, where he clashes with his stepmother.
What it’s like
Bright, unhurried summer daylight fills the French countryside here, with long, direct takes of rooms, gardens and bodies that stay in the frame rather than cutting away. The palette leans on sunlit greens, pale linen and warm wood, and the camera watches its characters at close range without ornament. The score is sparse and the soundtrack mostly carries the rustle of trees, the clatter of dinner and the heavy stillness of hot afternoons. The vibe is frank, slightly uneasy and sensual, with tension running under ordinary domestic routine. It suits a quiet afternoon when you want something unflinching and conversational rather than soothing, or a late, attentive evening alone. The pacing is slow and watchful, and the emotional register is blunt and provocative: a restless teenager and the adults around him test one another's boundaries and desires over one season, with the arcs bending toward discomfort and self-reckoning. Intensity is high. Sexual content is explicit and central, there are charged confrontations and cruelty in the family dynamics, and violence is minimal. This is not gentle viewing. It is for viewers who want candid, adult, intimate cinema that does not look away and is comfortable sitting with moral awkwardness.
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