Last Summer
This is my first time watching a film of Catherine Breillat’s, and it was probably a good one to start with. Over the years it feels like a lot of discussion revolves around the sexuality in her films, and “Last Summer,” definitely fits that bill, but much more of the film revolves around the psychological tension of how the sex in this film effects the relationships in the movie that it shows the purpose in the sexuality. This is a thorny little film, but very good when it gets to the heart of the narrative.
We begin the film with Anne (Léa Drucker), a lawyer who specializes in legal issues regarding minors, interviewing one of her clients, preparing her for what will be thrown her way during a proceeding. We then see her with her husband, Pierre (Olivier Rabourdin), and their two daughters; they live out in the countryside, away from the bustle of the city. One day, Pierre gets a call from his ex-wife; their son, Théo (Samuel Kircher), is in legal trouble. Pierre, who wants to mend his relationship with Théo, has him move in with Anne and the girls. Théo is 17, but- over the course of the summer- Anne and he’s relationship really complicates her personal, and professional, life.
There are a lot of different ways this movie could have gone, and we’ve probably seen the majority of them over the years. In adapting the Danish film, “Queen of Hearts,” Breillat and collaborator Pascal Bonitzer are using that film’s template to delve into illicit lust, and hypocrisy, in a way that is intriguing, and makes the choices Anne and Théo make throughout the film even more intriguing. Is Théo just drawn to be bad? What is Anne thinking in doing this? Why does Théo do the things he does after it seems Anne has rejected him? What does it say for their relationship together when they see each other again? There’s some of these answers that show up in the film, but there’s also ambiguity in motivations, and clarity in others. The performances by Drucker and Kircher work within some archetypes of this type of story- with Adrian Lyne’s “Unfaithful” coming to mind, at moments- and they are electric. Breillat’s adaptation is focused on showing us Anne as someone who puts her young clients (mostly young women) first, and how she navigates things with Théo is consistent with that, even when tension arises between them. The film ends on a curious note, one that I’m not sure works entirely, but also speaks to the moral greyness of the story being told. “Last Summer” is steamy, and unsettling, and that dichotomy sums up the film well.
